Press release
Mother Jones traffic and digital revenue soar to record levels in 2Q 2010
Mother Jones—which just won its second National Magazine Award for General Excellence in three years—reported today that its investigative reporting produced record-breaking traffic and a significant increase in digital revenue during the second quarter of 2010.
Steve Katz, publisher of Mother Jones, announced a 125 percent increase in unique visitors to its website for the quarter, compared with the same period last year. Traffic from social media sites for the quarter also rose nearly sevenfold, by 676 percent, over the same period last year. The independent, progressive investigative news outfit also reported 61 percent growth in total digital revenue compared with the same period last year, including a dramatic 339 percent increase in online contributions to the storied nonprofit journalism outlet. MotherJones.com also generated 1.3 million unique visitors in the month of June—the highest number in the site’s history. Mother Jones’ award-winning print magazine maintained a healthy 210,000 paid circulation.
“These results show that there’s an audience for Mother Jones’ smart, sharp journalism that puts the stories of the day in deeper context,” Katz said. “Mother Jones readers are active, supportive, and thoughtful—and we’re proud to offer our advertisers a great opportunity to engage with them.”
Mother Jones’ early decision to deliver team coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, along with its eight-person Washington, DC, bureau’s ongoing coverage of political battles over health care, financial reform, immigration, the Supreme Court, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, played a major role in driving the quarterly growth.
“The BP oil-spill story needs to be covered by reporters who know the science, the landscape, and the politics. That’s also how we approach our coverage of Beltway politics. It’s the kind of journalism that Mother Jones does best,” said editor Clara Jeffery.
Jeffery also pointed to Mother Jones’ participation in the Climate Desk, a new journalistic collaboration that includes The Atlantic, the Center for Investigative Reporting, Grist, Slate, Wired, and WNET’s Need to Know.
“Our readers respond to solid, informed reporting that breaks beyond the headlines, and that’s what we aim to deliver day in and day out,” Jeffery said.
Winner of this year’s National Magazine Award for General Excellence—and numerous other recent national awards—Mother Jones has delighted observers with what one columnist calls its “almost rollicking” spirit. No matter the medium or the story, readers say they value Mother Jones for its integrity and its independent perspective.
