News Platforms See Multi-Device Engagement Bump on Recent US Political Events

Key Takeaways:

• Per ST data, cnn.com saw the most material spike in desktop web (+58%), mobile web (+92%) and mobile app (+50%) traffic during the first televised debate compared to its peers. This demonstrates the power of live streaming events, as the livestream likely propelled engagement for CNN, while its competitors were limited to simply covering the debate in clips, live news articles, or subsequent posts

• cnn.com also saw the most significant increase in desktop web traffic around the time of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump (July 13-14) as average US DAUs jumped 34% vs the prior two day average, compared to 7% for x.com, while both nytimes.com (-4%) and wsj.com (-9%) saw declines

  • On the other hand, daily average US user time spent on desktop web during the time of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump increased 10% on x.com vs the prior two day average, while nytimes.com (-2%), cnn.com (-5%) and wsj.com (-20%) all saw declines. This was largely in line with recent commentary from Elon Musk touting soaring engagement on X around the time of this event

• Around the time of President Biden’s announcement that he would be exiting the US presidential race (July 21-22), mobile web US DAUs for wsj.com jumped 47% vs the prior two day average, compared to 41% for cnn.com, 19% for x.com, and 8% for nytimes.com, suggesting that consumers browsing their mobile devices overwhelmingly looked to the WSJ for news coverage and opinions around this event

  • The WSJ also saw a commensurate rise (+14%) in daily average US user time spent on mobile web during this period, while nytimes.com (-4%), cnn.com (-8%), and x.com (-11%) all exhibited declines

Recent US Political News Coverage Prompts Soaring Multidevice Engagement on X, CNN, WSJ and NYTIMES

With the 2024 US presidential election in full swing, news coverage around recent events such as the first televised debate, the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s subsequent withdrawal from the race have all contributed to massive lifts in consumer engagement with news platforms. Utilizing data from Sensor Tower’s first party owned and operated multi-device panel can help uncover insights into which news outlet won the most consumer attention during these events along with which medium (ie desktop web, mobile web or mobile app) saw the most significant increase in traffic.

CNN Leads in Consumer Traffic Increase in First Televised Presidential Debate

Per ST data, cnn.com saw the most material spike in desktop web traffic during the first televised debate as average US DAUs from June 27-28 rose 58% vs the prior two day average, compared to 7% for nytimes.com, 5% for wsj.com and 2% for x.com. This trend was also evident on other mediums such as mobile web and mobile app. Mobile web US DAUs on cnn.com spiked 92% in that same period, compared to 44% for wsj.com, 6% for x.com and 4% for nytimes.com. Mobile app US DAUs for CNN rose 50% in that same period, compared to 19% for the Wall Street Journal app and 11% for the New York Times app. Surprisingly, US mobile app DAUs for X remained largely unchanged during the debate. When combined, these trends reveal that CNN, which livestreamed the debate, saw the most material increase in traffic across various mediums around the time of the event. Additionally, this demonstrates the power of live streaming events, as livestreaming the debate on CNN likely propelled engagement for the news outlet, while its competitors were limited to simply covering the debate in clips, live news articles or subsequent posts.

Daily average US user time spent on desktop web during the time surrounding the debate (June 27-28) increased 68% on cnn.com compared to the prior two day average, outpacing x.com (+2%), wsj.com (+2%) and nytimes.com (flat). On mobile web, wsj.com (+35%) saw the most material increase in user time spent during the debate, followed by cnn.com (+12%), x.com (+10%) and nytimes.com (+2%). WSJ also saw the most material gains in user engagement on its mobile app during the debate as time spent jumped 20%, ahead of peers such as X (+7%), the New York Times app (+6%) and CNN (-12%). This suggests that consumers who were at their homes during the debate utilized their desktop devices to live stream the event via CNN, while those on the go likely perused the WSJ both via mobile web and mobile app to receive live updates and watch clips of the debate.

CNN Again Wins User Traffic During Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump

Per ST data, cnn.com also saw the most significant increase in desktop web traffic around the time of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally (July 13-14) as average US DAUs jumped 34% vs the prior two day average, compared to 7% for x.com, while both nytimes.com (-4%) and wsj.com (-9%) saw declines in US user traffic in this period. Conversely, both mobile web and mobile app US DAUs increased during this same period for all of the aforementioned platforms. Given that this event occurred on a weekend, when consumers are largely away from their desktop computers, these outsized gains in consumer traffic on mobile devices compared to desktop devices largely resonates with studied consumer habits. Mobile web US DAUs on cnn.com spiked 132% in that same period, compared to 110% for wsj.com, 42% for nytimes.com and 40% for x.com. Mobile app US DAUs for CNN rose 53% in that same period, compared to 27% for the Wall Street Journal app, 23% for the New York Times app and 4% for X. Although X saw the most tepid increase in US traffic on mobile (both web and app) during the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, the platform does boast a significantly larger user base. Per ST data, from July 13-14, X had almost 27mn US mobile app DAUs, more than 20x that of The New York Times, WSJ and CNN apps, which suggests that X’s smaller increases in US user traffic are still quite impressive when comparing the rise in users on an absolute basis.

Daily average US user time spent on desktop web during the time of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally (July 13-14) increased 10% on x.com vs the prior two day average, while nytimes.com (-2%), cnn.com (-5%) and wsj.com (-20%) all saw declines. On mobile web, cnn.com (+9%) saw the most material increase in user time around the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, followed by wsj.com (+6%), while both x.com (-3%) and nytimes.com (-16%) saw declines. CNN (+28%) also saw the most significant increase in US mobile app time spent during that period, ahead of X (+15%), the New York Times app (+9%) and the WSJ app (+6%). This indicates that consumers overwhelmingly flocked to X both on desktop web and via mobile app to view firsthand accounts and videos of the assassination attempt, largely in line with recent commentary from Elon Musk about the app having its largest surge in user time spent around the time of this event.

US Consumers Flock to WSJ For News of Biden’s Exit from 2024 Election

Per ST data, both cnn.com and wsj.com saw the most significant increases in desktop web traffic around the time of President Biden’s announcement that he would be exiting the US presidential race this year (July 21-22), as average US DAUs jumped 30% on each platform vs the prior two day average, compared to 15% for nytimes.com and 9% for x.com. Mobile web US DAUs for WSJ jumped 47% in that same period, compared to 41% for cnn.com, 19% for x.com and 8% for nytimes.com, suggesting that consumers overwhelmingly looked to the WSJ for news coverage and opinions around this event on mobile web. Mobile app US DAUs for CNN rose 18% in that same period, compared to 17% for the Wall Street Journal app, 9% for the New York Times app and 2% for X.

Daily average US user time spent on desktop web during the time of President Biden’s announcement that he would be exiting the US presidential race this year (July 21-22) increased 11% on nytimes.com vs the prior two day average, compared to 3% for wsj.com, 2% for x.com and a -8% decline for cnn.com. On mobile web, wsj.com (+14%) was the sole outlet to see a material increase in user time spent, while nytimes.com (-4%), cnn.com (-8%) and x.com (-11%) all exhibited declines. The New York Times app (+10%) also saw the most significant lift in user time spent during this period, compared to +6% for X, -2% for the CNN app and -3% for the WSJ app. This suggests that consumers more heavily flocked to the New York Times desktop site and mobile app to receive updates on President Biden’s announced exit from the 2024 presidential race.

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