Huffington Post and Politico Lead Wave of Explosive Growth at Independent Political Blogs and News Sites this Election Season

Political Blog Visitors Skew Older, Wealthier, More Male than Overall U.S. Internet Population

RESTON, VA, October 22, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of visitation to political blogs and news sites during the 2008 presidential election season, which showed strong gains at most sites compared to year ago. HuffingtonPost.com led among a group of selected stand-alone political blogs and news sites with 4.5 million visitors in September, up 472 percent versus year ago, while Politico.com attracted 2.4 million visitors (up 344 percent) and DrudgeReport.com saw 2.1 million visitors (up 70 percent).

“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,” said Andrew Lipsman, senior analyst at Comscore. “That most mainstream news outlets now have their own political blogs is a testament to their increasing reach and influence. However, several independent blogs unaffiliated with larger media outlets paved the way in this space and are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness with this current election cycle.”

Selected Stand-Alone* Political Blogs & News Sites
September 2008 vs. September 2007
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

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

*Stand-alone refers to blogs unaffiliated with larger news properties, such as the New York Times Caucus Blog or Time’s“The Page”.

Some additional findings include:

  • September represented the single biggest month on record for both HuffingtonPost.com and Politico.com since their respective launches.
  • Several sites dedicated to political poll-watching achieved notable gains. RealClearPolitics.com, which tracks composites of polls by state, attracted 1.1 million visitors in September, up 489 percent versus year ago. Two other polling-oriented sites, Pollster.com with 194,000 visitors and FiveThirtyEight.com with 169,000 visitors, also saw notable traffic in September.
  • The top conservative leaning blog, FreeRepublic.com, actually saw marginal declines versus year ago, though it still attracted nearly 1 million visitors in September. Other conservative blogs, such as Newsbusters.org (up 547 percent to 732,000 visitors), WorldNetDaily.com (up 55 percent to 636,000 visitors) and MichelleMalkin.com (up 140 percent to 247,000 visitors) saw strong gains.

Political Blog Visitors Skew Older and Wealthier Than Average Americans

Looking at the demographic profiles for the top three sites, HuffingtonPost.com, Politico.com and DrudgeReport.com, one can conclude that visitors to these sites tend to be older, wealthier, and more likely to be male than the average U.S. Internet user.

Of the three sites, Politico.com skewed the oldest with 23 percent of its visitors age 55 and older, while DrudgeReport.com skewed wealthiest, with 40 percent of its visitors earning at least $100,000 a year, and had the highest concentration of males at 57 percent. HuffingtonPost.com, the site with the largest audience, was the most similar of the three when compared to the overall U.S. Internet audience.

Demographic Profile of Visitors to Top 3 Political Blogs & News Sites
September 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

% Composition of Unique Visitors

Total U.S. Internet

Huffington Post

Politico

Drudge Report

Total Audience

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Persons - Age

Persons: 12-17

10.5

5.4

3.6

2.9

Persons: 18-24

12.0

9.0

6.5

7.1

Persons: 25-34

15.4

15.6

14.9

15.1

Persons: 35-44

18.6

25.3

26.5

24.7

Persons: 45-54

17.5

20.7

19.7

23.3

Persons: 55-64

10.7

11.5

13.8

11.5

Persons: 65+

5.9

7.1

9.5

9.5

Gender

Male

49.8

54.3

54.4

56.7

Female

0.2

45.7

45.6

43.3

Household Income (US)

Under $25K

10.0

5.4

3.6

2.2

$25,000 - 39,999

9.6

8.2

6.7

5.1

$40,000 - 59,999

24.8

20.2

19.4

19.2

$60,000 - 74,999

12.4

13.1

10.7

8.3

$75,000 - 99,999

17.4

19.8

26.9

25.0

$100,000 or more

25.7

33.4

32.6

40.2

About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com

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