Independent.ie has over 1.7m unique users, website traffic jumps, according to ABCe

The Independent Digital website has seen a huge jump in users, according to figures just published from ABC Electronic (ABCe) – the online / digital arm of newspaper circulation auditors.

The website attracted more than 1.78m* unique users, (up 87pc), during October 2008, with total page impressions for the month achieving over 23m* (up 27pc). The number of unique users has almost doubled on its last audited figures.

Welcoming the ABCe figures Ian Byrne, Managing Director, Independent Digital said, ìthis remarkable growth reflects the progress and investment made by Independent Digital and in particular on our Independent.ie site. The sharp rise in the unique user figures reflects the improving quality of content and the satisfaction of returning Independent.ie site users.î

He added ìWe are delighted with the results and particularly by the growth in numbers of individual users of the site. It is important to have our website audience performance validated by an independent and trusted organisation such as ABC Electronic and the results clearly demonstrate the progress that has been made since the last audit. This is an enormously positive outcome that verifies that we are moving in the right direction. The figures demonstrate that we have a loyal and growing user base and our Independent.ie publishing site is proving increasingly attractive to a wider audience both at home and abroad.î

Eileen Ruddy, Group Online Sales Director at Independent Digital says, ìWe are delighted with our latest figures and with increased demand from media buyers and advertisers for transparent audited figures, the ABCe verification enables us to reassure our advertisers that they are making a sound and measurable investment with Independent Digital. The ABCe also confirms that Independent.ie is presently the number one online news publishing site in the country.î

Patrick Lenehan, CTO at Independent Digital, comments:
ìA contributing factor to the growth is undoubtedly our commitment to technical innovation including a full redesign in 2007 and the decision in early 2008 to be first to market with semantic web tools.î

Martyn Gates, Director of Newspapers and Ireland at ABC, adds: ìIt is fantastic to see Independent Digital providing web traffic figures that are credible, comparable and transparent. This demonstrates the importance that Independent Digital places on the value of ABCe figures, which are independently verified to industry agreed standards.î

* The site had 1,787,503 unique users from 1 October – 31st October 2008.

Total page impressions for the same period were 23,127,981.