Big dig continues as water cuts hit
Ali Keogh (25) clears snow outside her parents’ house on Butterhill road in Blessington, Co Wicklow. The wintry weather has brought fresh problems for people, with water shortages and hospital queues. Photo: Damien Eagers
INDEPENDENT.IE generated record online traffic and engagement during the coverage of Storm Emma.
Independent News and Media brands proved to be the trusted source of news and updates through last week’s extraordinary weather events, figures show.
Our flagship digital platform, Independent.ie, saw a massive 55 million page impressions and
5.4 million users during the week of the snow and freezing temperatures.
It was way ahead of the traffic for our nearest competitors.
Moreover, a leading global internet search tracking service showed that Independent. ie was the number one destination for those searching for news about Storm Emma online.
The figures prove Irish people turned to the site on their phones and devices for updates on the weather.
INM Group Editor In Chief Stephen Rae commented: “In many ways INM was like the public service media provider during the storm as hundreds of thousands of people frequently came to our sites and newspapers for trusted content and updates.
“Our coverage of Storm Emma across the editorial team was an incredible testament to everyone’s hard work. Independent.ie became the go-to source for information updates, combined with serious reporting on weather conditions.
“It was also very encouraging to see the huge increase in downloads of our e-paper which allowed snowbound readers to get their newspaper experience without leaving the house,” he added.
“We also noticed that Independent.ie became a platform for some fun in adversity where our users shared some of the more humorous interactions and videos from with us.”
INM’s online editor Fionnuala O’Leary commented that: “From February 26 onwards, Independent.ie and its app provided continuous coverage and updated information for users across the island.”
Content that engaged most users included breaking news, live video and usergenerated stories.
The most visited story was headlined: “Status Red shutdown - Contingency plans put in place for emergency services”.
A total of 5.4 million unique users visited the site over the week of February 26 a sizeable 1.7 million more than the same week in 2017.
Met Eireann’s red alert warnings, and related public safety notice, had an impact in desktop traffic as users migrated to mobile devices.
More Independent.ie users turned to the Independent. ie app rather than mobile browser with 51pc of page impressions being delivered by the app.
While 84pc of these impressions came from Irish users, some 66pc of the unique users recorded were also from the domestic market with an interesting 34pc accessing the information from abroad.
Social media editor Brian O’Reilly explained why Independent.ie’s performance on social media was also a huge success :
“This was a record week for direct upload video on Facebook. Storm Emma content generated 7.5 million views. The most popular was a video of the trad session in an igloo, which reached 3.7 million people and was viewed 1.1 million times.”