INQUIRER.net maintains lead in rankings, web traffic in Similarweb

MANILA, Philippines — INQUIRER.net has maintained its lead in ranking and web traffic among the country’s news sites, according to the latest data from web traffic analytics provider Similarweb.

Based on country rank, data from Similarweb showed that INQUIRER.net was at the 34th spot, followed by the websites of ABS-CBN News at the 46th, GMA at the 52nd, Rappler at the 58th, and The Manila Times at the 96th.

Meanwhile, INQUIRER.net ranked 3,137 globally, followed by ABS-CBN at 4,025, GMA at 4,922, Rappler at 5,992, and The Manila Times at 9,742.

The site rankings were from the last 28 days, as of April 8.

According to Similarweb, INQUIRER.net also topped the monthly visits in March at 19.15 million, followed by ABS-CBN at 13.51 million, GMA at 10.32 million, Rappler at 11.51 million, and The Manila Times at 6.30 million.

In February, data from Similarweb likewise showed that INQUIRER.net has topped other Filipino news website competitors in terms of traffic to its website as of January.

Similarweb reported that INQUIRER.net has been mostly on top in terms of daily traffic for desktop computer users, for a viewership share of 27.99 percent from December 28, 2021 to January 23, 2022.

This is higher than ABS-CBN’s 21.07 percent, Rappler’s 19.29 percent, Philstar’s 15.85 percent, and GMA’s 15.79 percent.

Regarding traffic for mobile phone users during the same period, INQUIRER.net was overtaken only once by ABS-CBN, on January 16. However, viewership splits showed that mobile users preferred INQUIRER.net, which got 30.57 percent of the audience share.

In comparison, ABS-CBN had 26.25 percent; GMA had 20.39 percent; Rappler had 15.49 percent; and Philstar had 7.30 percent, according to Similarweb.

INQUIRER.net earlier announced it has decided to tap the services of Similarweb for the monitoring of online traffic as well as for guidelines in content and publication strategies.

This move was decided since Alexa Internet is set to cease operating by May 2022.

Inquirer Interactive Inc. chairperson and president Paolo R. Prieto also said the decision to tap Similarweb was due to INQUIRER.net’s desire to stay on top.

“The decision to switch to Similarweb is a necessity with the impending closure of Alexa. Alexa has served our needs for years, in particular with its ranking which is a globally accepted measuring stick for our online traffic versus competitors,” Prieto said in a statement.

“In seeking out a replacement, we looked for two things. First, a globally accepted ranking that would be accepted by our stakeholders. Second, we wanted an innovative technology partner that would help us improve our insights and analytics as we seek to stay on top of the news publishing industry in the Philippines,” he added.

/MUF