CNN Digital Breaks Records, Sees Biggest Audience in History in 2019
#1 in Global, Visitors, Video, Mobile, Millennials, Social & Politics in November 2019
CNN reached its largest digital audience in history in 2019, wrapping the year with a monthly average of 162 million unique visitors globally. With the close of November, CNN ranks #1 in multiplatform unique visitors – a title it’s held for more than 3 years running, mobile unique visitors – a title held for over two years, and multiplatform video starts – a metric celebrated for more than 4 years in a row.
Additionally, 2019 was CNN’s biggest year ever in global multiplatform unique visitors, U.S. multiplatform unique visitors, politics unique visitors, and mobile unique visitors globally, domestically and for politics.
#1 GLOBAL NEWS BRAND FOR 2019
CNN ranked as the #1 global news brand in 2019 with the number of average monthly unique visitors outpacing BBC, Yahoo News, and others in audience size across 24 key countries included in Comscore’s Media Metrix worldwide rollup.
CNN: 162 Million Average Monthly Unique Visitors
- BBC – 157 million unique visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 118.3 million unique visitors
- Yahoo News – 117.8 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 116 million unique visitors
- FoxNews.com – 110 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience, January 2019 – October 2019 monthly average, Worldwide Rollup. Based on CNN.com 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. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2019. (October 2019 data is the most current available).
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VISITORS IN 2019
CNN had its largest audience on record in 2019 with a monthly average of 132 million unique visitors – an increase of 7% versus 2018. CNN outranked Fox News by 28 million unique visitors and The New York Times by 36 million unique visitors on average across mobile and desktop.
CNN: 132 Million Average Monthly Unique Visitors
- FoxNews.com – 104 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 96 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 91 million unique visitors
- NBCNews.com – 78 million unique visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 76 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience, January-November 2019 monthly average, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2019.
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VIDEO STARTS IN 2019
Continuing to lead in digital news video, CNN had its second biggest year in history in 2019 with a monthly average of 510 million multiplatform video starts.
CNN: 510 Million Monthly Average Multiplatform Video Starts
- Yahoo News – 300 million video starts
- FoxNews.com – 268 million video starts
- ABCNews.com Sites – 145 million video starts
- MSN News – 143 million video starts
- MSNBC TV – 108 million video starts
Source: Comscore Video Media Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Audience, January-October 2019 monthly average, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2019. (October 2019 data is the most current available)
#1 IN MOBILE VISITORS FOR 2019
CNN’s 2019 monthly average mobile audience grew by 13% over 2018, placing it ahead of second-place The New York Times by 26 million and third-place Fox News by 32 million mobile unique visitors on average.
CNN: 114 Million Monthly Average Mobile Unique Visitors
- FoxNews.com – 88 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 82 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 78 million unique visitors
- DailyMail.co.uk – 71 million unique visitors
- NBCNews.com– 70 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Mobile Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Mobile, January-November 2019 monthly average, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2019.
#1 IN MILLENNIAL REACH IN 2019
CNN was the #1 news outlet in unique multiplatform visitors between the ages of 18-34 with an average of 34 million per month in 2019 – 3 million more than second-place The Daily Mail.
CNN: 34 Million Monthly Average Millennial Unique Multiplatform Visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 31 million millennial unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 27 million millennial unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 23 million millennial unique visitors
- NBCNews.com – 21 million millennial unique visitors
- FoxNews.com – 20 million millennial unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Digital Audience Persons 18-34, January 2019 – November 2019 monthly average, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2019.
#1 POLITICAL NEWS SOURCE IN 2019
CNN Politics maintained its #1 position in political news for 2019, ranking ahead of all competitors in its biggest year ever for audience.
CNN Politics: 48 Million Monthly Average Unique Visitors
- TheHill.com – 31 million unique visitors
- Politico.com – 29 million unique visitors
- Fox News Politics – 24 million unique visitors
- NBCNews.com Politics – 13 million unique visitors
- MSNBC TV – 12 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, New/Information – Politics, Total Digital Audience, January-November 2019 monthly average, U.S
#1 IN SOCIAL AUDIENCE FOR 2019
CNN closed 2019 ranking number one in social audience among U.S. news outlets, a title it’s held for more than six years, with more fans and followers than any other competitor.
