The Digest: One Million Readers and Counting

May 18, 2014 |

digest-million-pv-sessions-smNearly two years ago, on June 1, 2012, The Digest turned on our new Google Analytics tracking platform, so that we could better understand the stories you like, and more about our readership — age, location, interests, and so on.

This past weekend, we have just passed a milestone in our evolution — more than 1,000,000 unique readers have come aboard since 6/1/12.

Now, that doesn’t mean 1,000 readers taking in 1,000 page-views each; it means one million distinct readers, in more than 20,000 different cities and townships around the world. That does not include our readership of the flagship Digest newsletter, or readership via our 20,000+ social media followers (these are tracked separately), but we think nonetheless its as good an opportunity as any to celebrate you – our diverse collection of readers. So, this week, we’ll be highlighting some of the places around the world where our readers can be found.

The Digest's million readers, seen in a global view.

The Digest’s million readers, seen in a global view.

Some quick factoids

You might be surprised to learn that we have more readers in Singapore than Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur than Minneapolis, and Sao Paulo than Boston. That 61 percent of the readership is aged 34 or younger.

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Online readership since June 1. 2012. Excludes newsletter and social media readership. Source: Google Analytics.

Percentage of readers who access the Digest via mobile phones: 9
Percentage of readers who access the Digest via tablets: 5
Percentage of readers who are female: 46
Percentage of readers living in the US: 52 (519,148)
Percentage of readers living in Europe: 18 (184,811)
Percentage of readers living in Asia: 16 (161,781)
Percentage of our South American readers living in Brazil: 58

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Top 12 countries, by readership

  1. US
  2. India
  3. UK
  4. Canada
  5. Germany
  6. Australia
  7. France
  8. Malaysia
  9. The Netherlands
  10. The Philippines
  11. Brazil
  12. Singapore

Our top 50 cities, by readership

digest-million-us

The Digest’s US readership

1. New York
2. London
3. Washington
4. Houston
5. San Francisco
6. San Diego
7. Chicago
8. Singapore
9. Los Angeles
10. Toronto

11. Seattle
12. Denver
13. Paris
14. Ottawa
15. Kuala Lumpur
16. Minneapolis
17. Madison
18. Sydney
19. Sao Paulo
20. Bangalore

21. Boston
22. Montreal
23. Mumbai
24. New Delhi
25. Bangkok
26. Sioux Falls
27. Ames
28. Pune
29. Melbourne
30. Wilmington

31. Atlanta
32. Auckland
33. Seoul
34. Cambridge
35. South San Francisco
36. Jakarta
37. Chennai
38. Dallas
39. Manila
40. Hyderabad

41. Palo Alto
42. Brussels
43. Makati
44. Brisbane
45. Madrid
46. Philadelphia
47. Emeryville
48. Portland
49. Austin
50. Berkeley

Where the Digest is read: From Burundi to the Bay Area

We’ve pulled some data from Wikipedia and our Google Analytics data to illustrate the breadth of the global bioeconomy’s readership:

Jayapura City (Kota Jayapura)

250px-Jayapura1

The provincial capital of Papua, Indonesia. It is situated on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay (formerly known as Humboldt Bay). Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,002.

Palau

palau

An island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country’s population of around 21,000 is spread across 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The most populous island is Koror. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia. The capital Ngerulmud is located in Melekeok State on the nearby island of Babeldaob.

Bujumbura, Burundi

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The capital, largest city, and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country’s chief export, coffee, as well as cotton, skins, and tin ore. It is on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

330px-International_Business_Center._Tashkent_city

The capital of Uzbekistan. The officially registered population of the city in 2012 was about 2,309,300. Due to its position in Central Asia, Tashkent received Persian, Chinese and Turkic influences in its early history, before Islamisation in the 8th century AD. After destruction by Genghis Khan in 1219, the city was rebuilt and profited from the Silk Road. Today, as the capital of an independent Uzbekistan, Tashkent retains a multi-ethnic population with ethnic Uzbeks as the majority. A small but attentive Digest readership.

Temirtau, Kazakhstan

300px-Temirtau_winter

A city in the Karagandy Province of Kazakhstan. Population: 169,590. The city is located on the Nura River (the Samarkand Reservoir), northwest of Karaganda. Holds the Digest global record for longest average user session – averaging more than 21 minutes per visit.

Lomé, Togo

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Lomé, with a population of 837,437 (metro population 1,570,283), is the capital and largest city of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea, Lomé is the country’s administrative and industrial center and its chief port. The city exports coffee, cocoa, copra, and palm kernels. It also has an oil refinery. Holds the Digest global record for pages read, per session.

Byron Bay, Australia

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Byron Bay, New South Wales

Byron Bay, New South Wales is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 772 kilometres (480 mi) north of Sydney and 165 kilometres (103 mi) south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. At the 2006 Census, the town had a permanent population of 4,981. The town is in turn the nucleus of Byron Shire, which has in excess of 28,000 residents.

Argentina

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Coming in at #35 among countries, Argentina’s 2952 readers are voracious ∏ averaging 25% more page views per session and opening 60% more time per page. Among the provinces, Tucuman and the outlying areas of Buenos Aires province were stand-outs, but readers in La Rioja province spent 10 times as much time per session as the average global reader.

Taiwan

Taipei-101

Taipei

Taiwan ranked #30 among all countries, but this group of 3545 readers were nothing if not devoted. In Zhudong Township, they averaged more than double the global average for time spent per session, and 90% more page views per session.

Japan

Tokyo

Tokyo

Japan ranked #16 among all countries, but 50% higher in time spent per session, and 20% higher in average page view per session. Not surprisingly, nearly 60% of readers were concentrated in Tokyo, but Yokohama and Aichi Prefecture readership were strong.

France

The Toulouse Capitole

The Toulouse Capitole

France ranked #7 among all countries, but especially stood out for a 20% higher than average session time, and 25% more page views per session. Although just on half of the 15,997 readers were concentrated in Paris, the most dedicated readers were found in Midi-Pyrenees, the region surrounding Toulouse, with more than double the average pages per session and a 50% lift in average time per session.

India

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The Indian Institute of Science, located in Bangalore.

#2 country, after the US? For many years it was Canada, but recently India has leapt into that position with 51,296 readers. Canada remains #2 in overall sessions and page views. If you thought that New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata or Mumbai would dominate the stats — well, there’s a new sheriff in town: Bangalore, with 6879 readers. Overall, six Indian cities were in the top 40 overall — Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Cehnnai and Myderabad in addition to Bangalore.

Canada

Mount_Royal_Montreal_Lookout

Montreal, Quebec

Over in Canada — fewer surprises, with Toronto and Ottawa leading the way. Perhaps a slight surprise that readership was so much stronger in French-speaking Montreal than English-speaking Vancouver.

The US

Key Biscayne, Florida, the Digest's editorial home.

Key Biscayne, Florida, the Digest’s editorial home.

In the #1 ranked country, it is perhaps surprising that New York (as opposed to an academic or venture hub for biotechnology) was leading the pack, with Washington in the #2 position and San Francisco back in 5th place (trailing Houston and Chicago), but looking at metropolitan areas proved to be the trick, with the Bay Area pulling into 2nd place, ahead of Washington in #3, Chicago in #4 and Los Angeles pulling ahead of Houston in to #5.

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