January ABCes: Guardian edges 30m unique users; all sites record growth

Guardian.co.uk gained more than seven million unique users last month and recovered from a drop in unique user figures in December, according to the January 2009 report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe).

A month-on-month increase of 30.6 per cent saw the title near 30 million monthly unique users for January, with an exact count at 29,811,671.

Another monthly rise in unique users - 23.1 per cent for January to 25,904,722 - secured second place for Telegraph.co.uk. Year-on-year growth in unique users for the site was 109.8 per cent last month, according to the figures.

Meanwhile, Times Online leapfrogged Mail Online to record the third highest tally of unique users for January, narrowly beating its DMGT competitor by 22,898,300, to the Mail's 22,877,431.

The full figures for the six audited titles and Mirror Group's websites are listed below. The percentage in brackets indicates the month-on-month change compared with December's ABCe report:

Guardian.co.uk
Unique users: 29,811,671 (+30.6 per cent); +51.3 per cent year-on-year

Telegraph.co.uk
Unique users: 25,904,722 (+23.1 per cent); +109.8 per cent year-on-year

Mail Online
Unique users: 22,877,431 (+16.3 per cent); +27.8 per cent year-on-year

Times Online
Unique users: 22,898,300 (+19.8 per cent); +51.8 per cent year-on-year

TheSun.co.uk
Unique users: 21,910,839 (+15.6 per cent); +64.5 per cent year-on-year

Independent.co.uk
Unique users: 10,240,271 (+17 per cent); +108.2 per cent year-on-year

Mirror Group
Unique users: 6,646,495 (+25 per cent); year-on-year comparison not available

New six-monthly figures for regional media, including Guardian Regional Media, Johnston Press and Northcliffe Media, will also be released for the first time today.

The multi-platform regional report includes data for 61 online properties and networks, in addition to circulation figures for their related newspapers.

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