Freesheet Metro has reported a surge of a third in daily and monthly website browsers in September, as a redesign of its mobile presence paid off.
Associated Newspapers-owned Metro.co.uk reported a 33.38% leap in daily browsers in September to 737,176, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released on Thursday.
Metro.co.uk's monthly browser numbers rose 32.19% compared with August to 16,791,284, with the publisher attributing the growth to a mobile redesign and an increase in social media referrals.
"I'd attribute the increase to a team dedicated to delivering a great user experience through both technology and content," said Metro's chief customer officer, Dominic Rowell.
"The initial catalyst was the mobile-first redesign in December 2012 which has led to an audience increase of 177% since January. During this period, mobile audience has increased by 225% and social media referrals have gone up fivefold – which we attribute to the improved user experience as well as a focus and frequent promotion of socially-shareable content designed with mobile and our urban audience in mind."
Mirror Group Digital lost a substantial proportion of the gains made in August after readers of Sun Online hunted for a new digital home after Rupert Murdoch introduced a website paywall at the start of August.
The Trinity Mirror network of national newspaper websites – which includes Mirror.co.uk, 3am.co.uk and MirrorFootball.co.uk – saw daily browser numbers fall 13.2% month on month in September to 1,502,979. Monthly browser numbers fell 9.57% to 34,416,732.
This compares with MGD's pre-Sun Online pay wall figures of 1.45 million daily browsers and 29.75m monthly browsers in July.
Daily Mail & General Trust's Mail Online is a whisker away from passing the 150 million monthly browser mark, with a 6.2% increase over August pushing numbers to 146,233,786 in September. Daily browser numbers rose 5.4% to 9,490,332.
Independent.co.uk had a solid month, with daily browsers up 6.6% on August to 1,380,673, and monthly browsers up 7.75% to 29,770,594.
Telegraph.co.uk rose 2.96% in daily browser number terms to 3,200,388; monthly browsers increased 4.49% to 63,061,086.
Guardian News & Media's website network, theguardian.com, increased its daily browser figure by 1.78% month on month to 4,600,140; its monthly figure shrank slightly by 0.48% to 83,116,532.
Mail Online
Daily average browsers: 9,490,332
Month-on-month change: +5.4%
Year-on-year change: +49.06%
Monthly browsers: 146,233,786
Month-on-month change: +6.2%
Year-on-year change: +44%
theguardian.com
Daily average browsers: 4,600,140
Month-on-month change: +1.78%
Year-on-year change: +26.61%
Monthly browsers: 83,116,532
Year-on-year change: +27.22%
Telegraph.co.uk
Daily average browsers: 3,200,388
Month-on-month change: +2.96%
Year-on-year change: +19.42%
Monthly browsers: 63,061,086
Month-on-month change: +4.49%
Year-on-year change: +22.67%
Mirror Group Digital
Daily average browsers: 1,502,979
Month-on-month change: -13.20%
Year-on-year: +103.59%
Monthly browsers: 31,124,186
Month-on-month change: -9.57%
Year-on-year change: +97.73%
Independent.co.uk
Daily average browsers: 1,380,673
Month-on-month change: +6.60%
Year-on-year change: +80.79%
Monthly browsers: 29,770,594
Month-on-month change: +7.75%
Year-on-year change: +82.57%
Metro.co.uk
Daily average browsers: 737,176
Month-on-month change: +33.38%
Year-on-year change: +137%
Monthly browsers: 16,791,284
Month-on-month change: +32.19%
Year-on-year: +124.92%
Standard.co.uk
Daily average browsers: 195,186
Month-on-month change: -3.41%
Year-on-year change: +40.83%
Monthly browsers: 4,425,395
Month-on-month change: -2.22%
Year-on-year change: +45.08%
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