Guardian.co.uk stumbles in May

May's Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) data reveals a mixed performance for national newspaper websites, despite plenty of online editorial coverage in the run-up to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Euro 2012 Football Championship.

Total monthly browser figures visiting guardian.co.uk, the second most-popular national newspaper website, were 60,847,400 for the month.

The Guardian only publishes audited figures for total monthly browsers every other month, so there is no month-on-month comparison.

However, sources have suggested that monthly browser numbers were strong in April at guardian.co.uk, buoyed by the latest phone-hacking revelations.

MailOnline registered 5,610,664 average daily browsers in May, down 0.76% on April, but remains far and away the most popular newspaper website.

Total monthly browser figures were 91,687,074.

Across the rest of the market, Telegraph.co.uk, the third most-popular newspaper website, reported an average daily user figure of 2,532,022, up 8.06% on the previous month.

Some of the lesser lights, though, had a strong May. The London Evening Standard's website, Standard.co.uk reported a 35% surge in traffic to 150,400 average daily users.

Zach Leonard, managing director for digital at The Independent and London Evening Standard, said: "The record monthly traffic for May illustrates the sustained digital growth of The Independent and London Evening Standard across both web and especially mobile."

The Independent’s website, independent.co.uk, reported 713,000 average daily users, up 2.44% on the previous month.

Follow John Reynolds on Twitter @johnreynolds10

ABC Multiplatform report: May 2012
	May 2012		Daily change (%)
	Daily avg.	Monthly total	Mth/mth	Yr/yr
MailOnline	5,610,664	91,687,074	-0.76	28.52
Metro	348,537	8,521,854	3.92	12.16
Standard.co.uk	150,400	3,356,950	35.97
guardian.co.uk	3,405,011	60,847,400	-12.16	20.42
The Independent	713,000	15,450,335	2.44	5.61
Mirror Group Digital	765,044	15,953,205	15.80	8.23
The Sun	1,527,052	25,359,991	-0.24
Telegraph	2,532,022	49,958,693	8.06	15.68

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk