Newsquest Media Group, leading local multimedia group in the UK and publisher of The Press and The Gazette and Herald, has accelerated its digital audience growth to 24% in the first half of 2016.

This compares with 17% annual growth in the 2nd half of last year.

The official ABC figures, out today, show Newsquest’s network of regional and local websites attracted 1,575,714 unique users per day in the first 6 months of this year, up 24.1% on the same period last year, and 25 million unique users per month, up 20.1%.

Henry Faure Walker, Newsquest CEO, said it was important that people understood that there was a real success story here: “We hear a lot of doom and gloom about the future of local news but the truth is our journalists are engaging with local people and local communities in ever greater numbers, and there’s a phenomenal appetite for and engagement with the great local content they produce.

"In addition to these ABC figures, Comscore data shows users engage with Newsquest sites more deeply than with any other local or regional news sites.

"At the same time we’re also seeing more and more local businesses advertising on our digital platforms because they want to work with trusted brands with relevant online audiences.

"Digital growth is a central plank of our strategy and I’m delighted at the progress we’re making but we’re not complacent and we are committed to continuing to innovate and develop our online offerings for both user and advertiser alike.”