CNN today released data on the performance of its digital networks in 2011. The numbers from CNN below.

CNN Press Release: CNN Earns 73 Million Unique Users Monthly; Key Sections Post Double Digit Gains



According to end-of-year data, more people rely on CNN than any other television network for news and commentary – both online and on the go. In total, CNN Digital earned more than 73 million unique visitors in 2011, beating MSNBC by 38%, Fox News by 187%, ABC News Digital by 217% and CBS Interactive by 260%. With 2.3 billion total page views for the year, CNN Digital outperformed MSNBC by 83%, Fox News by 143%, CBS News by 819%, and ABC News Digital by 1013%. (Source: comScore Media Metrix, Jan – Dec 2011; average monthly)

In the wake of the Japanese Tsunami, CNN.com’s most trafficked day of the year was March 11, 2011 with 135.9 million global page views. (Click to enlarge slide below).



In addition to breaking news and events coverage, CNN.com’s sections that inspired passion and engagement earned double-digit gains for the year. With 15.7 million average monthly page views, the site’s Opinion section showed a 58% growth rate year over year. Earning a 64% gain in traffic over 2010, CNN.com’s Belief section averaged 7.8 million page views per month. Other beats that showed double-digit growth for 2011 include Living (11%), Travel (37%), U.S. (16%), World (23%), This Just In (29%), Marquee (18%), The Political Ticker (25%) and The Chart (17%).


Video

CNN.com served more than 101.3 million average monthly global video starts in 2011 – a 19% increase over 2010. Click here for CNN.com’s top ten days for video consumption.


Mobile

CNN Digital has remained No. 1 in mobile news for the past 4 consecutive years. In 2011, CNN Digital boasted 19.4 million unique users monthly, beating its nearest competitor – Fox News Digital – by more than 60% (Nielsen Mobile Media View, January – November 2011). CNN’s mobile website generated a monthly average of 210.4 million global page views for the year. (Bango Analytics, January 1 – December 31, 2011).

CNN’s mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and Nokia have now surpassed 17 million downloads, of which 13 million occurred in 2011. (iTunes Connect, Android Market, Ovi Store, January 1-December 31, 2011). In addition, CNN’s newly-acquired Zite application was named the best news app of 2011 by Apple iTunes and CNN’s app for iPad earned a spot as one Apple’s top ten free applications of the year.


Social

With nearly 1 million more fans than Fox News and 8 times as many fans as MSNBC, CNN’s Facebook fan page has the most followers of any news brand. On May 1, 2011, CNN had the highest number of interactions ever recorded in single day – over 42,000 likes and comments related to the death of Osama bin Laden. (Source: Facebook Insights)

On Twitter, @CNNBRK and @CNN have a combined total of over 9.4 million followers. @CNNBRK, with over 6 million followers, is the No. 1 news account on Twitter, 1.8 million more followers than its closest competitor, The New York Times. @CNNBRK also ranks as one of the top 25 accounts on all of Twitter. @CNN’s most popular tweet of 2011 (the death of Osama bin Laden) was re-tweeted more than 10,000 times. (Source: Twitter Analytics)


iReport

CNN is also home to iReport, the No. 1 participatory news community online. By adding more than 250,000 registered users in 2011 (up 11% YOY), the community has grown to over 1 million iReporters. At a 19% growth rate over 2010, more than 185,000 iReports were submitted last year. iReport set a monthly record in August with the addition of 38,000 registrants and a daily record with 8,000 new iReporter registrations on Aug. 23. (Source: iReport Internal Server Data)