Guardian’s U.S. Site Hits Traffic High

U.S. version of British site surges thanks to election

Just over a year after the Guardian, the newspaper often dubbed Britain's New York Times, launched a new United States homepage, the site is pulling in record traffic.

The Guardian said its U.S. traffic exceeded 11.8 million unique visitors in October, up six percent from last year. It pulled ahead of BBC News for the first time since the site's unveiling in September 2011.

"This is an important milestone for the Guardian,"  U.S. editor-in-chief Janine Gibson said in a statement. "American readers are clearly embracing our open approach to journalism, and our commitment to interactive storytelling. Their voices and engagement have been key ingredients in shaping and driving the content and in our overall success."

The hefty comScore numbers were led in part by the newspaper's live coverage of the presidential debates, which included a partnership with Tumblr to "live-GIF" the showdowns.

The Guardian launched its U.S. site as part of its 2011 "digital-first" strategy to leverage more advertising dollars from American readers, who previously made up more than a third of its traffic.

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