Coverage of Kavanaugh Hearings Helps Boost Year-Over-Year

Unique Visitors to Conservative Websites in September

 October 23, 2018, New York, NY – A robust political news environment led by the heated coverage over the appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States, helped drive huge increases in September traffic to many leading right-wing websites.  Four conservative websites posted triple-digit year-over-year growth in unique visitors, according to TheRighting’s exclusive analysis based on comScore data.  Seventy percent of the conservative media outlets in TheRighting’s top 20 websites showed traffic increases. 

 “While some liberal-leaning news websites also posted increases, they paled in comparison to the big numbers registered by many conservative news outlets,” said Howard Polskin, President and Chief Curator, TheRighting.  “September was a big month for controversial political news beyond the Kavanaugh nomination. Other divisive news that captured the public’s attention included Nike’s release of the Colin Kaepernick television commercial and the publication of Bob Woodward’s explosive nonfiction book about the inner workings of the Trump White House.  Right-wing websites appeared to benefit greatly from audiences who were looking for the latest conservative news, analysis, commentary and insights.”

 The Federalist generated a 367% increase in September 2017 to September 2018 unique visitors, the highest percentage growth of any conservative website in TheRighting’s top 20.  It was followed by The Gateway Pundit (+217%), PJ Media (+135%) and Townhall (+110).  The Weekly Standard just missed a triple-digit increase, registering 99% growth vs. September 2017.  Liberal websites posting high percentage increases included Vox, which had an 82% year-over-year increase in unique visitors, followed by Daily Kos (+48%) and The Atlantic (+20%).  

 Foxnews.com drew 93,146,000 unique visitors to its website in September, an increase of 4% compared to September 2017.  Fox News was the leading conservative website for the month of September.  

 The three prominent mainstream media sites TheRighting tracks each month posted negative results in year-over-year unique visitors: The New York Times (-14%), The Washington Post (-10%) and CNN (-8%).  

 The top 5 conservative websites in September unique visitors are as follows:

1.    Foxnews.com (93,146,000)

2.    Breitbart (7,905,000) 

3.    The Daily Caller (6,961,000)

4.    The Washington Examiner (5,923,000)

5.    Western Journal (5,685,000)

 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. (September 2018 data available here.)

 TheRighting also publishes an A-Z Guide to Right-Wing Media  on its website and updates it regularly.  It features descriptions about prominent right-wing media websites.

 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, September 2018, U.S.