Newsquest-owned title the Swindon Advertiser saw the biggest rise in monthly web traffic
Regional newspaper websites saw an increase of more than a quarter in daily browsers in the first half of the year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
According to figures released today audited newspaper groups saw an overall rise in average daily unique browsers of 25.2 per cent, year-on-year.
Individual site results show the Midland News Association owned Expressandstar.com experienced a year-on-year increase in monthly unique users of 43.7 per cent for the six month period of January to June, despite the introduction of digital subscriptions in April.
Results for the site showed a rise in traffic from 475,971 in the first six months of 2010 to 683,914 in 2011.
Expressandstar.com also reported a 17.6 per cent increase in average daily traffic on the previous six months, and a period-on-period rise of 20.2 per cent in daily unique browsers.
The biggest individual year-on-year and period-on-period rises in monthly traffic were recorded by Newsquest-owned Swindonadvertiser.com, which reported a 33.6 per cent hike on the previous six months, and a year-on-year rise of 61.5 per cent.
Trinity Mirror recorded the highest increases year-on-year as a group, with the network reporting a 54.7 per cent rise in monthly traffic, taking it over the nine million mark for the first half of the year.
The Scotsman website, a Johnston Press title, reported the biggest average monthly traffic figure for January to June of 1,974,290, followed by Trinity Mirror's Manchester Evening News with 1,374,641.
Jan Pitt, group executive director of client services at ABC said the regional newspaper site results are "a great showcase for their importance as a source of local news and information in their communities".
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