Prolific North digital traffic skyrockets 350% in early 2025 success with ‘more still to come’

Prolific North has kicked off 2025 with a surge in audience growth across all channels – and its editor claims there is a ‘lot more to come’.

Total traffic to the site increased by 350% month-on-month in January, with search traffic doubling and direct traffic up by 78%. Social traffic has also seen a notable boost, rising by 28% compared to the previous month. Search, social, direct and newsletter traffic are all up in double and triple digits both month-on-month and year-on-year.

It comes amid a raft of good news for Prolific North, which announced that the business grew 30% over the course of 2024 and it also enjoyed its best ever year of events, with record attendee numbers and standout events including the Northern Marketing FestivalProlific North Live and Growth to Gold.

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The growth in its online audience comes after a strategic focus on audience development, following the appointment of former Daily Express Executive Editor and Northern Echo Group Editor Karl Holbrook, who joined Prolific North as Consulting Editor earlier this year.

Karl said: “It’s a wonderful time to get involved with Prolific North. It is clearly firing on all cylinders and there is so much more to come from the whole team with a raft of audience development projects, as well as new events all coming thick and fast.”

“In audience terms, we’ve got off to a great start in 2025. Traffic is up across the board – from Google search and social to direct visitors and through the newsletter. It’s fantastic to see such strong momentum, and we’ve got some exciting campaigns and investigative series’ launching in the coming weeks. It’s a really exciting time.”

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The traffic boost in January is particularly significant in Google search traffic, after a tough 2024 for many publishers who saw Google traffic drop on the back of several algorithm updates. Search traffic alone increased by 112% month-on-month, significantly reducing the gap compared to the previous year.

“Anyone in the digital traffic game knows how hard it is to drive and hold on to audience,” Karl said. “But the content mix we are creating at Prolific North is designed to do just that. We are trying to create a funnel of engaging content that serves our loyal readers while converting our casual readers into loyal ones, and also attracting new people to our content.

“It’s fantastic to see that effort paying dividends so early.”

The surge in audience numbers coincides with recent key appointments, including the hiring of Ben Waterhouse as Commercial Director.

Prolific North’s 2025 events programme will kick off this month with a special event focused on the risks and opportunities of AI for agencies. For more information visit here.

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