CNN Digital Tops All Competitors in September: #1 in Global and Domestic Unique Visitors, Mobile, Video, Millennials, Politics and Social
CNN’s digital audience continued to outpace all competitors again in September 2019, according to data from both Adobe Analytics and Comscore.
According to Adobe Analytics, CNN’s global digital audience in September 2019 was its second largest on record for unique visitors. This continues CNN’s summer streak, with September, August, July and June surpassing YoY levels and setting the bar at new heights. September was also the 7th consecutive month of record high global mobile audience.
Comscore data also indicates that CNN’s digital audience in the US in September 2019 was its second largest on record behind July, with an impressive 139 million unique visitors and 120 million mobile unique visitors. This data once again shows that more people are getting their news online from CNN than any other outlet.
CNN again passed the BBC and Sky News in international audience in unique multiplatform visitors, holding its position as the #1 global digital news brand in August 2019 (August data is the most current available). Similarly, on the domestic front, CNN came in again as the #1 digital news outlet in September in the key categories of multiplatform unique visitors, mobile unique visitors, multiplatform video starts (August 2019), millennial unique visitors, social audience and political unique visitors, continuing its long streak of success.
#1 IN GLOBAL NEWS
CNN saw a global audience of 170 million unique multiplatform visitors in August 2019 (data most current available), 18 million more than second place BBC and 56 million more than third place Yahoo News.
CNN.COM*: 170 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors
- BBC – 152 million unique visitors
- Yahoo News – 114 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 109 million unique visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 106 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 103 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience, August 2019, Worldwide Rollup. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand, English-language, global competitors in the News/Information Category, including The United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Vietnam. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018. (August 2019 data is the most current available).
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VISITORS
CNN had its second biggest month ever in September 2019 with a domestic audience size of 139 million unique multiplatform visitors domestically – 39 million more unique visitors than second-place Fox News. September 2019 also marked CNN’s 29th month in a row of an audience of more than 100 million unique visitors.
CNN.COM*: 139 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors
- FoxNews.com – 100 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 99 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 96 million unique visitors
- NBCNews.com – 83 million unique visitors
- USAToday.com – 78 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience – Desktop Persons 2+ and Total Mobile Persons 13+, September 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018. Biggest month ever claim is based on Persons 18+ prior to January 2017 and Persons 13+ after.
#1 IN MOBILE UNIQUE VISITORS
Mobile audiences on CNN platforms continued to expand in September with 120 million mobile domestic unique visitors – 34 million more mobile users than second-place The New York Times and 36 million more than third-place Fox News.
CNN.COM*: 120 Million Mobile Unique Visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 86 million unique visitors
- FoxNews.com – 84 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 83 million unique visitors
- NBCNews.com – 75 million unique visitors
- DailyMail.co.uk – 69 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Mobile Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Mobile Persons 13+, September 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018. Biggest month ever claim is based on Persons 18+ prior to January 2017 and Persons 13+ after.
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VIDEO STARTS
Continuing its reign as the #1 domestic digital video news source, CNN again ranked as #1 in August 2019 with 540 million multiplatform video starts, generating 218 million more video starts than its nearest competitor Yahoo News.
CNN.COM*: 540 Million Multiplatform Video Starts
- Yahoo News – 322 million video starts
- FoxNews.com – 270 million video starts
- ABCNews.com Sites – 180 million video starts
- MSN News – 150 million video starts
- MSNBC TV– 122 million video starts
Source: Comscore Video Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Audience – Desktop Persons 2+ and Total Mobile Persons 18+ and OTT Persons 2+, August 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018. (August data is the most current available)
#1 IN MILLENNIAL REACH
Reaching a younger audience than any other digital news competitor, CNN ranked as the #1 domestic news outlet in Millennial unique multiplatform visitors (between the ages of 18-34) with 37 million in September 2019. It was the biggest month since December 2017. It was the biggest month since December 2017.
CNN.COM*: 37 Million Millennial Unique Multiplatform Visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 29 million millennial unique visitors
- DailyMail.co.uk – 26 million millennial unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 25 million millennial unique visitors
- NBCNews.com – 21 million millennial unique visitors
- USAToday.com – 19 million millennial unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Digital Audience Persons 18-34, September 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018.
#1 POLITICAL NEWS SOURCE
CNN sustained its #1 rank as in domestic political news with 46 million multiplatform unique visitors in September, and 40 million mobile unique visitors. CNN Politics has remained the #1 online political news outlet since September 2015 when the first person declared their candidacy for president in the 2016 race.
CNN Politics: 46 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors
- Politico.com – 32 million unique visitors
- TheHill.com – 29 million unique visitors
- Fox News Politics – 20 million unique visitors
- WashingtonExaminer.com – 15 million unique visitors
- MSNBC TV – 14 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, New/Information – Politics, Total Digital Audience – Desktop 2+ and Total Mobile 13+, September 2019, U.S.; Comscore Video Metrix®, CNN Politics, Total Audience – Desktop 2+, September 2019, U.S. CNN Politics has been #1 in the competitive rank in video and multiplatform views since September 2015. #1 claim is based on Persons 18+ prior to January 2017 and Persons 13+ after.
#1 SOCIAL MEDIA IN SEPTEMBER
CNN has ranked as the number one social news outlet in the US for more than six years with more fans and followers than any other competitor.
- #1 U.S. news brand on Facebook with 49.1 million Facebook fans across CNN’s main accounts
- #1 most followed news brand on Twitter with 98.6 million followers across CNN’s main accounts
- @CNNBRK alone had 11.7 million more Twitter followers than the leading competitive flagship account (The New York Times – 44.1 mm followers) and 37.4 million more than Fox News (18.4 mm followers)
- #1 most followed US news brand on Instagram with 8.4 million followers
Sources: Shareablee, September 2019. Brands included in comparison are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, HuffPost, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BBC News(UK), BuzzFeed, ABC News, NPR, Mashable, The Daily Mail, NowThis, AJ+, Al Jazeera English, NBC News, CBS News, HLN, and Yahoo News. Facebook main accounts for CNN are CNN and CNN International. Twitter main accounts for CNN are @CNN and @CNNBRK. Instagram for CNN includes flagship account only. Historical record begins January 2013.
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