Building off a strong year in 2024

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Investigative Post heads into the new year with a head of steam.

Traffic to many news websites has flatlined or even dropped the past several years. That’s not the case with Investigative Post. Our pageviews in 2024 jumped by 62 percent and our traffic is more than double what it was in 2021.

There’s a variety of reasons for our growth.

We produced more content last year than ever, some 250 pieces for our website and another 50 we co-produced with our television partners.

We also worked with AlignSimple and the Google News Initiative to develop and implement strategies to grow our audience.

There’s also the loyalty of our readers. Earlier this year we surveyed our donors, subscribers to our newsletters and visitors to our website. Among the questions we asked them: rate the quality of our work. Their response: 4.6 out of a possible 5 points. (They gave other outlets in the market a collective 2.6.)

This past year also involved changes in how readers access our work. When Investigative Post launched, four in 10 visitors to our website came via their smartphones, whose use has steadily grown, reaching three-quarters of visits last year. 

Forty-one percent of visitors came to our site in 2024 as the result of searches. Another 25 percent came to us directly while 20 percent linked to us through social media, primarily Facebook. 

As you might imagine, most readers live in Western New York. But our analytics show that New York City ranks second among specific cities and towns beyond only Buffalo. Huh.

Our email newsletters have taken on increasing importance. The subscriber base grew by 40 percent, bolstered in part by the addition last January of PoliticalPost, written by Geoff Kelly, which publishes on Wednesdays. His newsletter and mine, WeeklyPost, which publishes on Sundays, both enjoy an open rate that ranges from 50 to 60 percent, about double the industry average.

(If you don’t already subscribe, you can do so at this link. It’s free. )

A final insight: Our 10 most-read stories of last year.

• Analysis of the vote for Harris/Trump 
• Radioactive material found in the basement of a Lewiston home 
• A Buffalo cop repeatedly pepper sprayed a woman. He was fired.
• Kamala Harris won New York, but by a smaller margin than Biden
• Buffalo police officer has history of arrests, remains on force
• Who Rules Buffalo? A new report on the city’s elite has answers
• Buffalo gives Broadway Market contract to problematic ex-cop 
• Tom Bauerle’s family feud
• An update on the status of Kim Pegula, Buffalo Bills co-owner
• Who will be Buffalo’s next mayor? Potential candidates line up 

Today at 5 p.m. is the final day of online voting for our top story of 2024. If you haven’t yet voted, you can do so at this link.

Jim Heaney