Johannesburg, 18 August 2016: Times Media has reported record web traffic numbers for TimesLIVE (www.timeslive.co.za) and BDlive (www.BDlive.co.za) during the recent local government elections. Based on the number of unique browsers (UBs) reported by Effective Measure, TimesLIVE realised a daily record of 617,833 UBs on 4 August while BDlive proved to be SA’s most popular website in the business website category for the four days following the elections.
Riaan Wolmarans, head of digital audience development at Times Media, says the high audience numbers were a result of “extensive 24/7 elections coverage by expert journalists from the Sunday Times, The Times, Business Day, Financial Mail and the digital news team, along with an elections blog written by respected editor Ray Hartley. Augmented with multimedia content and a special elections page, TimesLIVE and BDlive experienced above-average traffic throughout elections week, as did several of our other news websites.”
BDlive recorded a total of 601,157 unique browsers (UBs) from 4 to 7 August, and hit an overall daily traffic record of 230,352 UBs on Thursday 4 August. Weekend traffic also reached a record high, with 144,978 UBs on Saturday 6 August – fitting for the four year anniversary of the BDlive platform.
“The 2016 local government elections were a gripping event that seized the imagination of Business Day readers, and we are delighted to have seen such huge increases to our web traffic. We don’t judge ourselves primarily by the quantity of our web traffic because we aim to provide acute analysis and in-depth coverage consistently in times of high and low traffic. But the increase does underscore our efforts to improve the quality and variety of our digital content. It really was a thrilling moment,” says Tim Cohen, editor of Business Day.
Times Media’s 2016 elections web app similarly attracted a large audience with 215,670 UBs and 329,517 site visits between 1 and 7 August. Readers performed 43,673 voting registration and voting station checks on the site. On election day and the day after, the site delivered 320GB of data to readers.
“The record-breaking traffic numbers are indicative not only of the reputation of the TimesLIVE and BDlive platforms, but also the deep level of engagement and trust that audiences feel for the brands, and the incisive, quality content that is provided. This will be further cemented with the impending launch of BusinessLIVE,” says Andrew Trench, digital editor at Times Media.
BusinessLIVE, which Times Media will launch in October this year, will consolidate the group’s business content (and more) for South Africa’s business and financial audiences, incorporating Business Day, Financial Mail, Business Times, Investors Monthly, Rand Daily Mail, BDTV and Wanted Online, along with exclusive syndicated content from the Financial Times and online access to The Wall Street Journal.
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Issued by: Samantha Pugh, Pugh Public Relations & Corporate Communications
e: sam@pughpr.co.za c: 071 874 5460
On behalf of: Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital, Times Media