- August 13, 2019

Top 5 News/Information sites on India general election results day

Ramanujam Pobbisetty
Ramanujam Pobbisetty
Enterprise Sales Director

The 2019 Indian general election was held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019, with the results released on 23 May 2019.

Analysing the top sites in the News/Information category based on different metrics on results day, we see differences in how users accessed these sites and their behaviour across devices, namely desktop and Android smartphones.

News/Information sites provide news and information regarding conventional and unconventional issues. This category also contains sites with articles and periodicals on current events and weather.

News/Information audience on Desktop and Android smartphone
As a percentage of its digital population, India is home to one of the largest mobile-first populations, with users accessing sites exclusively through their mobile devices. Overall, the number of unique visitors (UVs) accessing News/Information sites on their Android smartphone is significantly higher than desktop UVs, with Times Internet Limited ranking first. Dailyhunt, which was not in the top five entities in terms of desktop UVs, was ranked fifth with over 12 million Android smartphone UVs on 23 May 2019. The single day Android smartphone UVs to the top five sites compose of 26%, 17%, 17%, 18% and 25% of their respective monthly reported numbers in May 2019.

The top five entities in terms of desktop UVs on 23 May 2019 were Network 18, Times Internet Limited, NDTV, India Today Group and ABP News Network, each of which had more than 1 million desktop UVs. The single day desktop UVs to the top five entities compose of 17%, 13%, 22%, 15% and 34% of their respective monthly reported numbers in May 2019. The top five entities in May 2019 were Times Internet Limited, Network 18, India Today Group, NDTV and The Indian Express Group.

News/Information Audience
Rank Entity Unique Visitors (Desktop) % of May 2019 Entity Unique Visitors (Android Smartphone - Web & App) % of May 2019
1 Network 18 2,604,161 17% Times Internet Limited 52,512,316 26%
2 Times Internet Limited 2,486,576 13% Network 18 25,938,168 17%
3 NDTV 2,044,186 22% India Today Group 20,062,135 17%
4 India Today Group 1,736,365 15% NDTV 14,018,294 18%
5 ABP News Network 1,417,210 34% Dailyhunt 12,944,165 25%
Source: Comscore Custom Reporting, MMX and Mobile Metrix, 23 May 2019, India

Looking at regional language entities, ABP News Network and Dailyhunt ranked first in terms of the most desktop UVs and Android smartphone UVs respectively.

News/Information Audience - Regional Language
Rank Entity (Regional Language) Unique Visitors (Desktop) Entity (Regional Language) Unique Visitors (Android Smartphone - Web & App)
1 ABP News Network 1,417,210 Dailyhunt 12,944,165
2 Aaj Tak 949,184 Aaj Tak 6,159,811
3 Navbharat Times Sites 392,759 Jagran Sites 6,070,252
4 News 18 India 302,269 Bhaskar Group Sites 5,290,503
5 Jagran Sites 286,921 ABP News Network 3,383,915
Source: Comscore Custom Reporting, MMX and Mobile Metrix, 23 May 2019, India

Based on number of desktop page views, we see that at first position, Times Internet Limited had more than 28 million desktop page views on 23 May 2019. In terms of page views from Android smartphone web browsers, we also see that visitors on their android smartphone web browser visited multiple pages, with Times Internet Limited having the highest number of page views. It is also worth noting that Zee Digital had relatively high number of page views from Android smartphone web browsers considering that it was not in the top five ranking in terms of desktop page views.

News/Information Audience - Page views
Rank Entity Page Views (Desktop) Entity Page Views (Android Smartphone - Web)
1 Times Internet Limited 28,656,552 Times Internet Limited 152,693,259
2 Network 18 19,565,808 India Today Group 95,296,931
3 India Today Group 17,286,477 Network 18 75,273,070
4 NDTV 10,514,814 NDTV 48,027,872
5 ABP News Network 7,438,198 Zee Digital 45,337,298
Source: Comscore Custom Reporting, MMX and Mobile Metrix, 23 May 2019, India

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