Despite monthly visitor drops, the majority of the most popular English-language news websites worldwide experienced year-over-year growth in August.
UK’s top 50 most visited news websites (monthly ranking)
US’s top 50 most visited news websites (monthly ranking)
The most dramatic month-over-month declines were observed on US and UK news sites following a hectic July that included the start of the Paris Olympics, Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential contest, and an attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
In August, however, Indian news websites proved to be among the most resilient of the top 50 newsbrands. Two more Indian brands maintained visits compared to July, and five out of the twelve websites that saw an increase in traffic were Indian.
Newsweek, which has grown 141% to 134.9 million visits in August, was the fastest-growing website year over year. Since December 2023, the brand has been either the quickest or second-fastest month over month.
Following Newsweek were mailing platforms Substack (82.9 million, up 45%), People (205.2 million, up 53%), and ABC News (78.1 million visitors, up 71% year over year).
July of 2024
July was a great month for news, with significant increase recorded by the majority of the largest news websites worldwide.
In July, there was an attempt on Donald Trump’s life, Joe Biden declared he would not seek reelection as US president, and the Paris Olympics began (for comprehensive coverage of Olympic news coverage, click here).
The US accounted for the majority of the world’s fastest-growing English-language news websites, with Newsweek, ABC News, and AP News all increasing by more than 100% annually. Except for NDTV.com, which is situated in India, every one of the fastest-growing websites in our top 50 was based in the US.
Seven out of the top ten English language news websites in the globe gained year on year, with CNN and Fox News both up more than 20%.
With 1.2 billion monthly visitors, the BBC website continues to be the most popular news website in the world (however it should be emphasized that this number includes visits to the entire BBC website, not just the news part).
With a monthly growth rate of 79%, ABC News in the US emerged as the fastest-growing global top-50 news website, followed by Sky News in the UK, which grew at a rate of 47%.
May of 2024
Note: An outdated Similarweb data model was used to produce the figures prior to May 2024; however, they have since been updated.
In May, Press Gazette’s latest rating of the ten largest news websites worldwide showed that the BBC was growing at the quickest rate.
The leading broadcaster in the UK saw 1.1 billion online visits in May, a 9% increase over April. Although traffic to the BBC’s entertainment and other material is also included in Similarweb data, the site primarily offers news.
According to digital intelligence platform Similarweb, it was followed by Fox News (292 million, up 8%), New York Times (685.5 million, up 4%), and Google News (383.2 million, up 3%).
The viewership of the top 10 websites did not decrease from April to May, however the Daily Mail (364.9 million) and India Times (287.9 million) had essentially constant numbers from the previous month.
India Times continued to expand at the quickest rate year over year among the top ten news websites in terms of visits (up 67% from May 2023). The New York Times (19%), Yahoo Finance (248.2 million, 10% increase), The Guardian (368.2 million, 5% increase), and the BBC (4% increase) came next.
With 115 million monthly views, AP’s website witnessed the largest rise within the wider top 50, rising 20% month over month. British news companies The Express (92.6 million visitors, up 11%) and Sky News (77.2 million visits, up 14% month over month) also
Annually The fastest-growing top 50 website was Newsweek, with Indian newsbrands making up the majority of the list. At 107.4 million, visits to newsweek.com were 170% higher than in May of last year. The list also included AP News (up 48%), People (205.2 million, up 39%), and Al Jazeera (63.9 million, up 55%).
Once more, the BBC topped the list of visitors. MSN (686 million), the New York Times, CNN, and Google News came next. The top five remain in the same order as they did last month. Following newsdailyinworld.com, The Guardian was the highest-ranked UK newsbrand, coming in at number six.
April 2024
Press Gazette’s most recent ranking shows that India Times was the world’s fastest-growing news website in April.
As the most populous nation in the world prepares for elections, 287.6 million visits to the digital giant’s website increased 87% year over year. Yahoo Finance (up 20% to 243.9 million), The New York Times (up 15% to 657 million), and The Guardian (up 10% to 366.5 million) came next.
In comparison, the traffic to the remaining eight newsbrands did not increase year over year. According to data from digital intelligence company Similarweb, Fox News suffered the most, with traffic dropping to 269.3 million in April, a 14% decrease from the previous year. In contrast, BBC witnessed a lower decline, decreasing 5% year over year to 1 billion visits.
The picture was better month over month among the top 10 news sites by quantity of visits, with six reporting higher levels of traffic in April than in March. India Times topped the list once more (up 8% month over month), with The Guardian (up 5%), CNN (558.2 million visits, up 3%) and the BBC (up 2%), following. The traffic for the remaining nine spots in the top ten was either unchanged from March or increased or decreased by less than 1%.
Five of the top 50 sites with the quickest annual growth rates were from India, with Livemint, a financial news website, witnessing the highest increase in visits compared to April 2023 (up 139% to 83.7 million). With more visits, Newsweek continued to develop rapidly and was now the second-fastest growing website, only after Livemint.
Al Jazeera, on the other hand, also had a successful month, with 70.8 million visits, up 67% from the previous year. The reason for the Qatari newsbrand’s excellent success in April is probably the ongoing interest in the Gaza war.
Many of the top 50 names that did well in terms of year-over-year growth in visits also performed well in terms of month-over-month growth. Top of the list was Indian Express, with 156.8 million views, up 36% from March. Other notable performers included Al Jazeera (up 28%) and CBS News (95.4 million visits, up 24%).
