While some say Facebook referral traffic has returned this year, others complain that the addition of AI-written summaries to Google search results has deeply impacted click-through rates to articles. Publishers have complained in recent years about falling referral traffic from Google and Facebook. The Times of Israel fell back out of the top 50 after its visits almost doubled in June to enter in 43rd place. Meanwhile the vast majority (44) saw fewer visits than they did a year earlier in July 2024. Some content remains free to all users regardless of whether they have hit the paywall, including select global breaking news stories. The BBC launched a dynamic paywall for users in the US at the end of June, charging $8.99 (£6.55) per month or $49.99 (£36.40) per year.

• Men’s lifestyle magazine Men’s Journal recorded the highest year-on-year and month-on-month growth among the top 50 news websites in the US in December.
• “You want what’s happening in Minnesota to go down in our own backyard? Build that detention center here, and that’s exactly what will happen,” resident Kimberly Matthews told county officials.
• The only site to see a larger rise in visits compared with August was CBS News, where traffic rose 20.7% to 92.5 million, translating to a five-place rise on the charts.
• The biggest traffic pullback in the top ten was at USA Today (143.6 million, down 29.4%), followed by CNN (356.6 million, down 22.5%) and Fox News (253.6 million, down 17%).

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The BBC recorded 100.2 million website visits in the US in July, according to digital intelligence platform Similarweb. Visits to bbc.com in the US were down 15% in July as the British public service broadcaster introduced a paywall to users in America. India Times (up 33% to 26.9 million), aggregator Newsbreak (32.2 million) and Alabama-focused al.com (18.9 million) also saw double-digit year-on-year growth in August.

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An ice volcano is a cone formed from thousands of icicles as a result of a gravity-fed fountain system. City council recently approved a budget appropriation of over $760,000 for onboarding expenses and salaries for the new firefighters. After a dry and disappointing January, the storm system is delivering much-needed snowfall to higher elevations. Michael Fantuzzo was arrested and is accused of stealing more than $246,000 from the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion to further evaluate additional temporary housing options for residents who were displaced by the Eaton Fire. In addition to Salt & Straw’s always-on classic flavors, this month’s rotating flavors are The Chocolatiers Series, which reimagines a box of chocolates as five distinct ice cream flavors.

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The Los Angeles Times (23.7 million visits) and Washington Post (102.4 million) saw the sixth and eighth largest drops, falling by 7.9% and 6.6% respectively compared with October. Among the top ten most-visited sites specifically, all but two sites saw some year-on-year growth. The biggest traffic pullback in the top ten was at USA Today (143.6 million, down 29.4%), followed by CNN (356.6 million, down 22.5%) and Fox News (253.6 million, down 17%). Some 32 sites grew their total number of website visits year on year, according to Similarweb. Business Insider (56.8 million) and Huffpost (43.7 million) each received 25% less traffic this January than January last year. CNN (399.1 million, up 12%) and USA Today (158.6 million, up 10.4%) increased their visits by double-digit percentage points, while the New York Post (127.9 million, down 10%) the only top-ten site to lose traffic.

Australian-based Science Alert saw the highest growth month on month, up 60% to 23.4 million visits. Seven of the top ten websites saw month-on-month growth, and People recorded the highest jump among these, up 14%, followed by MSN (up 8% to 148.7 million visits) and Yahoo Finance (up 4% to 133.2 million). Among the top ten US news sites, only celebrity news site People saw year-on-year growth in December, up 5% to 151.9 million visits. Visits to the Arena Group site were up 184% year on year and 130% month on month to 19.5 million in December, according to the latest Similarweb data. Men’s lifestyle magazine Men’s Journal recorded the highest year-on-year and Visit Kulturbloggen month-on-month growth among the top 50 news websites in the US in December. Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of the top 50 news websites in the US, using Similarweb data.

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