Trinity Mirror’s network of regional websites averaged 1.9m daily unique browsers in the last six months of 2015, a 40.1% year-on-year surge.

The Manchester Evening News, the UK’s most popular regional news website, increased its daily browser numbers by 34.5% to 558,095, according to today’s ABCe release.

The Liverpool Echo, increased 59.6% to 422,360, Wales Online, rose by 45.2% to 258,954 and ChronicleLive increased by 30.5% to 203,436, respectively.

David Higgerson, digital publishing director at Trinity Mirror Regionals, said: “Within our global numbers is a much greater growth among local readers. We focus on what they want, ensuring they want to come back more often and visit more content when they are here. Live blogs are a good example of this, along with an increasing focus on useful content which people remember for its quality, and the fans first approach we take to football and rugby coverage to stand out from the crowd.

“It’s very encouraging that readers now increasingly think of us as their first port of call when big stories break.”