Presidential election brings blogs into the mainstream

Presidential election brings blogs into the mainstream

Blogs and independent news sites are booming according to comScore.inc, and this boom is being driven by the US Presidential election.

HuffingtonPost.com's unique visitors in September are up 474 percent from 792,000 a year earlier. Politico.com visitors are up 344 percent on last year.

It is not ony the well kown blogs that are thriving, with other political blogs seeing at least a doubling in their traffic figures, these sites includeDailyKos.com, Townhall.com, Newsbusters.org, TalkingPointsMemo.com, MichelleMalkin.com and RedState.com.

Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at comScore, said, "With each new election cycle, the Internet is playing a more significant role in shaping the stories of the day that are so crucial in formulating public opinion on issues and candidates." He went on to say, independent blogs "are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness with this current election cycle."

Despite this success, the majority of Americans still go to the established media outlets for general news. Yahoo News drew 41.2 million unique visitors in September, MSNBC attracted 34.2 million, with CNN hitting 33.8 million.

Selected Stand-Alone* Political Blogs & News Sites

September 2008 vs. September 2007

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

 

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Sep-2007

Sep-2008

% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

181,858

189,468

4

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

792

4,545

474

POLITICO.COM

532

2,362

344

DRUDGEREPORT.COM

1,215

2,059

70

REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM

192

1,129

489

FREEREPUBLIC.COM

1,022

987

-3

Capitol Advantage

794

959

21

DAILYKOS.COM

192

923

381

TOWNHALL.COM

407

884

117

NEWSBUSTERS.ORG

113

732

547

WORLDNETDAILY.COM

411

636

55

TALKINGPOINTSMEMO.COM

32

458

1,321

MICHELLEMALKIN.COM

103

247

140

REDSTATE.COM

38

235

514

CROOKSANDLIARS.COM

122

218

79

RAWSTORY.COM

219

212

-3

POLLSTER.COM

N/A

194

N/A

MEDIAMATTERS.ORG

145

178

23

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM

N/A

169

N/A

CQPOLITICS.COM

N/A

139

N/A

AMERICABLOG.COM

N/A

104

N/A