CNN Remains Dominant in Digital: #1 in All Key Metrics

Tops All Competitors in Multiplatform Visitors, Video, Mobile, Millennials, Politics & Social

Ranks as #1 Global News Brand

CNN Digital once again outpaced all competitors and remained the leader in digital news in July 2018, with an audience larger than any other outlet in multiplatform visitors, mobile visitors, video starts, millennial reach and social following.

CNN also ranked as the #1 global news brand, outpacing BBC, The New York Times, BuzzFeed and others in desktop and mobile audience size across the US and 24 key international markets.

July 2018 also marked the 26th month – more than two straight years – of CNN ranking #1 in multiplatform unique visitors, video and social according to comScore.

 

#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VISITORS

For more than two years at #1 in the category, CNN Digital had a wider reach than any other news source in July 2018 with 115 million unique visitors domestically. CNN outranked Fox News by 25 million unique visitors and New York Times by 36 million unique visitors across platforms.

 

CNN: 115 Million Unique Visitors

• FoxNews.com – 90 million unique visitors
• The New York Times Brand – 79 million unique visitors
• WashingtonPost.com – 73 million unique visitors
• CBSNews.com – 65 million unique visitors
• BBC – 60 million unique visitors

 

Source: comScore Multi-Platform Media Metrix, July 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category.

 

#1 IN VIDEO STARTS

For the 38^th consecutive month, CNN topped all competitors in digital video starts in July. With 275 million desktop video starts, CNN more than doubled Fox News.

 

CNN: 275 Million Desktop Video Starts

• FoxNews.com – 133 million starts
• MSN News – 126 million starts
• Dailymail.co.uk – 96 million starts
• Yahoo News – 77 million starts
• ABCNews.com – 47 million starts

 

Source: comScore Multiplatform Video Media Metrix, July 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category. **Numbers above reflect desktop video starts. Multiplatform (desktop + mobile) video starts will be released by ComScore at a later date.**

 

#1 IN MOBILE UNIQUE VISITORS

CNN’s mobile reach surpassed every other news provider in July with 95 million mobile unique visitors – 24 million more mobile users than second-place Fox News and 30 million more than third-place New York Times.

 

CNN: 95 Million Mobile Unique Visitors

• FoxNews.com – 71 million unique visitors
• The New York Times Brand – 65 million unique visitors
• WashingtonPost.com – 61 million unique visitors
• CBSNews.com – 53 million unique visitors
• BBC – 51 million unique visitors

 

Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, July 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category.

 

#1 GLOBAL NEWS BRAND

CNN ranked as the #1 global news brand, outpacing BBC, The New York Times, BuzzFeed and others in desktop and mobile audience size across the US and 24 key international markets. CNBC, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Euronews, Sky News, and other international news brands trail CNN by more than 100 million multiplatform unique visitors and fall outside of the top 5 ranking.

 

CNN: 166 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors

• BBC – 161 million unique visitors
• HuffPost Global – 115 million unique visitors
• The New York Times Brand – 112 million unique visitors
• Yahoo News – 109 million unique visitors
• BuzzFeed – 99 million unique visitors

 

Source: comScore Multi-Platform Media Metrix Worldwide Rollup, June 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand, multinational competitors in the News/Information Category, including The United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

 

#1 IN MILLENNIAL USERS

CNN continued its streak as the #1 news outlet for multiplatform visitors between the ages of 18-34.

 

CNN: 30.3 Million Millennial Unique Multiplatform Visitors

• BuzzFeed – 30.1 million millennial unique visitors
• The New York Times – 23 million millennial unique visitors
• BBC – 18.3 million millennial unique visitors
• WashingtonPost.com – 17.8 million millennial unique visitors
• HuffPost – 16 million millennial unique visitors

 

Source: comScore Multiplatform Media Metrix, July 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category; Persons: 18-34.

 

#1 POLITICAL NEWS SOURCE


The CNN Politics team has topped all competitors in breaking news and analysis for more than three years, dating back to March of 2015. CNN Politics saw 46 million multiplatform unique visitors (a 55% growth vs. the prior year), 38 million mobile unique visitors, 252 mm multiplatform views and 71 mm desktop video starts in July

 

CNN Politics: 46 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors

• Politico.com – 31 million unique visitors
• TheHill.com – 29 million unique visitors
• Fox News Politics – 16 million unique visitors
• HuffPost Politics – 10.6 million unique visitors
• MSNBC TV – 10.5 million unique visitors

 

Source: comScore Multi-Platform Media Metrix, July 2018; Based on News/Information – Politics Category. CNN Politics has been #1 in the competitive rank in video and multiplatform views since March of 2015.

 

#1 SOCIAL MEDIA

CNN has ranked as the number one social news outlet in the US for more than four years, with more fans and followers than any other competitor.

• #1 news brand on Facebook with 48 million Facebook fans across CNN’s main accounts
• #1 most followed news brand on Twitter with 95 million followers across CNN’s main accounts
  • @CNNBRK alone had over 12.5 million more Twitter followers than the leading competitive flagship account (The New York Times – 41.9 mm followers) and 36.6 million more than Fox News (17.9 mm followers)
• #1 most followed US news brand on Instagram with 5 million followers

 

Sources: Shareablee, July 2018. Brands included in comparison are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, HuffPost, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BBC News, BuzzFeed, ABC News, NPR, Mashable, The Daily Mail, NowThis, AJ+, Al Jazeera English, NBC News, CBS News, HLN, and Yahoo News. Facebook main accounts for CNN are CNN and CNN International. Twitter main accounts for CNN are @CNN and @CNNBRK. Instagram for CNN includes flagship account only