SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 By Ariane Turley, September 2020

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 1 What does this report seek to demonstrate? This report tracks the top 25 local news sites in the United States in August 2020 and their year-over-year (YoY) growth, providing insight into how local news has fared in 2020.

What do the top 25 U.S. local news sites tell us? Introduction Despite local news publications struggling with declining advertising revenues, the Coronavirus pandemic has brought unprecedented traffic levels. Almost all of the top 25 local news sites in the U.S. saw YoY growth in traffic levels. Two sites in particular were able to more than double their traffic in August 2020 due to their coverage of local news events that turned national.

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 2 Top 25 Local News Sites in the U.S. in August 2020 and Their YoY Growth

August Monthly Visits and YoY Growth

Local news sites have had unprecedented traffic levels in 2020. In August, the top 25 local news sites in the U.S. had an average of 16.99M visitors and 28% YoY growth in traffic. Two local new sites more than doubled their traffic in August from the previous year – the San Francisco Chronicle and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

*Excludes local TV news stations SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 3 The San Francisco Chronicle’s Growing Loyal Monthly Visits to the San Francisco Chronicle Readership U.S., Desktop & Mobile Web, August 2019 - August 2020 The San Francisco Chronicle’s spikes in visitation is tied closely to key events. In October 2019, Sonoma County had the largest wildfire it had ever seen. Sfchronicle.com had over 10M visitors that month as people were looking for the most up-to-date information on the fire. In March 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., traffic spiked again. As wildfires once again ravage California, traffic to the San Francisco Chronicle has once again spiked - increasing 139% YoY in August. Marketing Mix for the San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle has grown its share of direct U.S., Desktop & Mobile Web, August 2019 vs. August 2020 traffic by eight percentage points in August (compared to the same period in 2019), indicating higher levels of brand loyalty and awareness. Now, more users are going directly to the site for the most up-to-date information, instead of arriving to it via searches for key topics or events.

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 4 San Francisco Chronicle’s Fire Coverage Beats Top Sites Capturing Organic Traffic for California Fire Out National Newspapers Keywords U.S., Desktop, August 2020 During the month of August, the San Francisco Chronicle was capturing 12% of desktop traffic to searches related to the California fires - second only to the California government website. The newspaper captured more than three times the amount of traffic than any other newspaper - including national news outlets such as The New York Times or CNN.

Other local news outlets that captured significant share of traffic include the LA Times, Mercury News (based in San Jose), Kron4 (the local news station), and the Sacramento Bee.

The San Francisco Chronicle is the top media site capturing organic traffic for searches related to the California fires

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 5 Fire Tracking Map Is a Key Traffic Driver Share of Total Traffic from Fire Tracking Map, SF Chronicle vs. LA Times U.S., Desktop, August 2019 - August 2020 The San Francisco Chronicle has established itself as the place to go to track the ongoing fires on the West Coast. In October of 2019, 12% of all desktop traffic to the San Francisco Chronicle was to their coverage of the fires, most notably their fire tracking map. Only 3% of all traffic to the Los Angeles Times that same month was to their coverage of the fires.

Despite fire tracking coverage having a small share of total visits, the Los Angeles Times still had more overall visits to their fire coverage in October 2019 than the SF Chronicle. They had over 480K visits, vs. 400K for the SF Chronicle.

However, in August 2020, the SF Chronicle’s coverage of the fires substantially surpassed the LA Times. Not only did nearly 30% of all traffic to the SF Chronicle go directly to their fire coverage, but they had over 1.5M visits. The LA Times, in contrast, only had 506K visits. Nearly 30% of traffic to the San Francisco Chronicle in August was to their fire tracking map

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 6 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Won Traffic on Monthly Visits to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Local Events U.S., Desktop & Mobile Web, August 2019 - August 2020 Like many online publications, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel saw an increase in traffic during the Coronavirus. However, the increase was relatively minor - jsonline.com, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s website, only saw a 24% month-over-month (MoM) increase in traffic in March. The largest peak in traffic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came in August 2020, after the shooting of Jacob Blake and the subsequent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s local news angle in their Marketing Mix for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage of the events in Kenosha led to 8.7M visitors, a 76% U.S., Desktop & Mobile Web, August 2019 vs. August 2020 increase from the previous month. 60% of these visitors came from search – almost double the percentage of visitors that came from search in August 2019.

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 7 MJS’ Coverage of Kenosha Beats Out National Top Sites Capturing Organic Traffic for Kenosha / Jacob Newspapers Blake Related Keywords U,S., Desktop, August 2020 On August 23rd, Jacob Blake was shot by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The incident was captured on camera, and the video quickly went viral. In the aftermath of the shooting, protests broke out all over the country, but particularly in Kenosha.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel differentiated their coverage of the events in Kenosha with a local news bend, and was able to win traffic share from national competitors. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel captured 7% of organic search traffic for keywords related to Kenosha and the shooting of Jacob Blake - second only to CNN. When stories are local, readers are still drawn to local coverage.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is the only local newspaper in the top 10 sites capturing organic traffic for searches related to the shooting of Jacob Blake and the subsequent uprisings in Kenosha, MI

SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 8 Top 25 Local News Sites in the U.S., August 2020 – Part 1

RANK PUBLICATION DOMAIN AVG. MONTHLY VISITS YoY GROWTH HOMETOWN

1 New York Post nypost.com 104.8M 10% New York, NY

2 Los Angeles Times latimes.com 41.7M 33% Los Angeles, CA

3 SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle) sfgate.com 33.1M 15% San Francisco, CA

4 Chicago Tribune chicagotribune.com 24.3M 51% Chicago, IL

5 New York Daily News nydailynews.com 18.2M 0% New York, NY

6 Chron.com (Houston Chronicle) chron.com 14.5M -11% Houston, TX

7 Star Tribune startribune.com 14.1M 60% Minneapolis, MN

8 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ajc.com 13.0M 33% Atlanta, GA

9 The Oregonian oregonlive.com 12.8M 8% Portland, OR

10 The Mercury News mercurynews.com 12.4M 28% San Jose, CA

11 Atlanta Black Star atlantablackstar.com 12.4M 26% Atlanta, GA

12 The Seattle Times seattletimes.com 11.8M 37% Seattle, WA

13 The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com 11.4M 14% Dallas, TX

*Excludes local TV news stations SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 9 Top 25 Local News Sites in the U.S., August 2020 – Part 2

RANK PUBLICATION DOMAIN AVG. MONTHLY VISITS YoY GROWTH HOMETOWN

14 San Francisco Chronicle sfchronicle.com 10.8M 139% San Francisco, CA

15 The Plain Dealer cleveland.com 9.9M -1% Cleveland, OH

16 The Boston Globe bostonglobe.com 9.7M 17% Boston, MA

17 The Arizona Republic azcentral.com 9.6M 24% Phoenix, AZ

18 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel jsonline.com 8.7M 118% Milwaukee, WI

19 Miami Herald miamiherald.com 8.6M -18% Miami, FL

20 Boston.com (The Boston Globe) boston.com 8.1M 19% Boston, MA

21 The Detroit News detroitnews.com 8.0M 26% Detroit, MI

22 Orlando Sentinel orlandosentinel.com 6.8M -10% Orlando, FL

23 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review triblive.com 6.8M 35% Pittsburgh, PA

24 Chicago Sun-Times suntimes.com 6.7M 32% Chicago, IL

25 St. Louis Post-Dispatch stltoday.com 6.6M 5% St. Louis, MO

*Excludes local television news stations SimilarWeb’s U.S. Top 25 Local News Sites, August 2020 | 10 Thank You.

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