THE Worcester News is reaching a bigger online audience than ever before.

Newsquest Media Group, which publishes the Worcester News and its sister titles, has accelerated its digital audience growth to 24% in the first half of 2016, latest figures show.

This compares with 17% growth in the second half of last year.

Official ABC figures show Newsquest’s network of regional and local websites, including worcesternews.co.uk, attracted 1,575,714 unique users per day in the first six months of this year, up 24.1% on the same period last year, and 25 million unique users per month, up 20.1%.

The latest ABC figures show our website, worcesternews.co.uk, attracted an average 27,747 unique users every day and 420,783 a month during the first six months of the year.

Henry Faure Walker, Newsquest CEO, says the figures are a "real success story".

“We hear a lot of doom and gloom about the future of local news but the truth is our journalists are engaging with local people and local communities in ever greater numbers, and there’s a phenomenal appetite for and engagement with the great local content they produce," he said.

"In addition to these ABC figures, data shows users engage with Newsquest sites more deeply than with any other local or regional news sites.

"At the same time we’re also seeing more and more local businesses advertising on our digital platforms because they want to work with trusted brands with relevant online audiences.

"Digital growth is a central plank of our strategy and I’m delighted at the progress we’re making but we’re not complacent and we are committed to continuing to innovate and develop our online offerings for both user and advertiser alike.”