Breitbart News website stats have absolutely imploded

[corbe]

Breitbart News website stats have absolutely imploded

May. 27, 2017 9:08 pm by SooperMexican

The rise and fall of Breitbart News is like a Greek tragedy, or Breaking Bad when Walt chooses evil over his family. And it looks like we’re in the last act.

From Vanity Fair:

“Breitbart News is the #45th most trafficked website in the United States, according to rankings from Amazon’s analytics company, Alexa.com,” they wrote on January 9, 2017. “With over two billion pageviews generated in 2016 and 45 million unique monthly visitors, Breitbart News has now surpassed Fox News (#47), Huffington Post (#50), Washington Post (#53), and Buzzfeed (#64) in traffic.” A month later, the site had even greater cause to celebrate. “Breitbart News is now the 29th most trafficked site in the United States, surpassing PornHub and ESPN,” they crowed. In the article, its staffers bragged that their bonkers traffic reflected the site’s cementing a permanent place in American politics. “The numbers speak for themselves,” said Solov. (Many outlets, including The Hive, experienced traffic peaks around Trump’s inauguration.)

Just a few months later, the numbers have a different story to tell. As of May 26, 2017, according to Alexa.com—the same web-ranking analytics company that Breitbart drew its numbers from in January—Fox News is the 64th most-trafficked site in the country. Huffington Post is at 60. Buzzfeed is at 50. The Washington Post, on the strength of a series of eye-popping scoops, is at 41.

Breitbart is in 281st place.

<..snip..>

http://therightscoop.com/breitbart-news-website-stats-have-absolutely-imploded/

[Sighlass]

Well looks like you @corbe  have posted this about 30 seconds before I posted it. I posted in General section, so can someone delete my posting? Thanks in advance.

Some speculation that Breitbard did some fake hits to inflate their numbers, but I am more inclined to believe people after the election are tired of politics, especially the people they attracted during the election cycle.

I know I personally avoided them for other reasons.

[ABX]

Alexa has not been a reliable counter for a few years. They don't index many site types and much of their rankings are based on data collected from toolbar users. As most browsers on Windows 10 no longer use or allow external toolbars, plus with so much traffic switching to mobile devices, Alexa has lost all relevance among those who really néed to know this info.

[Old Warrior in Exile]

No one could run Breitbart.com but Andrew Breitbart.

Here's why:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YthG-MeKcbQ

War.

Not many have the stomach for it.

[240B]

Alexa has not been a reliable counter for a few years. They don't index many site types and much of their rankings are based on data collected from toolbar users. As most browsers on Windows 10 no longer use or allow external toolbars, plus with so much traffic switching to mobile devices, Alexa has lost all relevance among those who really néed to know this info.

I've always wondered how Alexa counts sites like Drudge which do an auto-refresh every few seconds. When Drudge says that they got XXX million hits last month, are they real 'hits' or are they just artifacts of their auto-refresh function?

[jmyrlefuller]

I've always wondered how Alexa counts sites like Drudge which do an auto-refresh every few seconds. When Drudge says that they got XXX million hits last month, are they real 'hits' or are they just artifacts of their auto-refresh function?

That’s preciselywhy Drudge does auto-refresh. (It’s also why he doesn’t upgrade his interface, since it would drive his server load up exponentially.)

[240B]

Picture, say ~100,000 users, who open Drudge in the morning and forget to close it before they go to work. Throughout the day, even though the computer is unused and dormant, those nonexistent 'users' could generate several millions of phantom 'hits' to Drudge. That's why when Drudge claims that they are the number one news site based on the amount of hits that they got over a month, I don't take it seriously. It's fake news.

[catfish1957]

War.

Not many have the stomach for it.

AB was a conservative's conservative.  He's twirling in his grave knowing his namesake creation was a front for the liberal Trump

[roamer_1]

AB was a conservative's conservative.  He's twirling in his grave knowing his namesake creation was a front for the liberal Trump

And more to the point, I'd imagine, that the truth is left wanting.

