If news consumers are indeed upset with the “liberal elite media” and the “liberal regular media,” as Tina Fey, portraying Sarah Palin, put it last week, then the Internet has provided a robust alternative. In fact, as network television ratings slump, comScore says visits to “standalone” political and news websites and blogs are booming, and it looks like the conservatives are winning.
At least in September. A lot can change in a few weeks.
ComScore defines a “standalone” source as one unaffiliated with a larger news source, not unaffiliated politically.
“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.”
And some people said we should stop blogging!
To say the Internet skews left, as many believe, might be a little deceptive. True, The Huffington Post is the most popular of standalone sites, grabbing 4.5 million visitors in September, up a whopping 472 percent from last year.
But combining the second and third place in the top three, the audience is nearly even with HuffPo with over 4.4 million visitors split between Politico.com, up 344 percent from last year and attracting nearly 2.4 million visitors, and The Drudge Report, which was up 70 percent to almost 2.1 million visitors in September.
If you combine the top 15, it’s conservative blogs bringing in the largest overall audience. Left-leaning sites grabbed an audience of about 6.6 million in September, while right leaning sites attracted a combined audience of 8.4 million. It may be because political blog readers tend to be more affluent.
Across the board, males over 35 are the largest demographic visiting political sites, with Drudge Report readers being the wealthiest. Over 40 percent of Drudge readers have household incomes over $100,000 annually. In fact 43 percent of political blog visitors make over $75,000, which might account for the conservative slant.
Polling sites are big these days, too. RealClearPolitics.com, a website tracking composites of polls, pulled in 1.1 million visitors in September, up 489 percent from last year. Pollster.com attracted 194,000 visitors last month, and FiveThirtyEight.com saw 169,000 visitors.
TalkingPointsMemo.com saw the biggest percentage gain in visits, chalking up a 1,321 percent increase over last year. Josh Marshall, an award-winning journalist, founded the site, and because of that it should be hard to label TPM as slanted one way or the other—since guilt by association is popular these days, the heaps of love from the New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, Bill Moyers, and National Public Radio places him squarely and possibly unfairly to the left.
With so much disparity in the polls in October, it would be interesting to see how these numbers have changed. Likely, the September numbers are boosted by McCain’s VP pick. It would also be interesting to know the numbers on how many visit multiple blogs–how many blogs have the same visitors–and how many cross-over visitors there are.
comScore’s Top 15 political blogs are as follows:
- HuffingtonPost.com 4.5 million visitors in September
- Politico.com 2.36 million
- DrudgeReport.com 2.05 million
- FreeRepublic.com 987,000
- DailyKos.com 923,000
- TownHall.com 884,000
- NewsBusters.org 732,000
- WorldNetDaily.com 636,000
- TalkingPointsMemo.com 458,000
- MichelleMalkin.com 247,000
- RedState.com 235,000
- CrooksAndLiars.com 218,000
- RawStory.com 212,000
- MediaMatters.org 178,000
- AmericaBlog.com 104,000
