I recently blogged about changing Internet usage habits in the UK, and specifically about the shift from transactional to content based websites. Within that mix, it is typically the growth of newer areas – such as social networks and video sites – that get most of the attention. However, while Web 2.0 and multimedia content account for the majority of growth, more traditional news and media websites are also contributing to the shift.
UK Internet visits to News and Media websites grew by 8% last year, but British news sites aren’t just being successful at home. As the chart below illustrates, US Internet visits to UK News and Media websites have increased by 54% over the last 12 months. BBC News ranked as the 21st most visited News and Media website in US during August, while the Daily Mail was 47th and the BBC Homepage 65th. Other British sites in the US News and Media top 200 last month included: the Telegraph (71st), the FT (115th), The Sun (117th), Times Online (131st) and the Guardian (134th). The growth of British news sites is somewhat slower in Australia, but then they are starting from a larger base; BBC News ranked 13th in the Australian News and Media category last month, for example, while the corporation’s homepage was 18th.

So, returning to the US market; who is visiting the British news websites, and how are they getting there? To answer the latter question first, there are a range of sources. A while ago we highlighted the importance of Digg in driving US traffic to the Telegraph’s homepage, but in aggregate the key site for British news providers in the US is the Drudge Report. The news aggregator is currently the second biggest source of US traffic for UK-based news sites, accounting for 10.6% of visits during August. The Drudge report was a ahead of Google News, which ranked third with 5.3%, but behind Google Search (13.5%). Email was also a key traffic source for British news websites in the US, with Yahoo! Mail (2.5%), Gmail (1.6%) and Hotmail (1.4%) all appearing in the top 10.
Moving on to the question of who is visiting British News sites in the US, it is no surprise to see that over a quarter of visitors come from California, while New York State is the second biggest contributor, accounting for 6.6% of visitors. Slightly more surprising is the list of states that over index most as visitors to UK-based news sites, with Arizona and New Mexico ranking second and third after California. Residents of Wyoming are the least likely to visit.
Our demographics and lifestyle data reveals that wealthy Americans (households earning in excess of $150,000) are the most likely to visit British news websites, but the least affluent (households earning less than $30,000) are the second most likely. Perhaps the latter group includes a lot of students and recent immigrants?
Similarly, the Experian Mosaic USA data tells us that the two groups which most over-index as visitors to UK news websites are Aspiring Contemporaries (described as: “Young, mostly single, ethnically diverse, online active households living in new homes or apartments with discretionary income to spend on themselves”) and Affluent Suburbia (“The wealthiest households in the U.S. living in exclusive suburban neighborhoods enjoying the best of everything that life has to offer”). As you would probably expect, this is a very similar profile to they type of UK Internet users that are most likely to visit US news sites.
This data on US visits to UK news websites was taken from our recent News and Media webinar. Presented by Hitwise account manager Robert Redman, and featuring a guest contribution from the BBC’s Future Media Controller for Journalism, Nic Newman, talking about the impact of social media on journalism, you can listen to a recording here.
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