October Surprise? Several Conservative Websites

Fail to Grow Year-Over-Year Audience in Key Month

November 30, 2020, New York, NY – Six prominent conservative websites in TheRighting’s top 20 failed to grow their audience in October 2020, according to TheRighting’s exclusive analysis of mobile and desktop traffic based on Comscore data. TheRighting’s research showed that five conservative websites experienced year-over-year (YOY) declines in unique visitors.  They include the Daily Caller (-27%), the Washington Examiner (-18%), RushLimbaugh.com (-14%), the Daily Wire (-8%), and Newsmax (-4%). 

 Foxnews.com had a zero percent increase in unique visitors from October 2019 to October 2020 making it the first time since August 2019 that the website failed to register a YOY percentage increase in unique visitors.  In October 2019, Foxnews.com attracted 100,914,000 unique visitors and in October 2020 the site drew 100,799,000.  

 “The traffic numbers for several prominent conservative websites were surprisingly soft in October,” said Howard Polskin, President and Chief Curator, TheRighting. “I was expecting a big surge in traffic in the weeks leading up to one of the most consequential and controversial presidential elections in U.S. history.  I based these assumptions on the dramatic events that dominated the October news cycle including President Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization, the Supreme Court hearings, the Biden and Trump town halls, and the final presidential debate.  The weaker-than-expected audience numbers suggest fatigue among right-wing news consumers when it came to the latest developments in the election and the battle against the pandemic.” 

 Despite failing to register a gain in unique visitors in October 2020, Foxnews.com still led all conservative websites.  However, CNN.com drew almost 46,000,000 more unique visitors than Foxnews.com for the month and it posted a 17% YOY traffic increase with 146,737,000 unique visitors.  The New York Times Brand attracted 97,045,000 unique visitors (+11% YOY), followed by the Washingtonpost.com with 92,183,000 unique visitors (+10% YOY). TheRighting tracks those three mainstream websites on a regular basis.

 Leaders in Growth Among Top 20 Conservative Websites for October 2020

(by unique visitor percentage increase from year ago)

·      Bongino.com (+1,101%)

·      PJ Media (+291%)

·      The Federalist (+211%)

 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 updates both of them regularly.  The guides feature descriptions about prominent right-wing media personalities and 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, October 2020, U.S.