Quick Read
- The Oxford Mail entered the top 50 UK news websites in August 2025 with 3.4 million users.
- It saw a 52.3% month-on-month and 216% year-on-year audience growth in August 2025.
- The publication recorded the highest month-on-month growth in minutes spent (27.5%) among top 50 sites, reaching 3.7 million minutes.
- Newsquest CEO Henry Faure Walker credited a “very strong news team” for the digital success.
- The Oxford Mail was not included in the top 50 by audience reach in September 2025.
LONDON (Azat TV) – The Oxford Mail, a regional news outlet, experienced a significant but brief surge in its digital audience and engagement in August 2025, entering the top 50 UK news websites before dropping out the following month. This rapid fluctuation highlights the dynamic and often volatile nature of the contemporary digital news landscape, particularly for local publications navigating a highly competitive market.
According to data from Ipsos iris, the industry-recognized standard for measuring online audiences, the Oxford Mail recorded an audience of 3.4 million users in August 2025. This represented a remarkable 52.3% increase month-on-month and an astounding 216% year-on-year growth, propelling it into the top 50 for the first time. The publication also saw a substantial boost in engagement, with total minutes spent on its content climbing by 27.5% month-on-month to 3.7 million, marking the highest such growth among the top 50 sites that month.
Oxford Mail’s August 2025 Performance
The impressive figures for August 2025 extended beyond audience reach and minutes spent. The Oxford Mail achieved 11.4 million page views, reflecting a year-on-year increase of more than 100%. Henry Faure Walker, CEO of Newsquest, the Oxford Mail‘s parent company, attributed this success to the publication’s dedicated team. He told Press Gazette that the Oxford Mail possesses a “very strong news team there, particularly adept and skilled at digital journalism,” underscoring the strategic focus on online content creation.
Navigating the Volatile Digital Landscape
Despite its strong performance in August, the Oxford Mail‘s tenure in the top 50 was short-lived. By September 2025, the publication was no longer included in the list of the UK’s 50 biggest news websites by audience reach, despite its significant showing just a month prior. This rapid entry and exit underscore the intense competition and fluctuating audience behaviors characteristic of the digital media environment, where even substantial growth can be difficult to sustain consistently.
The Ipsos iris data, which replaced Comscore in 2021, measures the total unduplicated number of people using a brand’s websites and apps and includes all traffic, not exclusively news. This comprehensive methodology provides a broad overview of digital consumption habits across the UK. While other national and international news brands like the Daily Star and Substack consistently reported strong year-on-year growth throughout 2025, the Oxford Mail‘s trajectory illustrates the unique challenges and opportunities faced by regional outlets striving for national digital prominence.
The Oxford Mail’s brief but impactful appearance in the UK’s top digital news rankings highlights the potential for local journalism to capture significant online attention, even as it underscores the inherent volatility and competitive pressures within the broader digital publishing ecosystem.