Sites Declare Historic Traffic For Election

Record-breaking numbers of people followed the American presidential vote online, according to new reports.

According to Media Week, “record shattering traffic gains” are being declared by many news sites in the wake of this week’s historic election.

For example, CNN.com says it attracted some 30 million unique visitors on the day of the ballot, easily surpassing its previous best on Super Tuesday earlier this year.

And MSNBC.com has also claimed it saw its greatest ever traffic figures on November 4, with over 20 million unique users visiting the site.

According to traffic handler Akamai’s Net Usage Index statistics, over 8.5 million users per minute were visiting its client sites including Reuters, NBC and BBC.com.

Meanwhile among the newspapers declaring record online traffic were the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

The Obama effect also extended to print editions as many titles found themselves working over-time to meet demands for souvenir copies.