Independent site predicts record month following relaunch

newmediaage reporting:
The Independent’s daily average unique browsers dropped 7% in October to 611,488, according to the latest ABC audit, but the online newspaper predicts visitor numbers to surge following the relaunch of its website at the beginning of November.

Zach Leonard, The Independent’s MD, digital, said, “The October dip was driven by a couple of things. First, there was less headline news than in the previous month, and second, all our resources were focused on the relaunch so we spent a little less time on the day to day.”
There are no concrete figures for independent.co.uk since the relaunch on 31 October, but Leonard said it has had several “record days” over the past ten days, which is partly down to the redesign using a lot more contextual and behavioural targeting, provided by Leiki.
...
Guardian.co.uk held its spot in second place after breaking the 3m unique browser mark, again following a drop back to 2.9m in September.
The site hit the 3m mark for the first time in August, which it attributed partly to its live coverage of the riots around England (nma.co.uk 3 September 2011).
Telegraph.co.uk has also seen good progress from September to October, up 14.9% to 2.3m average daily visitors.
http://www.nma.co.uk/3032221.article?cmpid=NMAE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true