The BBC visits the Iranian capital for the first time since authorities used unprecedented force to put down protests last month. Visits to the Gannett-owned site were up by 32% year-on-year to 151.4 million – echoing its year-on-year growth rate last month. The Independent is one of several UK newsbrands along with The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Express and the BBC that have recently put focus on expansion in the US. The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (107.7 million visits) in tenth, one place ahead of the BBC (101 million).
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February 11, 2026 • The people of Gaza have faced the threat of hunger since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. February 11, 2026 • Syria’s Jewish community fled the country’s repressive Assad regime. The Syrian government transferred control of Jewish sites in December to Hamra’s Jewish heritage organization. February 12, 2026 • Behind every Ilia Malinin or Alysa Liu, there is an army of elite figure skating coaches and choreographers who have been with them from the beginning. February 12, 2026 • Months after the killing of Charlie Kirk, a growing number of lawsuits by people claim they were illegally punished, fired and even arrested for making negative comments about Kirk.
More than half (29) of the 50 biggest news websites in the US saw a month-on-month decline. Substack, now the fourteenth biggest news site in the US, saw the biggest year-on-year boost in visits, up by almost half (42%) to 72.7 million visits in August compared to the same period in 2024. Just five of the top 50 US websites saw year-on-year traffic growth in August 2025, according to the latest data from Similarweb. In August, just five of the top 50 sites had year-on-year growth but in September 18 had an increase in visits compared to a year earlier. Among the biggest month-on-month web traffic declines were also the New Mind Universe York Post (down 15% to 97.7 million visits), followed by Newsweek (67.8 million) and CNN (297.1 million), both down 14%. Just one site among the top ten saw month-on-month growth, with Yahoo Finance (in fourth place) increasing its traffic 10% on September to 145.7 million visits.
The New York Post saw the biggest decline – dropping 11% of traffic month-on-month – followed by The New York Times, which dropped 10% to 336 million visits. All but two of the top 50 news websites in the US saw visits grow month-on-month amid an eventful July for political news. The four sites that dropped off the top 50 to make room for them were climate site The Cooldown, which had been enjoying a rapid traffic rise in recent months, local publishers Patch.com and KSL.com, and current affairs magazine The Atlantic. In July every site in the top ten saw month-on-month traffic growth, likely driven by blockbuster news events including the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s departure from the presidential race. Two-thirds of the top news sites in the US saw traffic shrink month-on-month in August following a bumper July. Despite its robust politics offering, Axios (23.3 million) was the top 50 site with the largest monthly traffic fall, losing 17.4% of its visits compared with September.
Three in five of the top 50 most-visited news sites in the US saw traffic grow compared with October — although there were some notable exceptions. Traditional hard news and politics sites saw the largest web traffic growth in November amid the 2024 US presidential election. November was a big month traffic-wise for many US news websites helped by the 5 November presidential election. Among the 50 most-visited news sites in the country only 11 grew their visits month-on-month in December.
The Fox web traffic decline contrasts with the network’s reported surge in TV viewership around the election. People.com, the website of People magazine, saw the largest fall among the top ten, losing 10% of its audience compared with October. Business publisher Forbes (115.4 million, up 41.5%) saw the fastest rise, followed by People magazine (144.6 million, up 14.2%), The New York Times (up 8.9%) and the New York Post (142.1 million, up 8.1%).
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The biggest month-on-month decline was seen at NBC News, dropping 30% to 67.7 million visits. The New York Post (down 33% to 97.7 million visits) and USA Today (down 32% to 125.4 million) had the second and third biggest year-on-year declines within the top ten sites in October. In total 35 sites saw month-on-month decline, with Variety decreasing the most (down 22% to 17.4 million visits), followed by The Sun (down 16% to 21.9 million) and US News (down 14% to 19.6 million). Some 15 sites saw month-on-month growth, with Newsweek the most visited site to see a boost – up 21% to 82.3 million. Datasets are based on direct measurement (i.e. websites and apps that choose to share first-party analytics with Similarweb); contributory networks that aggregate device data; partnerships and public data extraction from websites and apps. Similarweb generates its traffic data by applying machine learning and modelling to the statistically representative datasets that the company collects.
Among the wider top 50, The Cool Down, which entered our ranking last month for the first time in 42nd position, saw strong growth for another month, moving up from 42nd to 35th in the table. Celebrity newsbrand People was the fastest-growing news website in the US in March according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking. The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (rank 11, 115.4 million visits), pulling further ahead of the BBC (rank 13, 106.1 million), which fell one place from twelfth in March. Those that declined only saw small traffic drops with People (down 4% compared to March) and Washington Post (117 million, also down 4%) seeing the largest drops.
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- The biggest year-on-year increases were at The Arena Group’s Men’s Journal, up 309% compared to June 2024 to 25.1 million visits, and Substack, up 57% to 73.9 million visits.
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- Also possibly reflecting interest in the US presidential election, the fastest monthly growth among the top 50 was seen at Real Clear Politics, where visits were up nearly 40% compared with September.
- Visits to bbc.com in the US were down 15% in July as the British public service broadcaster introduced a paywall to users in America.
Far-right website Gateway Pundit, which entered the chart at 48th last month, has in turn fallen out of the top 50. The site has since rolled out its inaugural paywall, the effects from which will only become visible next month. In September the shallowest traffic falls were recorded at The New York Times (down 1.9% to 355 million) and Forbes (down 2.1% to 113 million). Major news events in the US in September included Hurricane Helene hitting North Carolina, a second failed assassination attempt against Trump, and the first TV debate between him and Kamala Harris. In August eight of the top ten publishers saw month-on-month decline, which marked a correction after an eventful July (in which the Paris Olympics kicked off, Joe Biden left the US presidential race and Donald Trump was shot).