CNBC Digital Has Record Year in 2020

January 19, 2021

CNBC Digital had its best year ever in 2020. According to comScore, CNBC reached a record 84.9 million average monthly unique visitors in 2020, which was up 56% year-over-year, resulting in eleven straight months of double-digit, year-over-year growth. CNBC also had the largest year-over-year audience gains in comScore’s Business News category*.

CNBC was a mainstay in the Business News category throughout 2020, ending the year as the number one non-portal brand and claiming the number two spot for three consecutive months for the first time ever. CNBC claimed the number one spot in the Business News category for the first time ever in March 2020, reaching a record 115 million unique visitors, which was an increase of 98% versus the previous year*.

Also, CNBC Digital is the number one brand in Business News online video, according to comScore**. CNBC’s online video operations generated an all-time high of 1.92 billion total digital video starts across platforms, up 63% versus the prior year, resulting in twelve straight months of double-digit, year-over-year growth. Eleven of the top twelve months in CNBC’s video history occurred in 2020, which included a record 209.8 million video starts in November. CNBC also had record video starts on YouTube and Twitter with more than 1 billion total video starts (+97% year-over-year) and more than 395 million total video starts (+85% versus 2019) across accounts, respectively***.

CNBC mobile apps reached a record number of unique visitors per month and total video starts, both up 50% year-over-year. The mobile apps smashed prior years’ unique visitor numbers by recording the twelve best months ever in 2020***.

CNBC also recorded its best year for social traffic, which more than doubled year-over-year. Facebook reached a record 19.6 million average monthly unique visitors, up 140% versus the prior year, and Twitter reached a record 3 million average monthly unique visitors, which was up 77% versus 2019***.

“As difficult as 2020 was, it was a deeply rewarding year for journalism and storytelling,” said Jay Yarow, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of CNBC Digital. “Our editorial team overdelivered on informative content across each of the major stories for the year – from coronavirus, to the markets, to the election – and our innovative product and technology efforts propelled us to even greater heights, making it no surprise that CNBC Digital recorded its strongest performance in the company’s history.”

Additional 2020 highlights:

• CNBC surpassed 1 billion page views for the first time ever in March***
• Top 12 months in CNBC Digital history all occurred in 2020***
• The majority of CNBC verticals reached all-time highs including: Health & Science, Markets, Politics, Technology, Personal Finance & Financial Advisors, Real Estate, and Industrials & Transportation***
• Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow, CNBC’s financial wellness and education initiative in partnership with Acorns, recorded a 364% increase in unique visitors per month versus last year and included an all-time high for unique visitors in December. Additionally, Grow by Acorns+CNBC reached a record number of unique visitors per month in 2020, seven times higher than the 2019 monthly average***
• CNBC Make It reached a record number of unique visitors per month, up 32% year-over-year***
• CNBC Select grew more than 2.5 times from the site’s launch in October 2019***
• CNBC.com grew its most loyal site users (5+ visits per month) 59% year-over-year***
• Female users accounted for 50% of CNBC Digital’s audience for the first time ever (41% in 2019)*

*Source: comScore Media Metrix & Video Metrix (U.S.), January-December 2020. Desktop internet population 2+ and mobile internet population 18+.

**Source: comScore Media Metrix & Video Metrix (U.S.), November 2020. Desktop internet population 2+ and mobile internet population 18+.

***Source: Internal measurement, January-December 2020. Total internet population.