BBC.com Reaches Highest Traffic Levels Ever with Continued Quarterly Growth Throughout 2014 Across the U.S.
Record Number of Consumers Turn to BBC.com in 2014 for Comprehensive Coverage of Major Global Stories and Breaking News Events
Successful BBC Earth Section Launch and Continued Rise in Traffic to Feature Sections Contribute to Growth
New York, NY – BBC.com today announced that Q4 yielded its highest traffic to date, on the heels of four successive quarters of growth across 2014, making BBC.com one of the top ranked sites within the general news category according to comScore.
Total digital population (desktop and mobile combined) for BBC.com in Q4 averaged 31.6M unique visitors in the U.S., up 14% over the previous quarter. The site also reached a new peak figure on mobile devices reaching 12.6M unique visitors – up 20% over previous bests. Driving factors contributing to this ongoing growth include:
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- BBC.com’s trusted, in-depth coverage and analysis of major international news stories – from the conflicts in Ukraine, to the Ebola outbreak and the disappearance of flight MH370. Alongside these major international stories, BBC.com continued to offer a wide breadth of global journalism and first-hand reporting via its extensive network of international correspondents.
- The BBC Earth feature section launch was the highest debut of any other section – due in part to the release of the widely shared infographic Your Life on Earth which reached 1M views in less than 5 days globally.
Richard Porter, Controller of English for BBC Global News Ltd, said, “In an increasingly interconnected world, the need for impartial, trusted coverage of news that affects all corners of the globe has rarely been greater. It’s always encouraging to see such proof that our audiences appreciate the BBC’s unrivalled global perspective on major international stories, reported first-hand by our network of world-class journalists.”
“The growth we have seen in the last year is further confirmation that users continue to seek a trusted source for breaking news, and that BBC.com is increasingly their destination of choice,” said Nick Ascheim, Senior Vice President of Consumer Digital, BBC Worldwide North America. “Even better news is that our visitors are staying longer and returning more frequently. Our aim over the past two years was to solidify our position as the world’s choice for breaking news while enriching the experience for our users by launching a suite of features sections – like BBC Future, BBC Capital, and most recently BBC Earth – and these stats show that we have met that goal.”
Source: comScore MMX Multi-Platform US data. BBC [M] definition used. Above data reflects monthly averages for Oct-Dec 2014. BBC Earth Infographic data based on Adobe Omniture Ad Hoc Analysis, Global data excludes the UK.