Traffic to local media websites grew by more than half in just a year, figures published by ABC this week reveal.

Local World recorded the largest number of average monthly unique users out of regional press publishers for the reporting period of January to June this year and theKent Messenger Group recorded the fastest growth.

And total audience for groups reporting six monthly ABC figures grew by 57.6 per cent year-on-year, the ABC figures reveal.

Trinity Mirror, which reports monthly, saw strong traffic growth across all titles audited by ABC including the traffic more than doubling for the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News.

Local World’s total audience was 16,395,037 average monthly unique browsers – growing by 89.7 per cent – while the Kent Messenger Group’s total audience grew by 91.1 per cent.

The Midland News Association’s audience grew by 67.7 per cent, Newsquest’s by 47.7 per cent, and Johnston Press’s by 39.2 per cent.