The Guardian is now attracting larger digital audiences than ever before.
Record ABC figures for Guardian website
The latest ABC digital figures*, released today, confirm that the Guardian website recorded its best ever digital traffic across the board in January 2013.
The figures show that the Guardian website attracted 77.9 million monthly unique browsers in January - a new record. Sustained high levels of traffic throughout the month - with particularly strong news topics including continued Mali coverage, the US fiscal cliff and the Golden Globes - contributed to the figures, which comfortably beat the previous record of 71.8 million monthly unique browsers, set in October 2012. January's record figure saw month-on-month traffic increase by 14% and year-on-year traffic rise by 23%.
The website also saw a substantial increase in daily traffic, with a record-breaking 4.3 million daily average unique browsers accessing the site in January - up 17% from the previous month, and 20% compared with January last year. The previous record was set in October 2012 when over 3.9 million unique browsers accessed the site on a daily basis. Similarly, the site saw monthly page impressions at its highest-ever level, rising to over 474 million views, again beating the previous record of 435 million views back in October 2012.
Record US traffic
Traffic to the Guardian's US site is also at record levels, having increased by over 30% year-on-year. The latest comScore figures** confirm that Guardian US saw over 12.5 million monthly unique users access the site in January 2013 – maintaining its lead over BBC News for the fourth consecutive month in a row. The previous US traffic record of 11.8 million monthly unique users was set in October 2012.
Record video views
In addition to breaking web traffic records, January marked a new milestone for Guardian video content - recording over 11.3 million video views worldwide***. Video coverage of the Australian Open, David Bowie's new single and the BlackBerry Z10 review contributed to the new high. The previous record for video views in a month was 8.9 million views in November 2012.
Fantastic mobile traffic figures
The Guardian's mobile site recorded its second-highest level of traffic of all time in January following its responsive design relaunch in November. ABC figures* show that 15.9 million monthly unique browsers accessed the site, up 1.6 million month-on-month and 69% year-on-year.
Andrew Miller, CEO, Guardian Media Group, said: "It's been a fantastic start to the year for the Guardian, with record-breaking website numbers and a fast-growing mobile audience highlighting the power and ongoing success of our digital-first strategy, which continues to open up a world of opportunities for advertisers. This follows on from January's ABC print figures, which confirmed that the Guardian was the only daily quality title to see print sales increase three months in a row - a great achievement in such a challenging market, especially in light of the recent price rise we introduced.
"Multimedia content continues to be a success story for the Guardian, with global video views increasing at a phenomenal speed. We are constantly looking for new ways to showcase our award-winning journalism and engage our audiences, and these figures are testament to our hard work and continued development in this area."
January's new digital records follow on from the Guardian's recent announcement that it will be extending its global reach with a 2013 digital edition in Australia. In preparation for its launch in the forthcoming weeks, the Guardian announced last week that it has hired Lenore Taylor as political editor and Katharine Murphy as deputy political editor.
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Notes to editors:
* Source: ABC digital, January 2013
** Source: US comScore, January 2013
*** Source: Adobe Discover, January 2013
About Guardian News & Media
Guardian News & Media is the publisher of the Guardian, The Observer, guardian.co.uk and guardiannews.com. It is the core business of Guardian Media Group, which is wholly owned by The Scott Trust Ltd, the purpose of which is to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity.
For further information contact:
Giovanna Clark, Guardian News & Media press office, 020 3353 3891