The biggest riser already on the charts was progressive news site Raw Story, which climbed eight spots to 37th place on the back of a 24% month-on-month traffic increase to 33.2 million. The contraction is particularly pronounced among the top ten US news sites by traffic, where eight publishers saw visits drop compared to July. Going the opposite direction, however, was the US outpost of fellow British publisher The Sun (22.2 million visits), which dropped 15 places to 50th on the back of 34.9% month-on-month and 65.1% year-on-year traffic declines. Athlon Sports (up 218.4% year-on-year to 35 million) was the fastest riser in the ranks of the top 50, jumping eight places to 33rd on the back of 18% month-on-month traffic growth, the second most growth of any publisher in the top 50. Also possibly reflecting interest in the US presidential election, the fastest monthly growth among the top 50 was seen at Real Clear Politics, where visits were up nearly 40% compared with September. Among the broader top 50 news sites in the US, sports news site athlonsports.com (34.7 million) continued its reign as the fastest-growing publisher, nearly quadrupling its web visits compared to October 2023.
- The shallowest fall in the top ten was seen at People magazine (150.6 million), which nonetheless lost 5% of its traffic.
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- Year-on-year the fastest-growing top ten news site was the AP, which saw 162.5% more visits in November 2024 than it did in the same month in 2023.
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- Almost all the top 50 news sites in the US saw traffic fall in September, deepening a decline that began in August.
The only other site in the top ten to see growth both compared to September 2024 and August 2025 was The New York Times, up 9% month on month and 3% year on year to 461.6 million visits in first place. NBC News was up 54% month on month (the biggest leap compared to August in the whole top 50 ranking) and 5% year on year to 96.6 million, putting it in tenth place. The BBC and NBC News saw the most traffic growth among the ten biggest news websites in the US in September, according to the latest Similarweb data. Ten news websites saw their monthly visits decline by 40% or more in November compared to a year earlier, according to the latest data from Similarweb.
The second-fastest annual growth was at climate site The Cooldown (25.5 million, up 562%) and the third-fastest was at Newsweek (172%), which was also the fastest-growing site among the top ten domains. Year-on-year, however, Athlon (athlonsports.com) saw the greatest growth in the top 50, drawing in 697% more visits in July 2024 than in July 2023. The company says the update has improved the accuracy of the data, particularly with regard to smaller websites.
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The Independent is one of several UK newsbrands along with The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Express and the BBC that have recently put focus on expansion in the US. The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (107.7 million visits) in tenth, one place ahead of the BBC (101 million). UK newsbrand The Independent (25.7 million, up 44%) also made the top ten for growth, ranking 39th in the top 50. Newsweek was the fastest-growing news site in the US in February while climate news startup The Cooldown entered the list in 42nd position, according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking.
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Fastest-growing was long-standing sports publisher Athlon Sports, which entered our top 50 for the first time in 33rd place (35.9 million visits, up 962% year-on-year). People meanwhile retook fifth place following its strong growth, with Yahoo Finance (154.4 million) falling into seventh. MSNBC (29.2 million) increased visits by 66%, NBC News (128 million) by 62%, Axios (40 million) by 54% and The Atlantic (28.2 million) by 52%.
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The biggest year-on-year drop among the top ten was seen at Gannett’s USA Today, which shed 17% of its March 2024 traffic to attract 134.7 million visits last month. Three in five of the top 50 news websites in the US recorded year-on-year growth, with the biggest percentage increase seen at sports news site Athlon Sports. Rival title The Mirror, which is yet to feature in the top 50 US news websites, grew 631% year on year to 15.1 million visits in April 2025 according to Similarweb data. Substack rose to 19th position with growth of 42.5% year on year to 67.7 million visits in the US for its network of newsletter-driven websites. Only 15 out of the top 50 news websites in the US grew traffic year on year in May, according to the latest data from Similarweb. More than half (29) of the 50 biggest news websites in the US saw a month-on-month decline.