March Traffic Plunges at Majority

of Top Conservative Websites 

for 2nd Straight Month

April 20,  2021 – For the second straight month, the majority of top conservative websites posted year-over-year (YOY) declines in unique visitors, according to TheRighting’s exclusive analysis of March mobile and desktop traffic based on Comscore data.  Of the twenty websites listed in TheRighting’s March 2021 top conservative websites chart, 12 experienced declines in YOY traffic, with many posting large double-digit decreases.

YOY unique visitors to Foxnews.com fell by almost 49 million in March 2021, the largest slide of any conservative website tracked by TheRighting.  It represented a 37% YOY drop.  The Washington Examiner, the Washington Times and National Review all registered YOY traffic declines of more than 65% for March 2021. 

Although Newsmax didn’t post the largest gains in YOY traffic for March, it continued its streak of five consecutive months of audience increases.  It was TheRighting’s fifth ranked conservative website for the month, registering a healthy 40% rise in YOY traffic.  

“While the drop in traffic compared to a year ago was expected across many news outlets, the steepness of the declines experienced by so many conservative and mainstream websites surprised me,” said Howard Polskin, President and Chief Curator, TheRighting.  “The events of March 2020 – the global health crisis precipated by the pandemic, the near total disruption of our daily lives, the precipitous drop in the stock market, the Democratic primaries – all contributed to a once-in-a-generation news environment that constantly drew eyeballs to websites offering the latest information, insights and analysis. March 2021 paled in comparison and it’s reflected in the very soft traffic numbers.”  

 Leaders and Losers Among Top 20 Conservative Websites for March 2021

(by unique visitor percentage increase/decrease from year ago)

Leaders

·      Bongino.com (+207%)

·      Daily Signal (+113%)

·      Hannity.com (+78%)

Losers

·      Washington Times (-80%)

·      National Review (-76%)

·      Washington Examiner (-69%)

The three U.S. mainstream news websites followed regularly by TheRighting also saw significant YOY decreases in unique visitors.  YOY unique visitors to The New York Times brand fell by 62 million, a 40% drop.  Washingtonpost.com showed a 37% YOY loss in its March audience.  CNN.com generated 144,492,000 unique visitors in March 2021, 18% below the 175 million it attracted in March 2020.   

Parler Talk

The number of unique visitors for three conservative-friendly social media sites for March 2021 are as follows:

·      Rumble (8,667,000; -24% vs year ago)

·      Parler (3,373,000; year-ago data not available)

·      MeWe (2,576,000; +334% vs year ago)

Each month, TheRighting examines Comscore data on dozens of prominent conservative websites that post original content.  TheRighting ranks the top 20 conservative websites on the basis of unique visitors and also provides data on whether unique visitors have increased or decreased year over year.  That information is posted on the Metrics section of TheRighting’s website. 

TheRighting also publishes a listing of Who’s Who in Conservative Media as well as an  A-Z Guide to Right-Wing Media and A-Z Guide to Liberal Media, and updates them regularly.  Additionally, TheRighting has created the Trump Book Tracker, which monitors all Trump-related books that will be published in 2021 and  beyond. 

Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-defined list, including, but not limited to Foxnews.com, Breitbart.com, DailyCaller.com, WashingtonExaminer.com, WesternJournal.com, Washingtontimes.com, Total Digital Audience, March 2021, U.S.

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