The Daily Echo Bournemouth site bournemouthecho.co.uk recorded 1,088,066 unique browsers in January – up 42 per cent year-on-year, says the publisher.
It also had a record 9.7 million page views for the same month, up 62 per cent for the same period in 2014.
The Echo’s staff marked the achievement with a Champagne reception joined by local MPs, dignitaries and business leaders on the roof of its 1930s art deco HQ in Bournemouth – and a photograph taken by a drone!
Photographer Corin Messer captured the groundbreaking photograph which was published online – and used as the full centre spread in the following day’s paper.
Vincent Boni, managing director of Newsquest Dorset, said: “This is a historic milestone in our publishing history and we are all grateful for the continued support of the local audience.”
Toby Granville, group editor at the Daily Echo Bournemouth - and recently promoted to the role of Newsquest’s Group Editorial Development Director - added: “While the BBC makes absurd claims that the regional press is in ‘decline’ as a means to muscle into our patches, we’ve just recorded our highest ever website figures with over a million visitors. Clearly, thanks to our dedicated hard-working team of journalists, these fast-growing figures prove that it is we in the regional press who are providing the local population with all the best news and information they need - and exactly when they want it.”
Among those at the reception was Bournemouth West Conservative MP Conor Burns, a member of the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee.
He said: “For the Bournemouth Daily Echo to get over a million unique browsers in January is an amazing start to the year. That’s first and foremost a major vote of confidence in the Echo by its readers, both online and in hard copy. It’s a tribute to the quality reporting that the Echo’s website is deemed to be a ‘must-visit’ for our local population.”