Once more, the BBC topped the list of visitors. Due to its monthly increase, it was able to surpass the 1 billion visit threshold in April, which it had been below for the two months prior. It was
MSN (678.8 million), the New York Times, CNN, and Google News (370.9 million) came next. The top five remain in the same order as they did last month. In sixth position, The Guardian was just outside the top five. It ranked higher than any other UK newsbrand, right behind newsdailyinworld.com.
March 2024 According to Press Gazette’s most recent ranking, Newsweek was the news website with the fastest rate of growth worldwide in March.
According to data from digital intelligence company Similarweb, the news magazine’s website experienced more than twice as many visits in March—a 128% year-over-year increase to 104.1 million.
In addition to having experienced rapid growth recently, Newsweek was also the fastest-growing website in the most recent Press Gazette rankings of the top 50 US news websites. Jennifer H. Cunningham, a former Business Insider employee who joined the newsbrand as executive editor, told Press Gazette that her goal is “to enhance and augment the journalism” in addition to expanding Newsweek’s readership.
March 2024
According to Press Gazette’s most recent ranking, Newsweek was the news website with the fastest rate of growth worldwide in March.
According to data from digital intelligence company Similarweb, the news magazine’s website experienced more than twice as many visits in March—a 128% year-over-year increase to 104.1 million.
In addition to having experienced rapid growth recently, Newsweek was also the fastest-growing website in the most recent Press Gazette rankings of the top 50 US news websites. Jennifer H. Cunningham, a former Business Insider employee who joined the newsbrand as executive editor, told Press Gazette that her goal is “to enhance and augment the journalism” in addition to expanding Newsweek’s readership.
Ahead of the country’s April–June national elections, three Indian news companies followed Newsweek: the financial news expert Livemint (82.4 million visits, up 100% year over year), India Times (265.4 million, up 60%), and the Hindustan Times (170 million, up 45%).
Similar to this, India.com led the growth chart month over month with 65.9 million visits (up 44%).
Moreover, two British news companies were listed among the websites with the quickest monthly growth. The Independent saw 12% more visits to its website (109.5 million), while Express.co.uk, the tabloid brand owned by Reach, saw 17% more visits in February (76.8 million).
India Times grew at the quickest annual rate among the top ten most popular websites in March based on total visits. The New York Times (666 million visitors, up) came next.
The remainder of the 10 top sites declined year-on-year, with Fox News having the sharpest decline (269.4 million visitors, down 18%), followed by aggregator MSN (676 million, down 11%).
But each of the top ten websites increased month over month. India Times saw the largest increase in visits, followed by CNN (539.9 million, up 9%), and New York Times (up 10% month over month). More than 5% more people visited UK newsbrands The Daily Mail (369.3 million, up 8% from February) and The Guardian (349.7 million, up 7%).
For the second consecutive month, the BBC was the most visited website with 992.4 million views, but it did not surpass one billion visits. Next up was MSN, New York.
The February 2024
Press Gazette’s most recent ranking shows that India Times was the fastest-growing of the top ten news websites worldwide in February.
The website of the Indian daily newspaper saw a 48% rise in visits year over year to 234.5 million, perhaps reflecting heightened interest in national news in light of the country’s impending general election in April.
According to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb, it was followed by Yahoo Finance (241.4 million visits, up 18% year-over-year) and The New York Times (606.7 million visits, up 10%) as the two fastest growing websites among the ten largest sites by number of visitors.
With 327.4 million views, The Guardian saw a modest growth of 2%, while the remaining ten sites in the top ten saw decreases from February of the previous year.
The two top ten sites to experience double-digit declines were Fox News (262.9 million visits, down 16%) and Microsoft news aggregation MSN (642.2 million visits, down 14% year over year).
Month-on-month, all of the top ten sites save the India Times (up 3%) received fewer traffic in February compared to January. The largest declines were seen on Fox News (down 16%) and the Daily Mail website (343.6 million visits, down 10% month over month).
Even though they increased year over year, Yahoo Finance (down 1% month over month) and New York Times (down 5%) both underperformed in comparison to January.
Newsweek (79.5 million visits, up 114% year over year) continued to grow at the fastest rate among the 50 top sites. This month, the publication also had robust growth in its home market of the United States. Newsweek was followed by Al Jazeera (53.4 million, up 55%) and Livemint (71.8 million, up 90%), two Indian financial news brands. This ranking of the fastest-growing websites year over year was repeated in January.
Month after month Indian Express, another Indian website, surpassed Newsweek (up 7% from January) with 96.8 million visits, a 9% month-over-month increase. It was followed by GB News (55.2 million, up 4%) which entered the worldwide top 50 for the first time last month.
With 963.4 million visitors, Newsdailyinworld.com remained at the top of the list, but it lost ground to its recent peak of one billion visits. The New York Times (606.7 million), MSN (642.2 million), CNN (497.7 million), and Google News (360.9 million) came next. The top five remain in the same order as they did last month.
Similarweb uses machine learning and modeling to create its traffic data from statistically representative datasets that it gathers. The datasets are derived from partnerships, contributory networks that compile device data, direct measurement (i.e., websites and applications who opt to share first-party analytics with Similarweb), and public data extraction from websites and apps. The websites in the list are categorized according to news and media by Similarweb.
For coverage of the top 50 news websites in the globe from earlier months, keep reading:
