[Study] Social networks and News websites in January 2014

NEWS WEBSITES:

7% of traffic comes from FACEBOOK

The share of visits coming from the Facebook site as a referrer for French news

websites more than doubled in the space of a year to reach 7.1% in January 2014

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Online marketing trends

Study published on 13th March 2014

NEWS WEBSITES:


3/12/2014 2Confidential - Do not disclose

Study carried out from the 1st to the 31st January 2014 within a cross section of 18 French news

websites audited by AT Internet.

Social networks have become essential for companies’ online strategies. As referrers for

news websites, they use them everyday to publish and increase the value of contents. In

the space of a year, visits coming from Facebook have risen sharply.


For the purposes of this study we have taken into consideration 18 leading French news websites audited by

AT Internet solutions.

o For all visits, after the different traffic sources were considered for French news websites in January 2014:

• The average share of the Facebook website as a referrer was 7.1%,• The average share of the Twitter website was 1.2% for the same period, in other words almost six

times less than Facebook (difference in the number of users, cross-section covering only traffic that

comes from the website, etc.).

• By way of comparison, we have also taken an in-depth look at the traffic coming from the leading

search engine used in France, Google. Search engines and social networks are not used in the same

way, although this comparison gives us a ballpark figure for their respective shares as traffic

sources. For French news websites in January 2014, Google’s visit share was 39.1%, in other words

more than 5 times greater than Facebook, but the gap is narrowing as Google’s visit share was 12

times greater than Facebook’s a year ago in February 2013 (40.2%/3.3%).

News websites – January 2014: 7.1% of traffic from

Facebook, 1.2% from Twitter, all traffic sources

considered


News websites – January 2014: 7.1% of traffic from

Facebook, 1.2% from Twitter, all traffic sources

considered


o The Facebook website’s visit share more than doubled in the space of a year, Twitter’s continues to

remain stable

• The average share of traffic from the Facebook website, as a referrer for news websites, rose from

3.1% in January 2013 to 7.1% in January 2014, with the average traffic share rising on a monthly

basis since September (between +0.3 points and +1 point), except for January 2014, stable vs.

December 2013.

• The average share of traffic for the Twitter website is between 1.1% and 1.3% depending on the

month concerned, to remain stable over the space of a year.

News websites: +4 points for the FACEBOOK referrer

in the space of a year


News websites: +4 points for the FACEBOOK referrer

in the space of a year


The following graph shows the average visit share recorded by the Facebook and Twitter websites

(except for applications, widgets, etc.) for referrer site traffic.

o For referrer site traffic:

• On average for French news websites, 38.9% of traffic came from the Facebook website in

January 2014 (vs 23.1% a year earlier in February 2013)

• 7.7% of traffic came from the Twitter website, on average for French news websites (8.1% a

year ago).

o In terms of ranking in January 2014, out of the 18 news websites studied, on 14 occasions

[www.facebook.com] was the most used level 2 domain in terms of visit share coming from

referrer sites (vs 9 occasions in February 2013),

o For 3 other sites, it finished in 2nd place.

News websites: almost 40% of referrer site traffic

comes from Facebook


News websites: almost 40% of referrer site traffic

comes from Facebook


On average for French news websites, 7 out of 100 visits came from the Facebook website in January

2014, and accounted for almost 40% of referrer site traffic. The Twitter website accounted for 1.2% of

total traffic and 7.7% of referrer site traffic.

If the Twitter site, as a referrer for news websites, continues to remain stable with a visit share equivalent

to that of last year, the Facebook site experienced a sharp rise. Its visit share more than doubled, rising

from 3.1% in January 2013 to 7.1% in January 2014. The enthusiasm for Facebook is confirmed from year

to year: 10 years after its launch (4th February 2004: TheFacebook.com), the social network is

increasingly used by private spheres and professionals. It is following market evolutions and continues to

increase with, for example, the recent purchase of the messaging app WhatsApp, winning new followers.

NEWS WEBSITES:


Methodology


o We are interested in the average share of visits coming from the Facebook and Twitter websites for

18 leading French news websites audited by AT Internet.

o In order to establish the cross-section of websites to be used as part of a study, a website is only

used if the selection criteria, which have been established previously, are respected. These criteria

are very strict and their aim is to remove any websites which have an anecdotal audience, or a

chaotic audience, or whose collected data underlines a dysfunction in the measurement.

o Here is a reminder of the traffic sources:

• Direct access

• E-mails

• RSS feeds

• Search engines

• Referrer sites

Surveys Department

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AT Surveys is a service provided by the AT Internet company, major player in the field of

Digital Analytics, specialists in measuring traffic and performance on all digital platforms

including the web, mobile and social media.

Analyses on various topics thanks to the use of an exclusive database of more than

100,000 sites (http://www.atinternet.com/en/ressources/ressources-en/en-etudes/)

o Browsers,

o Focus on current events,

o Online marketing trends,

o Operating Systems,

o Search Engines,

o Web trends

AT Internet offers companies the AT Insight Benchmark and performance audit

(http://www.atinsight.co.uk/)

http://www.atinternet.com/en/ressources/ressources-en/en-etudes/

http://www.atinsight.co.uk/

[Study] Social networks and News websites in January 2014

Social Media

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