The Guardian says: The figures show that the Guardian’s mobile site attracted 17.2 million monthly unique browsers in February 2013, up 7.9% month-on-month and 44.7% year-on-year, and beating the previous record of 17 million set back in April 2012.
The record-breaking levels of mobile traffic follow on from the Guardian mobile’s responsive design relaunch in November 2012.
In addition to record-breaking mobile figures, the Guardian website saw record levels of daily traffic in February, attracting over 4.5 million average daily unique browsers for the first time - up 6% month-on-month and 28% year-on-year. February also saw the second highest ever number of monthly unique browsers - 77.4 million, following on from January’s all-time high of 77.9 million.
A strong news agenda contributed to the new highs, including the Oscar Pistorius shooting, coverage of the Pope’s resignation (seen by a total of 3.3 million unique browsers in February) and the Russian meteorite.
In addition to another record breaking ABC month, the latest National Readership Survey Print and Digital Data (NRS PADD) research reveals that Guardian News & Media's titles - The Guardian and The Observer and guardian.co.uk - continue to be the most read quality newspaper combination in Britain for weekly and monthly reach. The Guardian and The Observer are read - either in print or online - by over 5.4 million people per week and over 13 million people per month in Britain.
David Pemsel, Chief Commercial Officer, Guardian News & Media, said: “It’s been another fantastic month for our digital platforms. As the number 1 quality newspaper mobile site, we continue to lead the way in this fast-growing market; separate figures (comScore/GSMA MMM, January 2013) confirm that our mobile site is almost 1 million unique monthly visitors ahead of our nearest rival’s, the Telegraph. Figures also reveal the loyalty of our mobile audience, with 58% of m.guardian's unique monthly visitors using no other quality newspaper mobile site, which is great news for our commercial partners looking to reach a quality, engaged audience.
“In combination with our market-leading NRS PADD numbers, which reaffirm our position as Britain’s most successful quality newspaper brand, our growing audiences both in Britain and around the world highlights the power of our digital first and open strategies.”
