New MDT website tops 2.8 million views in one year

During its first year online, the new Macau Daily Times (MDT) website has attracted almost 2.8 million views. The site, macaudailytimes.com.mo, has been online since September 1, 2009, published over 13,300 articles and wrapped up August with an average of around 14,000 readers per day.
Visits have been growing rapidly since the end of 2009. In December this figure was only around 34,000 but in 2010 it has grown three-fold. In June, despite the summer’s arrival, the site topped the symbolic figure of 100,000 visits.
As expected, the great majority of our readers come from within the territory, followed by neighbouring Hong Kong. However, the MDT website is also followed closely by a significant number of people living in Australia, Japan, Singapore and Portugal.

Money, religion and Viva Macau

The biggest surprise so far has come from our most popular article, published on February 9. A small article, “SOHO not interested in Macau’s casinos”, about a Chinese businesswoman’s refusal to invest in gambling due to her Bahai religious beliefs amassed almost 21,075 visits. It is also the most commented on article, with 43 people stopping by to drop a line and unanimous compliments to Zhang Xin’s example.
The second place came from our own newsroom on March 4. “Another cash handout for residents,” a piece about the renewal of the Government scheme launched in 2008 to give permanent residents MOP 6,000 and non-permanent residents MOP 3,600, recorded 12,808 visits and eight comments.
Around 14,200 visitors went online to see “Viva Macau’s eliminated,” published on March 29, and 42 even took the time to comment on the demise of the budget airline, the third most popular story.
When it comes to comments, though, the third place goes to “Migrants discuss next step,” an article about the non-residents’ response to the new labour law, back in November 6, that has so far received 22 comments and 9,411 views.
In total, 150 readers have registered on the site so they can have their say and the articles have received almost 730 comments, at a rhythm that has been rising since February.
Among opinion pieces the winner is “Windows versus Ubuntu”, published on March 17, in our special feature “Times Lab”, a partnership with University of Saint Joseph (USJ). The article got 3,020 visits and prompted much discussion over which is the best computer system.
Last month the most popular article was “Rita Santos picked as Macau Forum secretary,” on August 3, with 2,154 views. Perhaps due to its tempting name, “Asia Adult Expo: ‘Sex no longer a taboo’” was close in the second place with 2,125 views after being published on August 19. The third place went to a story about the latest developments on local gaming operator Sands China. Michael Leven’s August 16 interview on TDM Talk Show got 1,065 views.

V.Q.