Coronavirus Crisis Coverage Drives Healthy Gains

for Conservative News Websites in March

April 23, 2020, New York, NY – Extensive coverage of the coronavirus crisis in March drove huge gains in year-over-year (YOY) traffic for conservative news websites, according to TheRighting’s exclusive analysis of March 2020 mobile and desktop traffic based on Comscore data. Every right-wing website in TheRighting’s top 20 list experienced a YOY increase in audience except one (TheBlaze), with four websites more than doubling their traffic compared to March 2019. 

 Foxnews.com posted its largest percentage increase (28%) since TheRighting began keeping records with Comscore data in September 2018.  The site had more than 131 million unique visitors, a jump of almost 28 million unique visitors.  It led all other conservative websites in total unique visitors.  The National Review recorded the largest percentage gain with a 203% surge in unique visitors versus March 2019.  For the fifteenth month in a row, the Washington Examiner posted a percentage increase in YOY traffic. 

 “I’ve been analyzing traffic to conservative websites for 20 months and I’ve never seen such large, across-the-board percentage gains in unique visitors,” said Howard Polskin, President and Chief Curator, TheRighting.  “Furthermore, almost all websites that I studied in March on every side of the political spectrum saw healthy gains.  News consumers, whether they were conservative, middle-of-the-road or liberal, were apparently seeking the same thing: the latest news of the unfolding crisis, analysis of the events, insightful commentary, and maybe even a ray of hope buried somewhere under the avalanche of stories about the pandemic.” 

 The three leading US mainstream news sources that TheRighting regularly follows every month experienced significant YOY audience growth.  CNN.com attracted 54.7 million more unique visitors in March 2020 compared to March 2019 for a +45% change; the New York Times was up more 52 million unique visitors (+51%); and the Washington Post increased by just over 52 million unique visitors as well (+60%). 

 Leaders and Laggards Among Top 20 Conservative Websites for March 2020

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

Leaders:

·      National Review (+203%)

·      Washington Times (+182%)

·      Washington Examiner (+129%)

Laggard (only one site in the top 20 experienced a decline):

·      TheBlaze (-19%)

 

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 an A-Z Guide to Right-Wing Media  on its website and updates it regularly.  The guide 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, March 2020, U.S.

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