Even before its redesign (see below) The News & Observer’s Web site was pulling in enough readers to rank 27th on Editor & Publisher’s Top 30 newspaper Web sites for the month of August.
The Nielsen Online list shows newsobserver.com with 1.8 million unique visitors in August. This is shown as a 110 percent gain year-over-year, but Nielsen expanded its measurement panel eight-fold in June and cautions that the measurements should only be used directionally.
E&P’s Fitz & Jen blog shows The N&O right behind the Denver Post’s site, which at 1.9 million visitors is also new to the list in the last three months, and ahead of the Arizona Republic’s site, the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the Kansas City Star’s site, a fellow McClatchy property.
McClatchy’s Miami Herald site ranks 17th on the list with 2.5 million visitors.
The New York Times site tops the list with 17.1 million unique visitors, followed by the Washington Post site with 11.6 million unique visitors.