
CNN Digital: #1 Across Metrics in May 2018 Two Straight Years as the #1 Outlet in Audience Reach for Multiplatform Unique Visitors, Video and Social
June 19, 2018
CNN Digital remained the undisputed leader in digital news in May 2018, reaching an audience larger than any competitor across measurements including multiplatform visitors, mobile visitors, video starts, millennial reach and social. May 2018 also marked the 24th month - or two straight years - of being #1 in multiplatform unique visitors, video and social.
#1 IN MULTIPLATFORM VISITORS
CNN Digital had a wider reach than any other news source again in May 2018 with 126 million unique visitors domestically. Outranking its closest competitor, The New York Times, by 33 million unique visitors across platforms, this marked two years at #1 in the category for CNN.
CNN: 126 Million Unique Visitors
The New York Times Brand - 93 million unique visitors
FoxNews.com - 86 million unique visitors
WashingtonPost.com - 84 million unique visitors
CBSNews.com - 67 million unique visitors
USAToday.com - 61 million unique visitors
Source: comScore Multi-Platform Media Metrix, May 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category.
#1 IN VIDEO STARTS
CNN topped all competitors in digital video starts in May, for the 36th straight month, with 332 million desktop video starts - more than 185 million than second place Daily Mail.
CNN: 332 Million Desktop Video Starts
Dailymail.co.uk - 147 million starts
MSN News - 133 million starts
FoxNews.com - 120 million starts
Yahoo News - 86 million starts
CBSNews.com - 49 million starts
Source: comScore Multiplatform Video Media Metrix, May 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category. **Numbers above reflect desktop video starts. Multiplatform (desktop + mobile) video starts will be released by ComScore at a later date.**
#1 IN MOBILE UNIQUE VISITORS
CNN's mobile reach surpassed every other news provider in May with 101 million mobile unique visitors - 27 million more mobile users than second-place New York Times and 34 million more than third-place Washington Post.
CNN: 101 Million Mobile Unique Visitors
The New York Times Brand - 74 million unique visitors
WashingtonPost.com - 67 million unique visitors
FoxNews.com - 65 million unique visitors
CBSNews.com - 52 million unique visitors
BuzzFeed.com - 50 million unique visitors
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, May 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category.
#1 IN MILLENNIAL USERS
CNN continued its 2018 streak in May as the #1 news outlet in millennial users. CNN outpaced all competitors with 35 million multiplatform visitors between the ages of 18-34.
CNN: 35 Million Millennial Unique Multiplatform Visitors
BuzzFeed - 29 million millennial unique visitors
HuffPost - 22 million millennial unique visitors
WashingtonPost.com - 21 million millennial unique visitors
USAToday.com - 16 million millennial unique visitors
FoxNews.com- 15 millennial unique visitors
Source: comScore Multiplatform Media Metrix, May 2018. Based on CNN Brand entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors in the News/Information Category; Persons: 18-34.
#1 POLITICAL NEWS SOURCE
The CNN Politics team has topped all competitors in breaking news and analysis for more than three years, dating back to March of 2015. With 41 million multiplatform unique visitors in May - a 38% growth vs. the prior year - 34 million mobile unique visitors, 228 mm multiplatform views and 67 mm desktop video starts, they extended their streak for yet another month.
CNN Politics: 41 Million Multiplatform Unique Visitors
Politico.com - 32 million unique visitors
TheHill.com - 26 million unique visitors
Fox News Politics - 14 million unique visitors
HuffPost Politics - 12 million unique visitors
MSNBC TV - 11 million unique visitors
Source: comScore Multi-Platform Media Metrix, May 2018; Based on News/Information - Politics Category. CNN Politics has been #1 in the competitive rank in video and multiplatform views since March of 2015.
#1 SOCIAL MEDIA
CNN has ranked as the number one social news outlet in the US for more than four years, with more fans and followers than any other competitor.
#1 news brand on Facebook with 47.4 million Facebook fans across CNN's main accounts
#1 most followed news brand on Twitter with 95.4 million followers across CNN's main accounts
@CNNBRK alone had over 13m more Twitter followers than the leading competitive flagship account (The New York Times - 42.0m followers)
#1 most followed US news brand on Instagram with 4.7 million followers
Sources: Shareablee, May 2018. Brands included in comparison are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, HuffPost, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BBC News, BuzzFeed, ABC News, NPR, Mashable, The Daily Mail, NowThis, AJ+, Al Jazeera English, NBC News, CBS News, HLN, and Yahoo News. Facebook main accounts for CNN are CNN and CNN International. Twitter main accounts for CNN are @CNN and @CNNBRK. Instagram for CNN includes flagship account only
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
(Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones appear in Train Dreams by Clint Bentley, an of...
04/09/2025
SBS kicks off a confident slate with the 2026 FIFA World Cup2026 , premium drama...
04/09/2025
Watch the Record-breaking Koori Knockout 2025 LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on NITV and SBS...
04/09/2025
WALTHAM, Mass. Zixi, a provider of video-delivery-over-IP technology, has named Sue Mitchell as director of account management, EMEA....
04/09/2025
NEW YORK In news that highlights the importance of the NFL and sports for the TV and streaming industry, NBCUniversal is reporting record revenue for its 20th s...
04/09/2025
OTTAWA Ross Video has acquired LAMA, a Dutch-based developer of advanced audio production software known for its innovative live mixing solutions. The acquisiti...
04/09/2025
CINCINNATI GatesAir will bring its 5G passthrough demo to IBC audiences once again as interest in the technology's value for broadcast-to-mobile delivery gr...
