Trinity Mirror’s network of regional newspapers saw a 24% surge in daily browser numbers to 2.4 million, as users flocked to flagship sites such as the Liverpool Echo, Wales Online and Manchester Evening News.
The growth of the newspaper group’s website network far outstripped that of rivals in the last six months of 2015, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Wednesday.
“Focus on digital became further embedded in our regional newsrooms in 2015,” said David Higgerson, digital publishing director at Trinity Mirror Regionals. “Our journalists live by analytics, identifying what readers want to read and working hard to keep them coming back by producing content that drive a locally engaged audience. Examples of this include the audience spikes during the Manchester gangland disputes, Hillsborough inquest in Liverpool and wild weather across the north in December.”
There were strong boosts in web traffic for the Manchester Evening News, which increased its daily browser numbers by 25% to 693,315; the Liverpool Echo, up by 31.5% to 555,676; Wales Online, which rose by 26.2% to 327,000; and the Birmingham Mail, which increased by 17% to 230,651.
Johnston Press, the owner of titles including the Yorkshire Post and the Scotsman, saw regional website traffic rise by 7% to 1.04 million average daily browsers in the period.
Newsquest, which publishes titles including the Glasgow Herald and Darlington’s Northern Echo, reported 1.28 million daily browsers on average.
The latest report had no comparative data for Newsquest.
Local World, which was acquired by Trinity Mirror last year, increased daily browsers across its website network by 2.7% to 1,262,144.
