BBC is now the most-visited news website globally, surpassing Yahoo News Japan. Most major news sites saw traffic declines in May 2026. US publishers were hit hardest by falling Google referrals. See which sites gained and lost the most.
Digital publishers and media operators tracking global audience trends saw a major shift in May 2026, as BBC became the world’s most-visited news website in any language, according to new Similarweb data reported by Press Gazette. The BBC recorded 894.7 million visits, overtaking Yahoo News Japan, which reached 815.4 million visits.
BBC’s rise in the rankings follows a change in how Similarweb measures its traffic, now combining visits to both bbc.com and bbc.co.uk to account for user redirection based on location. This adjustment revised BBC’s May 2025 traffic from 474.4 million to 912 million visits, reflecting a more accurate picture of its global reach.
Brazil’s Globo.com secured third place with 758.7 million visits. The New York Times was the top US entry, ranking fourth with 592.6 million visits. The US dominated the top 50 list with 13 sites, followed by India with eight and Japan with four. Poland, Germany, and the UK each had three sites in the top 50.
Traffic declines were widespread: 37 of the top 50 news sites saw year-on-year drops in May 2026, up from 34 the previous year. Fifteen sites experienced declines of at least 20%. India’s Hindustan Times had the steepest fall, down 54% to 122.2 million visits. Poland’s Onet dropped 41% to 176.8 million, and Indian Express fell 40% to 88.9 million.
US publishers were especially affected, with eight of the 13 US sites in the top 50 losing traffic both month-on-month and year-on-year. Press Gazette attributed this to a faster decline in Google traffic in the US, as AI Mode and AI Overviews rolled out earlier there than in Europe.
Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, posted the largest year-on-year traffic increase, up 69% to 86.7 million visits. Press Gazette linked this growth to heightened interest in Middle East news following US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. However, Al Jazeera also saw the fastest month-on-month drop, down 38% in May. India’s ABP Live and CNN each recorded 22% month-on-month declines.
The Daily Mail saw the highest month-on-month traffic gain, up 8.5% to 209.9 million visits, likely due to its recent domain switch from mailonline.co.uk to dailymail.com, with traffic from both domains now combined.
Several major news brands missed the top 50. France’s Le Figaro ranked 52nd with 80.3 million visits, Le Monde was 71st with 70 million, and Finland’s Iltalehti followed with 69.5 million.
Similarweb compiles its traffic data using machine learning and modeling from direct measurement, device data networks, partnerships, and public data extraction. Press Gazette refines the list to focus on sites with a strong journalistic focus.
