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CNN Was #1 In Digital News Reach Again in May

By William Dyer on June 28, 2021

CNN continues its run as the top digital news source. In May 2021, the network was the #1 online news destination in the U.S. CNN was the top news source by U.S. unique visitors, mobile unique visitors and young adult visitors. Furthermore, the brand was the top source for political news and video viewers. The video data is from April while the rest is via Comscore May 2021 data.

Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience – Desktop Persons 2+ and Total Mobile Persons 13+, May 2021, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018.

According to CNN, they are the only domestic news outlet with more than 100 million unique visitors, beating second place New York Times by 53 million uniques.

#1 In Reach to Young Adults and Mobile Users

CNN.com reached 32 million unique adults age 18-34 in May 2021, according to Comscore. That’s twice as many as USAToday.com in the same time period.

Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Total Digital Audience Persons 18-34, May 2021, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018.

In May 2021, CNN saw 115 million mobile unique visitors – more than two straight years of more than 100 million unique visitors coming to CNN exclusively on mobile platforms.

Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Custom-Defined List, Total Mobile Persons 13+, May 2021, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018. Historical claim based on Comscore Mobile Metrix®, Custom-Defined List, Total Mobile Persons 13+, U.S. for October 2020 and prior months.

Fox News Highlights

Fox News shared some of their May 2021 Comscore results:

  • Fox News Digital surpassed CNN.com and all other news brands in total multi-platform minutes (3.4 billion multi-platform minutes). CNN.com saw 2.6 billion multi-platform minutes. Both brands were down compared to May 2020.
  • The FOX News Mobile App drove 7.1 million uniques in May, edging out CNN.

Published in News and Research

William Dyer
William Dyer

I write about all aspects of the media world with the view of someone who worked in top media organizations such as USA TODAY and Gannett.

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