Times of India Leads Online News Ranking, While Also Generating Significant Traffic from Abroad
New Delhi, 1 October 2013 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report highlighting online news readership in India based on data from its Comscore MMX service. The report showed that there has been significant growth in daily readership of news and information content in the past year, with an increase of 34 percent to 9.4 million average daily visitors to the category.
Comscore News/Information Properties in India August 2012-2013 Total India – Home and Work Computers Source: Comscore MMX
August 2012
August 2013
% Change
Total Unique Visitors (000)
40,044
45,902
15%
Total Visits (000)
259,686
364,592
40%
Average Daily Visitors (000)
7,042
9,402
34%
Average Minutes per Visitor
31.6
41.6
31%
The Times of India Leads Online News Ranking The Times of India continues to be the clear leader in the news category, maintaining its number 1 position since last year with 12.7 million unique visitors in August. India.com Sites showed 25 percent growth breaking into the Top 10 for the first time with more than 7.1 million unique visitors. In addition to those two properties, 16 of the top 20 news properties are currently local news publishers.
Comscore Top 20 News/Information Properties in India August 2013 Total India – Home and Work Computers Source: Comscore MMX
Rank
Property
Unique Visitors (000)
1
The Times of India
12,715
11
The Hindu Group
4,201
2
Yahoo!-ABC News Network
10,721
12
IBN Live
4,175
3
HT Media Ltd
8,219
13
The Indian Express Group
3,492
4
India Today Group
7,676
14
Bhaskar.com
2,537
5
India.com Sites
7,188
15
CNN Network
2,171
6
About
7,044
16
BBC
2,113
7
Jagran Sites
6,312
17
Sify News And Information
2,034
8
NDTV
6,258
18
HPMG News
1,965
9
OneIndia.com Sites
6,182
19
Navbharat Times
1,862
10
The Economic Times
4,415
20
FirstPost.com
1,832
Data also suggests reader engagement for the news category has spiked within the past year, with users spending on average 31 percent more time on news sites at 41.6 minutes per visitor. DivyaBhaskar.co.in and Bhaskar.com demonstrated especially strong engagement at 100.3 minutes and 62.1 minutes, respectively. Other niche news sites with more modestly-sized audiences – including Jagbani.com, PunjabKesari.in, and Navbharat Times – also generated high engagement with a higher number of page views per visitor than the category average of 48.
Several Indian News Properties Attract Significant Audiences from Abroad Continuing a past trend, many of the top Indian News sites see a significant amount of traffic from abroad. FirstPost.com generated the highest share of its audience from abroad at 51.3 percent, followed by Manorma Sites at 45%. The Times of India, as the most prominent news brand, also successfully extends its audience into other markets with 37.8 percent of its audience coming from abroad. NDTV, India.com Sites, and The Indian Express Group also have more than 30 percent of their respective audiences coming from outside of India.
Share of Audience from Abroad Among Top News/Information Properties in India* August 2013 vs. August 2012 Total India – Home and Work Computers Source: Comscore MMX
Unique Visitors (000) from Outside India
Unique Visitors (000) from India
% of Audience From Abroad
1,932
51%
Manorama Sites
902
1,089
45%
7,736
38%
3,550
36%
3,584
33%
1,606
32%
1,741
29%
*Based on News/Information properties with at least 1 million visitors.
About Comscore Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in digital measurement and analytics, delivering insights on web, mobile and TV consumer behavior that enable clients to maximize the value of their digital investments. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
Amarpal SinghSenior Marketing Manager APACComscore, Inc.+65 6221 9100worldpress@comscore.com