Sun loses its shine in February ABCe figures

by Paul McNally, Brand Republic 20-Mar-08, 12:50

LONDON - The Sun was unable to repeat January's record web traffic performance, with Sun Online posting a 6% fall in monthly unique users in February, according to ABCe figures released today.

The Sun's network of sites, which includes TheSun.co.uk, Page3.com and NewsoftheWorld.co.uk, fell back below the 13m unique user mark in February, down 5.97% month on month to 12.53m.

Sun Online was the worst-performing of the five national newspaper websites that publish monthly audited web traffic figures -- with all the sites posting monthly declines, which was to be expected due to February containing two days fewer than January.

The Sun had celebrated a record 13.32m unique users in January, boosted by an exclusive web video which appeared to show troubled singer Amy Winehouse smoking crack.

Its strong performance at the beginning of the year had helped the site distance itself from fifth-ranked Telegraph.co.uk. However, February's fall has left a gap of less than 250,000 users between The Sun and the Telegraph.

Telegraph.co.uk fell marginally between January and February, down 0.53 per cent to 12.29m users. The site posted the biggest year-on-year increase of the five ABCe-audited sites -- up 70.6 per cent on this time last year.

Guardian.co.uk, formerly Guardian Unlimited, remains the UK's most-visited national newspaper website, but saw a 0.96% drop in monthly unique users in January, down to 19.52m. This figure marks a 42% increase year on year.

Mail Online, the combination of Dailymail.co.uk and MailonSunday.co.uk which enjoyed record web traffic in January, slid 4.85% in February to 17m users, but remains in the number two position, behind the Guardian.

Times Online, meanwhile, remains the third-placed national newspaper website, with 14.5m monthly unique users -- down 4% month on month.