- #1 U.S. news brand on Facebook with 49.2 million Facebook fans across CNN’s main accounts
- #1 most followed news brand on Twitter with 99.9 million followers across CNN’s main accounts
- @CNNBRK alone had over 11.5 million more monthly average Twitter followers than the leading competitive flagship account (The New York Times – 44.6 mm followers)
- #1 most followed U.S. news brand on Instagram with 9.0 million monthly average followers
Sources: Shareablee, January-December 16th 2019. 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. Records go back to Jan 2013.
#1 IN GLOBAL NEWS IN OCTOBER
CNN brought in a larger global audience than any other news platform on the planet in October (data most current available), with 164 million unique multiplatform visitors – 9 million more than second place BBC and 19 million more than third place Yahoo News.
CNN.COM*: 164 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors
- BBC – 155 million unique visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 145 million unique visitors
- Yahoo News – 121 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 114 million unique visitors
- FoxNews.com – 107 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore MMX®, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience, October 2019, Worldwide Rollup. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand, English-language, global 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. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018. (October 2019 data is the most current available).
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VISITORS IN NOVEMBER
CNN saw a larger audience reach than any other news source in November 2019 with 123 million unique visitors domestically. CNN outranked Fox News by 25 million unique visitors and The New York Times by 31 million unique visitors across platforms.
CNN.COM*: 123 Million Unique Visitors
- FoxNews.com – 98 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 92 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 83 million unique visitors
- USAToday.com – 80 million unique visitors
- DailyMail.co.uk – 72 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience, November 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category.
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VIDEO STARTS IN OCTOBER
CNN continued its lead of the digital video space in October 2019 with 607 million multiplatform video starts – the biggest month ever.
CNN.COM*: 607 Million Multiplatform Video Starts
- Yahoo News – 425 million video starts
- FoxNews.com – 370 million video starts
- MSNBC TV – 195 million video starts
- MSN News – 150 million video starts
- ABCNews.com Sites – 133 million video starts
Source: Comscore Video Media Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Audience, October 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. (October data is the most current available)
#1 IN MOBILE UNIQUE VISITORS IN NOVEMBER
CNN’s mobile audience of 106 million mobile unique visitors surpassed its competitors in November 2019. CNN saw 24 million more mobile users than second-place Fox News and 28 million more than third-place The New York Times.
CNN.COM*: 106 Million Mobile Unique Visitors
- FoxNews.com – 82 million unique visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 78 million unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 71 million unique visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 70 million unique visitors
- USAToday.com – 68 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Mobile Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Mobile, November 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category.
#1 NEWS BRAND AMONG MILLENNIALS
CNN was the #1 news outlet for multiplatform visitors between the ages of 18-34 in November with 32 million unique visitors in that age range.
CNN.COM*: 32 Million Millennial Unique Multiplatform Visitors
- The New York Times Brand – 27 million millennial unique visitors
- Dailymail.co.uk – 26 million millennial unique visitors
- WashingtonPost.com – 21.1 million millennial unique visitors
- USAToday.com – 20.7 million millennial unique visitors
- FoxNews.com – 18 million millennial unique visitors
Source: comScore Media Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Digital Audience Persons 18-34, November 2019, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category.
#1 POLITICAL NEWS SOURCE IN NOVEMBER
CNN Politics led political news coverage in November with 48 million multiplatform unique visitors.
CNN Politics: 48 Million Unique Visitors
- TheHill.com – 28 million unique visitors
- Politico.com – 27 million unique visitors
- Fox News Politics – 20 million unique visitors
- NBCNews.com Politics – 13.9 million unique visitors
- MSNBC TV – 13.5 million unique visitors
Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, New/Information – Politics, Total Digital Audience, November 2019, U.S.
#1 SOCIAL MEDIA IN NOVEMBER
CNN has ranked as the number one social news outlet in the US for more than six years with more fans and followers than any other competitor.
- #1 U.S. news brand on Facebook with 49.2 million Facebook fans across CNN’s main accounts
- #1 most followed news brand on Twitter with 99.6 million followers across CNN’s main accounts
- @CNNBRK alone had 11.6 million more Twitter followers than the leading competitive flagship account (The New York Times – 44.5 mm followers) and 37.6 million more than Fox News (18.5 mm followers)
- #1 most followed US news brand on Instagram with 8.9 million followers
Sources: Shareablee, November 2019. Brands included in comparison are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, HuffPost, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BBC News(UK), 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. Historical record begins January 2013.
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