Competitive Info: The Online News Audience Eroded In April.

Nearly half of the 50 largest news websites in the U.S. experienced traffic declines of 20% or more in April vs. a year earlier, according to PressGazette.com, using data from Similarweb.

The numbers show that 24 of the top 50 outlets experienced year-over-year (YoY) declines of at least one-fifth. The steepest drop was recorded by Newsweek, which fell 69% to 28.5 million visits. It was followed by Daily Mail, down 51% to 43.6 million visits, and San Francisco-based SFGATE, which declined 39% to 17 million visits.

Despite the broader downturn, 10 sites posted YoY growth. The largest increase came from Al Jazeera, which surged 160% to 30.3 million visits in April. The outlet also posted strong gains in February and March, a trend analysts link to heightened interest in Middle East coverage following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Substack recorded a 29% increase to 89.9 million visits, while India Times rose 18% to 27.3 million visits.

Among the most consistent gainers, The Daily Beast and India Times were the only two outlets to post both YoY and MoM growth. The Daily Beast increased 7% YoY to 19.6 million visits and rose 15% MoM, the largest monthly gain among the group. India Times also posted a 5% monthly increase alongside its annual growth.

Business publication Forbes followed with an 8% MoM increase to 54.8 million visits, rounding out a small group of six sites that saw sequential growth in April.

The report also noted that YoY figures for ABC News were not recorded due to a domain switch in early February from ABCnews.go.com, with traffic still adjusting and showing sharply elevated comparisons because of the transition.