Only 10 of the Top 50 English-Language News Sites Gained Traffic as NYT Rose 11% and News18 Fell 58%
TLDR
Only 10 of the top 50 English-language news sites grew traffic, with NYT up 11% while News18 fell 58% and Hindustan Times fell 50%.
Optimixed Overview
Optimixed's original report on this story.
In a traffic comparison of the top 50 English-language news sites, PPC Land reports that only 10 grew. India-based sites accounted for four of the six steepest declines, led by News18 at 58% and Hindustan Times at 50%. The piece asks whether subscriptions can protect the largest brands from such losses.
How we got here: earlier coverage
- Nov 12Web Visits per User Fall 29% as Publisher Traffic Slides, SparkToro Finds
SparkToro's analysis finds visits per web user fell 29.2% by Q3 2026, putting pressure on publishers even as the number of users grew.
- Oct 29Reddit's ad revenue climbs 54% to $847M while daily users stall at 130.3M
Reddit's ad revenue rose 54% to $847 million while its daily audience stalled at 130.3 million, and search referrals to the platform fell by over 1 million a week in October.
- Oct 20Publishers revamp strategies to prepare for reduced Google search referral traffic
Major publishers including Axios, The Verge, and Time are restructuring operations and business strategies in response to declining Google search referral traffic.
- Sep 24Google Search and Discover traffic to publishers dropped 40% year-over-year, while direct and internal traffic grew
Publisher traffic from Google Search and Discover fell 40% year-over-year, according to new reporting.