The Times of India and The Hill led month-on-month traffic growth among the 50 biggest news websites in the US in July, according to the latest Similarweb data.
The Times of India rose 57% to 36.9 million visits, while politics site The Hill climbed 32% to 38.6 million. Overall, 40 of the top 50 news brands—or 80%—increased their traffic from the previous month, up from 44% in June.
NBC’s Today recorded the third-largest month-on-month gain, rising 18% to 17.4 million visits and replacing business magazine Fortune in the top 50. Fortune itself grew 4% to 15.9 million visits. NBC News posted the steepest decline, falling 28% to 59.7 million visits, followed by Axios (down 20% to 17.6 million) and Business Insider (down 12% to 27.1 million).
Only six of the 50 biggest US news sites grew traffic year on year in July, similar to the five that did so in June. Qatar-based Al Jazeera more than doubled its audience, surging 108% to 24 million visits amid escalating Middle East tensions, including US-Iran strikes and concerns over the Strait of Hormuz. The Times of India ranked second with a 39% year-on-year increase, followed by Substack (up 27% to 95.9 million).
The Hill (up 16% to 38.6 million), The Atlantic (up 11% to 22.8 million) and The Daily Beast (up 1% to 18.3 million) were the only other sites to grow year on year.Newsweek suffered the largest year-on-year drop, plunging 77% to 24.9 million visits—the biggest decline for five consecutive months—after reported layoffs in its sales, product, video and rankings teams earlier in the year.
Business Insider fell 49%, and the Daily Mail dropped 47% to 40.9 million.
The Hill introduced its first online paywall in July, offering premium paid content while keeping most material free and ad-supported. Senior vice president Bill Sammon said the move was unrelated to traffic changes.
Business Insider CEO Christian Baesler noted the company plans to begin meaningfully monetizing its non-website audience, adding that traffic from Google, Facebook and other platforms has become far more challenging to sustain.