Newsquest says its websites achieved 208 million article page views in August, marking an 11% increase year on year. Total page views were 306 million in August, a 7% increase year on year, added the publisher.
This follows on from a strong July which was also a record month with article page views at 207 million, a year on year increase of 13%. Total page views for Newsquest in July were 303 million, an 8% increase year on year, the publisher continued.
Newsquest says it also continues to see strong growth in its digital subscriptions, with 135,000 monthly paying digital subscribers as at the end of August, a year on year increase of 35%.
Newsquest runs a soft pay wall on approximately 60% of its local news sites, the publisher continued. Online visitors to these sites can typically read up to 30 articles a month before paying, although a small number of articles are subscriber only. A digital subscription, which is typically priced at £4.99 per month, includes access to all the site’s content in an ad light environment as well as an e-edition of the print paper.
Henry Faure Walker, CEO of Newsquest, commented: “There’s been some commentary recently about whether people are disengaging from mainstream news, but as these figures show that’s clearly not the case with local – people love local news. We’re encouraged by the excellent progress our teams continue to make further strengthening online engagement, with our local sites now typically reaching more than 75% of local people each month.”
The company says its most visited website in August was the Oxford Mail with 11.4m article page views, followed by the Eastern Daily Press with 10.2 million page views.
Newsquest publishes over 200 titles across the UK.
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