Facebook surpasses BBC in UK for first time

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 4 Nov 2008 at 10:52

Facebook has overtaken the BBC sites in terms of unique visitors for the first time, according to new figures from comScore.

The social-networking site broke into the UK top five for September, amassing 18.4 million unique visitors over the month. Now only the websites operated by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Ebay command more traffic in the UK.

The news may come as something of a tonic for Facebook, which is reportedly seeking new investment in Dubai amid claims the company is losing money despite healthy revenues.

Despite major news events such as the credit crunch, the BBC actually saw its traffic fall year-on-year in September, down 2.7% to 18.2 million unique users.

It seems viewers may be spurning the BBC for more specialist sites in these times of financial crisis. Business and finance news sites saw a 10% leap in traffic during September, whilst politics sites witnessed a 27% boost.

The banking uncertainty has also driven people towards the websites of the major banks. Lloyds TSB's traffic rose 15% during the month, whilst HBOS saw a 13% increase in visitors.