Most read stories of 2012 (From York Press)

Most read stories of 2012

9:20am Thursday 20th December 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell, jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk

WITH a year that saw the Queen’s visit, a hot debate on a new stadium for York and floods strike the region twice, The Press website was the place to be in 2012.

The Press broke online figures records as we provided rolling coverage of live events and broke the news from political dramas to disturbing crimes, tales of woe but also stories that made you smile.

Figures from our parent company, Newsquest, have now revealed The Press’s ten most-read stories online over the past 12 months as we have continued to expand our website.

The top five were about flooding, with detailed coverage as heavy rainfall battered York and North Yorkshire at the end of September, forcing roads, schools and businesses to shut, with York recording its third-highest river levels. Then in November, more floods again hit businesses still trying to recover.

We kept readers informed minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour on our website as well as dedicated Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Our rolling coverage of the debate on plans for the the multi-million pound community stadium and retail outlet, at Monks Cross, in May also attracted thousands of online hits – and was the most commented-on article this year.

Rolling coverage of the Queen’s visit in May attracted a massive online audience as roving reporters covered the royal parade through the city. The discovery of an unexploded bomb in Lawrence Street in January also drew in the online crowds – as did a fire at the University of York in February that led to 400 people being evacuated.

Steve Hughes, editor of The Press, said: “The Press has one of the fastest growing newspaper websites in the country and we now attract almost 500,000 unique users each month. One of the reasons for our success is that no other media organisation in the area can provide the comprehensive coverage that we do day in day out.

“And when big stories do break, such as the floods or the Queen’s visit to York we pull out all the stops to bring our readers full live coverage, including news, information, picture galleries and video reports. “

Top 5 Stories

1 – Flooding report on September 26 - 70,897 page impressions
2 – Flooding report on September 27 - 57,427  page impressions
3 - Flooding report on September 25 - 49,122 page impressions
4 – Flooding report on November 26 – 44,824 page impressions
5 – Live coverage of stadium and shops plan – 41,913 page impressions

• A full breakdown of the most read stories of 2012>>