Newspaper website traffic falls back following surge during August riots

Every officially audited UK national newspaper website reported a sharp fall in traffic in September, as online news audiences dipped following live coverage of the riots in August. The Mirror Group network of websites, which includes mirror.co.uk and 3am.co.uk , saw the largest drop in online readers, with daily users down 15.34% from September, to 606,268. The group's monthly traffic fell 15.7% compared with August, to 12,583,500, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Thursday. Mail Online remained by some distance the UK's busiest newspaper website, despite a 9.77% fall in traffic compared with August which took its monthly users below 70 million. Daily traffic at the Daily Mail website dropped 7.74%, to 4,063,480. The industry-wide fall in traffic month-on-month can be attributed to the huge popularity enjoyed by newspaper websites in August, as readers flocked online to follow coverage of the riots across England . However, year-on-year figures show that newspaper websites have significantly boosted their traffic in the past 12 months. Guardian.co.uk , the Guardian News & Media website network that includes MediaGuardian.co.uk , posted the biggest growth in monthly users compared to August 2010, up 44.78%. Monthly Mail Online readers are up 44.12% year on year. Telegraph.co.uk saw daily online readers slip back 7.25% to 1,994,145 in September, after the huge rise of August. Monthly users of the Telegraph Media Group website dropped month-on-month to 37,977,383, although that is a yearly rise of 18.65%. The Guardian's website saw a 4.59% fall in daily average users in September, to 2,918,571. The Independent , which plans to relaunch its website this month, reported a modest fall in daily online readers in September, down 0.99% to 658,113. Average monthly readers of Independent.co.uk slipped 0.64%, to 14,675,273, compared with August. Mail Online Daily average browsers: 4,063,480 Month-on-month change: -7.74% Year-on-year change: +52.17% Monthly browsers: 67,606,156 Month-on-month: -9.77% theguardian.com Daily average browsers: 2,918,571 Month-on-month change: -4.59% Year-on-year change: +43.17% Monthly browsers: 52,086,069 Month-on-month change: N/A Telegraph.co.uk Daily average browsers: 1,994,145 Month-on-month change: -7.25% Year-on-year change: +19.43% Monthly browsers: 37,977,383 Month-on-month change: +18.65% Independent.co.uk Daily average browsers: 658,113 Month-on-month change: -0.99% Year-on-year change: +18.88% Monthly browsers: 14,675,273 Month-on-month change: -0.64% Mirror Group Digital Daily average browsers: 606,268 Month-on-month change: -15.48% Year-on-year change: +15.28% Monthly browsers: 12,583,500 Month-on-month change: -15.70% • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook .