November Traffic Stalls at Most News Websites

Eighty-five percent of right wing news websites in TheRighting’s top 20 lost year-over-year (YOY) unique visitors according to our exclusive analysis of mobile and desktop traffic based on Comscore data for November 2023. Infowars and Hannity.com both posted double-digit gains continuing a strong second half of the year for both sites while most other right wing websites slumped during this period.

Since June, Hannity.com has generated six consecutive months of YOY increases in unique visitors. Infowars registered gains five times in the last six months.

“Traffic to most right wing news websites continued its baffling end-of-year tailspin,” noted Howard Polskin, President, TheRighting. “Despite a news environment dominated by major international conflicts and domestic political turmoil, unique visitors kept dropping to news websites on the left, right and center. I don’t see this trend stopping soon, unless there are major surprises in the upcoming primaries where Donald Trump and Joe Biden are widely expected to secure their parties’ nomination. It’s also possible consumer interest in Donald Trump’s upcoming trials will drive more traffic to news sites in 2024.”

All three mainstream news websites TheRighting follows regularly experienced sharp decreases in YOY unique visitors. While CNN.com led all news websites with 116,307,000 unique visitors in November, YOY traffic fell 20%. The New York Times brand tumbled 29%, its biggest drop of the year, while the Washington Post sagged 27%.

Winners and Losers Among Top 20 Right Wing News Websites for November 2023 (by unique visitor percentage increase/decrease from year ago)

Winners

•  Hannity.com (+122%)
• ·Infowars (+46%)
• ·Washington Examiner (+2%)

Losers

• The Gateway Pundit (-78%)
• Washington Free Beacon (-76%)
• Twitchy (-75%)

Each month, TheRighting examines Comscore data on dozens of prominent right wing websites that post original content. TheRighting ranks the top 20 right wing websites on the basis of unique visitors and also provides data on whether unique visitors have increased or decreased year-over-year.

Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-defined list, including, but not limited to Foxnews.com, Breitbart.com, DailyCaller.com, WashingtonExaminer.com, WesternJournal.com, Washingtontimes.com, Total Digital Audience, November 2023, U.S.