[DCPatriot]

Picture, say ~100,000 users, who open Drudge in the morning and forget to close it before they go to work. Throughout the day, even though the computer is unused and dormant, those nonexistent 'users' could generate several millions of phantom 'hits' to Drudge. That's why when Drudge claims that they are the number one news site based on the amount of hits that they got over a month, I don't take it seriously. It's fake news.

It's my homepage...and has been for almost 15 years.

And I don't like to leave tabs open....so many times, I'll click on the DRUDGE on my 'favorites" task bar in the course of surfing.

Because, who likes to use the refresh button?   

So just myself alone, I probably 'hit' Drudge about 25 times per day.

[catfish1957]

It's my homepage...and has been for almost 15 years.

And I don't like to leave tabs open....so many times, I'll click on the DRUDGE on my 'favorites" task bar in the course of surfing.

Because, who likes to use the refresh button?   

So just myself alone, I probably 'hit' Drudge about 25 times per day.

If it is big and breaking, 9 times out of 10 Drudge will have it to the masses first.

25 times though?   Maybe 4 or 5 for me is enough.

[240B]

It's my homepage...and has been for almost 15 years.

And I don't like to leave tabs open....so many times, I'll click on the DRUDGE on my 'favorites" task bar in the course of surfing.

Because, who likes to use the refresh button?   

So just myself alone, I probably 'hit' Drudge about 25 times per day.

With the auto-refresh function on Drudge, if you are there 25 times a day, you are likely registering 250, or possibly much more, 'hits' on his site every day.

[DCPatriot]

With the auto-refresh function on Drudge, if you are there 25 times a day, you are likely registering 250, or possibly much more, 'hits' on his site every day.

I have 'noticed' the Drudge page "refresh", infrequently while I'm viewing the page.   Maybe once or twice at the most during the day.

[driftdiver]

With the auto-refresh function on Drudge, if you are there 25 times a day, you are likely registering 250, or possibly much more, 'hits' on his site every day.

It's very easy to tell the difference between hits and unique hits.  Also how long an individual stays on the page.

[XenaLee]

Breitbart News website stats have absolutely imploded

May. 27, 2017 9:08 pm by SooperMexican

The rise and fall of Breitbart News is like a Greek tragedy, or Breaking Bad when Walt chooses evil over his family. And it looks like we’re in the last act.

From Vanity Fair:
<..snip..>

http://therightscoop.com/breitbart-news-website-stats-have-absolutely-imploded/

Several reasons, no doubt.  One, the damned website causes my browser to go wacky so I just don't click on it any more.  Two, nobody likes Bannon (except Trump)....and it's extremely noticeable since everyone liked Andrew.  Three, Bannon is connected to the Trump administration, so the assault on anything Trumpy is well underway and progressing (pardon pun).

All in all, it's a wonder the site didn't tank right after the election.

[Cripplecreek]

Everything touched by Trumpsanity rots like an overripe cucumber.

[driftdiver]

Everything touched by Trumpsanity rots like an overripe cucumber.

Does the failure of something related to Trump make u happy?

[240B]

I have 'noticed' the Drudge page "refresh", infrequently while I'm viewing the page.   Maybe once or twice at the most during the day.

According to what I have seen, the site does an automatic refresh about every 120 seconds. Part of the reason for that is to change the ads which are all over his site, but I wouldn't doubt that this is artificially increasing his hit count.

[ABX]

The source code on Drudge's page shows it is set to refresh every 141 seconds.

Code: [Select]

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var timer = setInterval("autoRefresh()", 1000 * 47 * 3);
function autoRefresh(){self.location.reload(true);}
//-->
</script>
(the interval in time is easy to determine, 1000 = 1 second so 100*47*3=141 seconds.- I believe he has the interval set this way to 'trick' sponsored ads into how it reads refreshes).

