From NiemanLab
From the beginning of the ongoing crisis that has claimed the lives of 34, the L.A. Times has made its wildfire coverage free. The newspaper saw record-breaking readership with traffic to the website peaking on Wednesday, Jan. 8 — the day after the fires began, a Times spokesperson confirmed. Overall, traffic was up 800% from the past 30-day average and new subscriptions were up over 259% compared to that same period.
The L.A. Times entered the new year with about 650,000 paid readers — a figure that combines print, digital, and third-party platforms like Apple News — including 275,000 direct digital subscribers. (An estimated 20,000 subscribers canceled over its decision to not endorse in the 2024 presidential race.) L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong announced in December that getting 400,000 direct digital subscriptions — representing about 1% of California’s 40 million residents — is a primary goal for the newsroom.
The Times had its “most subscriber visits ever” on January 8. And readers stuck around. Site recirculation — when readers come to the L.A. Times site for one story and then stay to read other coverage — was up 1,500% compared to the previous month-long average. Video coverage, in particular, did well with video plays up by 1,800% compared to the previous month.
The top two stories — both un-paywalled — were the main coverage from the fire’s first days “Fast-moving fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena and Sylmar prompt evacuations, school closures” and the explainer “Fire hydrants ran dry as Pacific Palisades burned. L.A. city officials blame ‘tremendous demand.’
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