NEW DELHI, September 16 — India’s biggest English-language news publishers posted the steepest year-on-year traffic declines among the world’s 50 largest news websites in August, according to Press Gazette’s monthly analysis of Similarweb data. The Hindustan Times recorded the largest drop, falling 56% year on year to 84.4 million visits. News 18 was close behind, down 53% to 68.6 million visits.
Both declines exceeded 50% compared with August 2025. The pattern is not new.
As in July, three of the five worst-hit sites in August were based in India. Two months earlier, in June, the eight worst-hit English-language news sites for month-on-month traffic drops were all based in India, following India-based sites accounting for four of the five worst-hit news brands year on year in May.
A global squeeze, with India at the sharp end
In total, 39 of the top 50 sites saw a decline in traffic year on year in August, one more than in July. Among the top ten sites by monthly visits, news syndication site MSN (411.9 million visits) and CNN (313.3 million visits) saw the biggest traffic drops, both down 25% year on year.
Of the 11 websites that grew traffic compared with last year, France-based Euronews saw the biggest jump, up 98% to 46.2 million visits, followed by Al Jazeera, up 88% to 66.7 million visits, and One India, which increased visits by 47% to 100.9 million. Eight sites grew traffic compared with July.
New entrant and aggregation news site News Now saw the highest month-on-month growth, up 20% to 41.4 million visits, followed by Euronews, up 17% to 46.2 million. News Now replaced Politico in the top 50 ranking for English-language news sites in August, with the politics site falling 22% month on month to 29.7 million visits. Politico’s head of product Francesca Barber told Press Gazette this month that the newsbrand is preparing to think about bringing together the .com and .eu websites.
What’s driving the numbers
Al Jazeera saw visits fall the most compared with July, down 28% to 66.7 million; the Qatar-headquartered newsbrand had spent much of this year leading growth both year on year and month on month following the US and Israel launching strikes on Iran on 28 February. India’s News 18 had the second-highest drop in traffic month on month as well as year on year, down 22% to 68.6 million visits, while The Hindu also fell 22% month on month to 59.7 million.
The BBC hit one billion visits in July but fell to 818.5 million in August after a 19% drop in traffic month on month. Similarweb generates its traffic data by applying machine learning and modelling to statistically representative datasets the company collects, based on direct measurement from websites and apps that share first-party analytics, contributory networks that aggregate device data, and partnerships and public data extraction.
The sites in the list are based on Similarweb’s classification of news and media publishers, although Press Gazette refines the list to exclude some sites with a less journalistic focus. In July, The Hindustan Times recorded the biggest year-on-year drop, down 60% to 94.3 million visits, followed by Business Insider (down 45%), Indian Express (down 44% to 75.4 million), Buzzfeed (down 39% to 49 million) and News 18 (down 38% to 87.6 million).
Of the 12 sites to grow their audience year on year in July, Al Jazeera saw the biggest increase, up 119% to 92.8 million visits, followed by One India, up 71%, and Euronews, up 62%. In July, 45 of the 50 biggest English-language news sites grew their audience compared with the previous month.
One India saw the biggest increase, up 179% to 124 million visits, climbing from 44th place in June’s top 50 ranking to 15th place in July. The Hill saw the second-highest month-on-month growth, up 31% to 42.2 million, followed by Euronews, up 21% to 39.6 million.
The Hill, Euronews and Variety (up 19% month on month to 39.5 million) were new entrants to the top 50 in July, replacing Bloomberg (down 7.3% to 37.3 million), Huffpost (down 0.7% to 37.1 million) and British tabloid the Express (down 1.8% month on month to 36.6 million).
In July, NBC News saw the biggest decline month on month
