Sun Online heads the red-tops

by Tristan O'Carroll Media Week 24-Jul-08, 12:30

LONDON - TheSun.co.uk remains the most popular website among the red-top newspapers, posting an ABCe of 15.5 million unique users in June with its online audience growing by more than any other newspaper site over the previous year, bar the Telegraph online, according to the latest ABCe figures.

Mirror Group's online audience grew faster than any other newspaper site last month - by 12.4% - but it was still placed behind The Sun, with 5.43 million unique users in June.

Mirror Group only started publishing ABCe data in April, at which point its ABCe was four million.

The Sun's year-on-year growth of 64.4% marks a remarkable 12 months for the News International-owned title's online performance.

This week it emerged that The Sun Online racked up a record 10,000 downloads in just three days for its Page 3 desktop application, Desktop Keeley, which is based on the newspaper's popular Page 3 model Keeley Hazell.

Like all other newspapers, overseas audiences contributed a significant share of audience for The Sun and Mirror Group. Non-UK audiences accounted for 10 million (65%) of The Sun's online audience, while 2.4 million (44%) of Mirror Group's online audience in June were from overseas.