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BBC claims ‘absurd’ says editor as web browsers top 1m

A senior editor has hit out at the BBC for making “absurd” claims that the regional press is in decline after his paper’s website topped 1m monthly browsers.

Staff at the Daily Echo in Bournemouth held a rooftop champagne celebration after bournemouthecho.co.uk recorded 1,088,066 unique browsers in January – up 42pc year-on-year.

The photograph was taken using a drone and was subsequently used as the centre spread in the following day’s paper.

Editor Toby Granville said the figures proved that the regional press was continuing to provide people with the best news and information service.

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Said Toby: “While the BBC makes absurd claims that the regional press is in ‘decline’ as a means to muscle into our patches, we’ve just recorded our highest ever website figures with over a million visitors.

“Clearly, thanks to our dedicated hard-working team of journalists, these fast-growing figures prove that it is we in the regional press who are providing the local population with all the best news and information they need – and exactly when they want it.”

Vincent Boni, managing director of Newsquest Dorset, added: “This is a historic milestone in our publishing history and we are all grateful for the continued support of the local audience.”

In its recent ‘Future of News’ report, the BBC argued that it may need to expand its local footprint owing to what it called “the decline of the regional press.”

The Echo celebration party – attended by local MPs, dignitaries and business leaders on the roof of the paper’s 1930s art deco HQ in Bournemouth – was photographed by Corin Messer using drone technology.

The website also recorded 9.7m page views for the same month, up 62pc on the same period in 2014.

10 comments

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  • February 10, 2015 at 9:00 am
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    Great pic, no doubt great fun planning and organising it. Good for morale. Good to have targets. Yes it’s up to them to give those one-click hits some stickability but it’s a start. Footie team not doing bad either (which may account for the web success in which case, good luck to them). Positive stuff all round.

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  • February 10, 2015 at 4:37 pm
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    “While the BBC makes absurd claims that the regional press is in ‘decline’ as a means to muscle into our patches, we’ve just recorded our highest ever website figures with over a million visitors.”
    Pretty obvious what they mean by “press”. Website.
    All the same, a good stunt and something positive.

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  • February 10, 2015 at 7:15 pm
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    More happy stories like this please, though the accent on web hits makes it clear where the future is.

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  • February 11, 2015 at 12:31 am
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    The stats show 9 stories a month per unique visitor.

    I say stories. Half of those will be home page reclicks going back and forth.

    The Daily Mail App stats are 65 PIs per day.

    When page impressions reach 100 million (50 stories a month) then you have a digital audience.

    Does this reflect poor quality content (in this case unlikely) or lack of audience appetite?

    On another story, the local newspaper industry is said to be worth 800 million.

    One, a few years ago it was 4 billion
    Two, JP’s debt is half the value of the entire industry.

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  • February 11, 2015 at 8:26 am
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    Well done the Echo but this boom in double digit website growth is happening across the country. Just look at the Manchester Evening News with 3.5m unique users and a staggering 23m page views in December alone. That is all due to hard work in editorial and a digital first philosophy. But the problem is – show me the money! These websites are only there because of the cash made by the print product and the excellent journalistic workforce it can employ. Where is the digital-first commercial strategy? Woefully lacking, I’m afraid.

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  • February 11, 2015 at 9:41 am
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    I know this may appear a dumb question, and I am asking in the hope that someone will explain it to me, but who exactly are the one million unique users in Bournemouth?

    Despite having been involved in long discussions about similar figures over the years they still mystify me and I need help in getting my head around them.

    From the most recent official figures I have found online there are apparently 754,460 people living in the whole of Dorset. including Bournemouth. Roughly 60 per cent of those are 18-64 which is about 456,000. The attendance at an average home match for the football club is under 12,000.

    So, unless I am completely misunderstanding the whole system, that means everyone between 18-64 in Dorset is going on to the Daily Echo site from two different sources, probably a mobile and pc, every month. I suppose you could add in a few fans from opposing football teams to boost it a bit!

    I guess they wouldn’t be celebrating such a figure if it wasn’t accurate and it is certainly impressive to have achieved such an audience so congratulations are in order – I would just like to know where these users live.

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  • February 11, 2015 at 10:23 am
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    The empire strikes back against a corporation propped up by your money and mine.

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  • February 11, 2015 at 11:50 am
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    Journos are working socks (and tights) off plugging web. Let down by commercial side, who are not selling hard enough to make proper money. Don’t throw away the printing presses yet boys and girls! They might yet save your jobs.

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  • February 11, 2015 at 9:04 pm
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    I have five devices by which I connect to the web.

    Computers measure other computers.

    Please would any web editor on any local newspaper show me more than 15 page impressions per unique visitor a month.

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