Times Online reports unique user increase of 1m

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 24-May-07, 13:00

LONDON - Times Online attracted almost 1m more unique users to its site in April than before its £10m relaunch in March this year, according to the latest ABC Electronic figures.

This month's figures show Guardian Unlimited has maintained its sizeable lead over the Times' website, which is in second place, closely followed by The Sun Online and fourth-placed Telegraph.co.uk.

However, News International's Times Online put a slight dent in the Guardian's lead by registering 8.9m unique users for the month of April, just under a 1m increase from the 8m unique users recorded for March. Page impression figures were also up by more than 1m to 59m for the month.

Guardian Unlimited registered almost identical figures to the month before, reporting a total of 15.2m unique users during the whole of April, up by around 0.1m from March. But page impressions were down by roughly 2m to 145m for the month.

The Sun Online, also owned by News International, registered 8.2m unique users in April, up by about 0.4m from the month before. The Sun's page impressions lead the pack with a reported 153m impressions for April.

Telegraph.co.uk figures remained relatively steady, registering 7.4m unique users and 69m page impressions.

The ABC figures provide a common benchmark for web traffic, based on reporting standards; companies engaged by publishers to measure their figures -- such as Hitwise and Web Side Story -- must adhere to this.

The figures include users from outside the UK, which contributes to Guardian Unlimited's commanding lead, given the site's popularity outside the UK, particularly in the US.