The UK is leading the way when it comes to online news, with new figures showing that The Daily Mail’s website, Mail Online, has overtaken the New York Times to become the most-read online newspaper in the world.
The website’s readership has eclipsed the readership of the website of the US’s ‘Grey Lady’ newspaper for the first time, according to new figures from tracking service comScore. According to the figures, the NYTimes saw a readership of 44.8 million in December 2011, but Mail Online managed to end its long-held reign at the top, with 45.3 million people.
Speaking with the BuzzFeed website, Mail Online’s editor, Martin Clarke, said their improving figures came from increasing traction in traffic from the US, stating, “We just do news that people want to read.”
BuzzFeed said that the key to the site’s success could be in its unique layout, that manages to combine content with eye-catching pictures and headlines.
“It’s dense and almost endlessly scrolling, and feels like several newspapers stacked on top of one another,” said BuzzFeed. “It blends original reporting with sharp rewrite, celebrity gossip and hard news, citing but relatively rarely linking out to other publications.”
The New York Times is reportedly not taking the news very well, with a spokeswoman, Eileen Murphy, stating that they disputed the way in which the comScore figures were compiled.
