The US presidential election is driving record numbers of visitors to political blogs and independent news sites, a company which measures online traffic reported Wednesday.
Reston, Virginia-based comScore Inc. said political blogs and news sites unaffiliated with a larger media outlet experienced strong gains in the number of unique visitors in September compared with a year ago.
HuffingtonPost.com, a Democratic-leaning blog and news website founded three years ago by Greek-born socialite Arianna Huffington, received 4.5 million unique visitors in September, up 474 percent from 792,000 a year earlier.
Politico.com, a political news site launched in January 2007 by former reporters at The Washington Post and Time magazine, drew 2.4 million unique visitors in September, up 344 percent from 532,000 a year earlier.
The Republican-leaning Drudgereport.com received 2.0 million unique visitors in September, up 70 percent from 1.2 million a year earlier, comScore said.
It said Realclearpolitics.com, a website which tracks the latest voter polls and other political news, received 1.1 million unique visitors in September, up 489 percent from 192,000 a year earlier.
Other blogs which have seen at least a doubling in their traffic figures include DailyKos.com, Townhall.com, Newsbusters.org, TalkingPointsMemo.com, MichelleMalkin.com and RedState.com, comScore said.
"With each new election cycle, the Internet is playing a more significant role in shaping the stories of the day that are so crucial in formulating public opinion on issues and candidates," said Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at comScore.
He added that independent blogs unaffiliated with larger media outlets "are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness with this current election cycle."
While political blogs and independent news sites are gaining audience, most Americans still go to more established media outlets for their general news.
Yahoo News drew 41.2 million unique visitors in September followed by MSNBC with 34.2 million and CNN with 33.8 million, according to comScore figures.