04/09/2025
BURY ST. EDMUNDS, England Autoscript and Autocue will showcase their newly launched PTZ prompter system during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam Convent...
04/09/2025
Watch the Benn Family Band Perform I Wont Give Up on Americas Got Talent Assistant Professor Loren Benn and her family gave an emotional live performance of t...
04/09/2025
The YMCA of the Triangle and CBC Real Estate, a division of Capitol Broadcasting Company, announced plans to transform a parking lot at the American Tobacco Cam...
04/09/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has launched Astraeus, a cloud-native data services platform to enable IT departments in enterprise organizations to configure, store, or...
04/09/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla. USSI Global has opened a new repair and logistics complex in Suntree, Fla., expanding its service offering beyond its warranty business and addi...
04/09/2025
Ten years ago this week, Amazon Web Services announced the acquisition of Elemental Technologies, a pioneer in video processing technology. Founded in Portland,...
04/09/2025
NEW YORK The NAB Show New York continues to add more sports-themed content with the announcement that the event will feature a October 22 keynote on the future ...
04/09/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will add powerful new capabilities to its Measurement portfolio at IBC2025, Stand 7.B21. These enhan...
04/09/2025
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, today announced that the Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group h...
04/09/2025
TMT Insights, a recognized leader in professional services and software development for the media and entertainment (M&E) industry, today announced the launch o...
04/09/2025
Scality, a global leader in cyber-resilient storage software for the AI era, announced today the appointment of Tom Leyden as Vice President of Product Marketin...
04/09/2025
Emergent, the AI-enhanced technology solutions and immersive content production company, today announced a series of high-profile partnerships and collaboration...
04/09/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has appointed Wyzcom as reseller, representing the company and its products across Ireland.
Wyzcom has been at the forefront of broadcas...
04/09/2025
AgileTV, a European leader in TV and video technology solutions, today announced its return to IBC, the global destination for Media & Entertainment innovation,...
04/09/2025
Channel 31, a nationwide television channel based in the Kazakhstan's former capital city, Almaty, has chosen Ikegami cameras for integration into the produ...
04/09/2025
Becoming Led Zeppelin, a music documentary that holds the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend across IMAX theaters worldwide and is the most watched...
04/09/2025
Avid will unveil a range of pivotal automate and accelerate' innovations at IBC2025 in Amsterdam, September 12 15 (Booth 7.A11), deepening its AI capabili...
04/09/2025
Actus Digital, now a LiveU company, will showcase groundbreaking advances in intelligent media monitoring at IBC2025, demonstrating how strategic investment and...
04/09/2025
OneFootball, the world's leading digital football media platform, has taken a major step in its global growth strategy for its OTT streaming marketplace tha...
04/09/2025
G-Mana (IBC booth 5.B19), a pioneer in ad-tech innovation for OTT and CTV, today announced a joint solution with VisualOn (IBC booth 5.A55), a leading provider ...
04/09/2025
VisualOn, a leader in multimedia playback and AI-enhanced video optimization, has partnered with Agora, the global leader in real-time engagement and interactiv...
04/09/2025
Zixi, the industry leader for enabling unmatched reliability, live broadcast-quality video over any IP network, today announced the appointment of Sue Mitchell ...
04/09/2025
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Welcomes 15 New Faculty Members The new hires bring expertise in a wide range of subjects, including Indian classical dance, el...
04/09/2025
Experience true spectrum dominance in all domains with Rohde & Schwarz at DSEI 2...
04/09/2025
Rohde & Schwarz to Host Innovation Theatre at IBC 2025 Tech Talks, Business Talks, and Live Experience Sessions spotlight the future of broadcast
Join the ...
04/09/2025
Back to All News
Behind Every Mask is a Player: The Game: You Never Play Alone...
04/09/2025
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) is now accepting submissions for the HPA Awards Innovation & Technology, which marks an expanded evolution of the p...
04/09/2025
CELEBRATE CULTURE NIGHT ON RT
A rich schedule of live music and performances across RT services
RT will again celebrate Culture Night on Friday 19th Sept...
04/09/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of the AI On blog series, which explores the latest techniques and real-world applications of agentic AI, chatbots and copi...
04/09/2025
RT shares first look images of drama series The Walsh Sisters, based on the novels by Marian Keyes
Coming to RT One and RT Player from Sunday 28 September,...
04/09/2025
NVIDIA Blackwell RTX is coming to the cloud on Wednesday, Sept. 10 - an upgrade ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
03/09/2025
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
03/09/2025
Last week, Spotify and Netflix transformed Guastavino's in New York City int...
03/09/2025
For so many of us, movement is about more than just exercise-it's a way to b...
03/09/2025
World-first opt-out function to become full feature on SBS On Demand
3 September, 2025
Media releases
National broadcaster SBS will elevate the world-class...
03/09/2025
SBS On Demand to take consumer experience to next level with introduction of res...
03/09/2025
SBS highlights effectiveness of advertising in uncluttered environments
3 September, 2025
Media releases
New market-first research, done in conjunction wit...
03/09/2025
SBS extends exclusive Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift free-to-air broadcast dea...
03/09/2025
Record number of brands driving investment in NITV and First Nations media
3 September, 2025
Media releases
Beyond 3% continues to support the growth of Na...
03/09/2025
SBS declares FIFA World Cup 2026 Will be biggest TV audience event of 2026'
3 September, 2025
FIFA World Cup
SBS names Hyundai, Macca's, Rexona, ...
03/09/2025
SBS continues to lead Australian media in sustainability with launch of SBS Brie...