[roamer_1]

The source code on Drudge's page shows it is set to refresh every 141 seconds.

Code: [Select]

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var timer = setInterval("autoRefresh()", 1000 * 47 * 3);
function autoRefresh(){self.location.reload(true);}
//-->
</script>
(the interval in time is easy to determine, 1000 = 1 second so 100*47*3=141 seconds.- I believe he has the interval set this way to 'trick' sponsored ads into how it reads refreshes).

Funny what you learn about when one is used to surfing with a script blocker....

[EC]

Followup

Vanity Fair Busted Pushing Traffic Ranking Hoax to Smear Breitbart

A Vanity Fair hit piece written last week by Tina Nguyen claiming Breitbart’s Alexa U.S. ranking had fallen to #281 was proven demonstrably false. The drop in rankings resulted purely from a technical glitch by Alexa that once fixed, rocketed Breitbart’s ranking back up to #59.

After Breitbart reached out to Amazon-owned Alexa, a senior executive apologized to Breitbart and said the company had erroneously “decertified” Breitbart’s account, causing the inaccurate drop in rankings. After Alexa restored Breitbart’s certification, the ranking instantly shot up to #59.

More: http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/05/31/vanity-fair-busted-pushing-traffic-ranking-hoax-to-smear-breitbart/

IIRC, this has happened before, during the election. Oddly, it was only conservative and right leaning sites that were "decertified" then, too. Maybe when Breitbart finish blowing their own trumpet here, they'll remember they are supposed to be reporters and look into it in a bit more detail.

[jmyrlefuller]

After Breitbart reached out to Amazon-owned Alexa, a senior executive apologized to Breitbart and said the company had erroneously “decertified” Breitbart’s account, causing the inaccurate drop in rankings. After Alexa restored Breitbart’s certification, the ranking instantly shot up to #59.

So in other words, Breitbart just admitted the rankings can be juiced by "reaching out" and having them cook the books.

[Cripplecreek]

So in other words, Breitbart just admitted the rankings can be juiced by "reaching out" and having them cook the books.

Anyone who thinks Breitbart and many other "conservative" outlets haven't suffered considerably is a fool. Millions have walked away and while some new readers/viewers/listeners have arrived the losses are still very damaging and can only be written off as anomalous for so long.

People can ask how can they remain on the air or online if numbers are that bad but the same question can be asked about MSNBC or the democratic underground.

[ABX]

Followup

Vanity Fair Busted Pushing Traffic Ranking Hoax to Smear Breitbart

A Vanity Fair hit piece written last week by Tina Nguyen claiming Breitbart’s Alexa U.S. ranking had fallen to #281 was proven demonstrably false. The drop in rankings resulted purely from a technical glitch by Alexa that once fixed, rocketed Breitbart’s ranking back up to #59.

After Breitbart reached out to Amazon-owned Alexa, a senior executive apologized to Breitbart and said the company had erroneously “decertified” Breitbart’s account, causing the inaccurate drop in rankings. After Alexa restored Breitbart’s certification, the ranking instantly shot up to #59.

More: http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/05/31/vanity-fair-busted-pushing-traffic-ranking-hoax-to-smear-breitbart/

IIRC, this has happened before, during the election. Oddly, it was only conservative and right leaning sites that were "decertified" then, too. Maybe when Breitbart finish blowing their own trumpet here, they'll remember they are supposed to be reporters and look into it in a bit more detail.

This happened bigly during the 2014 mid term election. Around October, every single major Conservative site's rankings crashed to almost 0, you could look at the chart and see them all crash on the exact same day. Dem sites didn't and kept a similar trend. We had a big thread on it as we looked at all the sites we could think of and it was very consistent.  Around 2015, they decertified all 'out of the box' forums and blogs crashing stats. Then when Windows 10 came out w/ Edge and other browsers stopped using toolbars, their results have become worthless. You have to pay thm big bucks now to track you if you aren't a big name.