Time spent increases if access to website is direct

While referrals from Facebook and other sites outpace direct visits to news websites, the engagement factor is much higher for direct visitors, according to a study by comScore and Pew.  Facebook sends half of all Buzzfeed’s visits, while direct visits account for one-fourth of the site’s visits. However, the number of minutes spent by direct users is more than double that of referred visitors, while the number of pages per visitor for direct access is six times that of referred visitors. The number of visits per month is more than double for direct access users as well.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! has a similar story, but not as dramatic. Direct visitors outpace referred visitors two to one in minutes per visit, while pages per visitor and number of visits per month is more than double with direct access users.

World Newsmedia Network has published Global Digital Media Trendbook each year since 2006. The 2014 trendbook contains 500 data sets and 230 pages of analysis about digital media usage and revenue patterns, including this data set. To download the GDMT free executive summary, go to www.wnmn.org