Thanks to a nationally viral story about a San Diego TV station mistakenly identifying President Obama as a rape suspect, Times of San Diego served a record 695,407 readers in February.
The article by contributing editor Ken Stone about Fox 5‘s embarrassing mistake was read by 570,208 and was linked to by online media sites across the world, from New York to London.
Because of the international audience, readership in February was younger that usual, with 71 percent of sessions by readers aged 18 to 34. Typically the 25-34 audience segment is the largest for the site, and the Fox 5 story especially appealed to younger readers.
Readers from San Diego and elsewhere in Southern California accounted for approximately 20 percent of sessions, down from the usual 60 percent-plus, because of the international readers.
Smartphones and tablets were used for 48 percent of reading sessions, with standard desktop and laptop computers accounting for the rest. The site uses responsive design to automatically adjust to different screen sizes.
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