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The Weekly Standard Posts Traffic Gains in Final Full Month of Operation;

RushLimbaugh.com and The Washington Times Generate

the Biggest November Traffic Increases Among Top 20 Conservative Websites

January 4, 2019, New York, NY – The Weekly Standard, which ceased publication effective as of December 14, 2018, posted healthy gains in year-over-year November traffic, its last full month of operation, according to TheRighting’s exclusive analysis of Comscore data.  It was The Weekly Standard’s third consecutive month of year-over-year increases.  In September, The Weekly Standard attracted 2,783,000 unique visitors, a 99% year-over-year surge.  The Weekly Standard drew 2,559,000 unique visitors in October, for an 80% gain.

 “Whatever the reason for closing the well-regarded conservative media outlet, it’s not because The Weekly Standard wasn’t attracting a healthy online audience,” said Howard Polskin, President of TheRighting.  “The Weekly Standard has consistently ranked among the top 20 conservative websites as measured by unique visitors.”

 The Washington Times posted the largest percentage gain in audience (+54%), followed by RushLimbaugh.com (+51%).  Breitbart’s year-over-year traffic in November dropped 38%, its third consecutive month of double-digit declines (October -42%; and September -43%).   However, Breitbart still ranked as the second most-visited conservative website for the month. 

 The top five right-wing websites in November based on the total number of unique visitors are as follows:

1.     Foxnews.com (88,947,000)

2.     Breitbart (8,579,000)

3.     The Washington Examiner (7,485,000)

4.     The Washington Times (6,839,000)

5.     The Western Journal (6,767,000)

 The three most prominent mainstream media sites TheRighting tracks each month generated generally strong results in year-over-year unique visitors for November 2018 compared to November 2017: NYTimes.com (+13%), WashingtonPost.com (+6%) and CNN.com (-2%).  The New York Times drew over an additional 12 million unique visitors compared to November 2017. 

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.  (November 2018 data available here.)

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, November 2018, U.S.