Independent Digital attracts 2.2 million Unique Users / Browsers, up 23% from October 2008

Independent Digital attracts 2.2 million Unique Users / Browsers, up 23% from October 2008, according to latest figures from ABCe

The story ìIt costs Ä16,000 a month to run my homeî helped make Independent.ie the most popular Irish news website in March, with its highest ever number of Unique Users/ Browsers.

In a busy news month with the road to Grand Slam Glory, Brian and Amyís engagement and the passing away of Natasha Richardson coverage, Independent News & Mediaís website network attracted 2.2 million Unique Users/Browsers, up 23% from October 2008, according to the latest figures from ABCe (the online arm of the Audit Bureau of Circulations) published today. Page impressions reached over 29.6 million up 28% from October 2008.

Independent Digital is now closely ranked second highest to RT in terms of Unique Users/ Browsers, with over 2.2 million users visiting the sites. Boards.ie ranked third with 1.7m Unique Users/ Browsers and is followed by Irish Times, Daft.ie and Eircom.net.

Ian Byrne, Managing Director, Independent Digital said, ìThis was a great audit result for us, with 23% uplift in Unique Users / Browsers, pushing us closer to our nearest rival RT.ieî. He added, ìThis remarkable growth reflects the innovation and investment made by Independent Digital over the past 18 months and in particular the focussing on our core Independent.ie site, and tightly aligning technical innovation with our business goals. Examples include user engagement enhancements across Travel, Search, Photo Galleries and new sections such as Independent Woman that result in more relevant content being presented to our users.î

Martyn Gates Director of Newspapers and Ireland at ABC said ìIt is highly encouraging that Independent Digital is continuing to deliver both, comparability and transparency by regularly having its site traffic figures independently verified to industry-agreed standards. ABCe audited figures provide the online media industry with an important tool to support media buyers and advertisers in their buying decisions and for the market as a whole to demonstrate accountability of spend online.î