British news site The Independent (34.8 million), which claimed in November to have become the biggest British-born news site in the US according to Comscore data, also notched 70.4% year-on-year growth. All but one of the ten most-visited news sites in the US, and almost four in five of the top 50, grew their visits compared with September. Most of the top newsbrands in the US saw web traffic growth in October following two months of declines. Year-on-year the fastest-growing top ten news site was the AP, which saw 162.5% more visits in November 2024 than it did in the same month in 2023. Most of the ten most-visited news sites in the US benefitted from the November surge, with The New York Times (528.6 million, up 11% month-on-month), USA Today (203.5 million, up 9.8%) and CNN (460 million, up 8.2%) all notching notable gains. Three in five of the top 50 most-visited news sites in the US saw traffic grow compared with October — although there were some notable exceptions.
Substack, now the fourteenth biggest news site in the US, saw the biggest year-on-year boost in visits, up by almost half (42%) to 72.7 million visits in August compared to the same period in 2024. Just five of the top 50 US websites saw year-on-year traffic growth in August 2025, according to the latest data from Similarweb. In August, just five of the top 50 sites had year-on-year growth but in September 18 had an increase in visits compared to a year earlier. Among the biggest month-on-month web traffic declines were also the New York Post (down 15% to 97.7 million visits), followed by Newsweek (67.8 million) and CNN (297.1 million), both down 14%. Just one site among the top ten saw month-on-month growth, with Yahoo Finance (in fourth place) increasing its traffic 10% on September to 145.7 million visits. The New York Times was the only site of the top 11 most visited sites to see month-on-month growth, up 1% to 444.9 million visits.
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Australian-based Science Alert saw the highest growth month on month, up 60% to 23.4 million visits. Seven of the top ten websites saw month-on-month growth, and People recorded the highest jump among these, up 14%, followed by MSN (up 8% to 148.7 million visits) and Yahoo Finance (up 4% to 133.2 million). Among the top ten US news sites, only celebrity news site People saw year-on-year growth in December, up 5% to 151.9 million visits. Visits to the Arena Group site were up 184% year on year and 130% month on month to 19.5 million in December, according to the latest Similarweb data. Men’s lifestyle magazine Men’s Journal recorded the highest year-on-year and month-on-month growth among the top 50 news websites in the US in December. Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of the top 50 news websites in the US, using Similarweb data.
It was followed by financial news and advice site Moneywise (27.6 million visits, up 334% year-on-year). Visits to the news magazine’s website were up 198% compared to May 2023 to 95.5 million but it was beaten by two specialist newsbrands. Celebrity-focused newsbrand People.com was the fastest-growing news website in the US in May, according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking. Celebrity-focused People.com saw the most year-on-year growth in the top ten, growing visits 37% to 142.1 million. All the top-ten sites by total visits grew year-on-year in July, seven of them by double-digit percentages.
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Among the 50 most-visited online newsbrands in the US in February, 11 increased their traffic compared with the month before, while 19 saw decreases of 10% or more. The only sites to lose more visits compared to the month before were CBS News (71.1 million, down 9%), Athlon (down 11%) and another UK site, The Independent (23.6 million, down 11%). The Washington Post was also among the eight news sites not to increase its web traffic compared to February, instead dropping 6%.
- Thirty websites in the top 50 also saw their visits grow year-on-year in October, as well as eight of the top ten.
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- Just one site among the top ten saw month-on-month growth, with Yahoo Finance (in fourth place) increasing its traffic 10% on September to 145.7 million visits.
All but two of the ten most-visited sites in the US in September saw year-on-year traffic growth. Another notable riser was local publisher SF Gate (up six places to 36th on the back of a 0.4% month-on-month traffic drop, to 29.3 million) and libertarian blog Zero Hedge (25.2 million), which rose five places to 40th despite a 7.7% traffic decline. The only site to see a larger rise in visits compared with August was CBS News, where traffic rose 20.7% to 92.5 million, translating to a five-place rise on the charts. September saw the re-entry of The Atlantic into the top 50 (visits down 0.2% month-on-month but up 15.2% year-on-year to 22.9 million) after it dropped off in August. The only riser within the top ten, besides new entrant Forbes, was People, which was up one spot despite visits dropping 9.5% month-on-month to 147.2 million.
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The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (119.8 million visits) although it dropped one place to eleventh from tenth in the past month. The Independent was one of the fastest-growing news sites in the US in January, according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking. The New York Times (456.7 million visits) remained the biggest newsbrand in the US by number of visits, followed by CNN (372.8 million), MSN, Fox News and People. At the other end of the list however, Microsoft news aggregator MSN (247.4 million visits) and News Corp’s New York Post (124.9 million) saw the biggest year-on-year slumps at 17% each. People (up 30% year-on-year), USA Today (up 20%) and Yahoo Finance (up 14%) saw the biggest increases in visits compared to February 2023.
While some say Facebook referral traffic has returned this year, others complain that the addition of AI-written summaries to Google search results has deeply impacted click-through rates to articles. Publishers have complained in recent years about falling referral traffic from Google and Facebook. The Times of Israel fell back out of the top 50 after Gangs Of Oslo 2023 Series On Netflix its visits almost doubled in June to enter in 43rd place. Meanwhile the vast majority (44) saw fewer visits than they did a year earlier in July 2024. Some content remains free to all users regardless of whether they have hit the paywall, including select global breaking news stories. The BBC launched a dynamic paywall for users in the US at the end of June, charging $8.99 (£6.55) per month or $49.99 (£36.40) per year.
Each of the ten biggest news websites in the US saw traffic decline year on year in October, according to the latest Similarweb data. The US Sun followed on both growth metrics, up 52% year on year and 59% month on month to 34.9 million visits. In contrast to the annual figures, however, all of the ten biggest sites saw month-on-month growth of at least 3% in January. It was followed by People (161.4 million visits, up 16% year-on-year) and both were the only large sites to see year-on-year growth for the second month in a row. The Independent also featured among the fastest-growing websites year-on-year coming in fifth place having seen visits up 40% compared to last January.