Future's "CVG Network" claims 2.3 million UU from Google stats

Future's put out a press release today claiming CVG, OXM and ONM has a combined monthly readership of 2.3 million unique users, but has refused to split out any stats. Or make much sense in general, if we're being honest.

The figure, taken from "de-duplicated" internal Google Analytics data, apparently covers Future's London sites. As we were just told on the phone by a Future rep, quite what is meant by these stats gets "very confusing". No s**t.

We were told that the "CVG Network" includes CVG, OXM and ONM, and is not the "GamesRadar Network" which is "everything else". Apparently, though, the GamesRadar Network also includes CVG, OXM and ONM, as you can see on the bottom left here. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe someone forgot to check.

Just to add to the nonsense, Future today refused to give a single figure for any of the sites in question, speaking to VG247. So no one knows a UU figure for any of these sites, in reality. There's no sign of any of Future giving any of them an external audit as yet.

In better news, Mike Jackson, the long-standing CVG staffer that recently departed for the US, has been re-employed as an American news editor. Big up the Jackson.

VG247's read by 50 million people a week, you know. It says so here.

Future's press release. Enjoy.

Future's CVG celebrates record audience growth

Games site reports 70% user increase and recruits first-ever US News Editor

22/04/10 – Future, the special-interest media group, has today revealed record growth for its flagship games news website, CVG (http://www.cvg.co.uk) following an extensive editorial refocus, which pushed breaking news and user comment to the fore of its content strategy. The site has also announced its first-ever US News Editor.

According to figures from Google Analytics, CVG’s monthly unique user number has soared to an impressive 2,265,823– a 68% increase year-on-year to March 2010, with its UK unique user base leaping by 26% to 639,424 in the same period. The results were derived from de-duplicated figures for Future’s CVG Network, which includes websites for Official Xbox (http://www.officialxboxmagazine.co.uk) and Official Nintendo Magazine (http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/).

CVG is the UK’s longest-established games media brand and was first published as a magazine back in 1981, before going online only in 2005. The reinvigoration of CVG.co.uk began in late 2009, as Future appointed new Editor, Tim Ingham - who joined from respected games industry bible, MCV to work alongside long-serving Editor-in-Chief, John Houlihan and Associate Publisher, Mark Cantwell.

As Future continues to develop CVG, the site appoints Mike Jackson as its first-ever US News Editor. The CVG veteran crosses the Atlantic in May and will post stories throughout the night UK time from the West Coast of the USA.

With CVG’s new commitment to breaking news and generating user comment, the number of stories posted to the site increased by 37% in the first quarter of 2010. User comments grew by 35 per cent in the quarter - with more than 12,500 comments on CVG stories in March 2010 alone.

Tim Ingham, Editor of CVG, said:

“I’m delighted that gamers love CVG’s return to its core competencies. As one of the original games media powerhouses, we want to re-establish CVG as the number one destination for consumer games news. To see such a massive rise in visitors and user comment proves our editorial refocus is beginning to pay off. We’ve got some ambitious plans to further develop our team and expand the site throughout 2010 – as CVG cements its reputation as the home of news to get your teeth into.”

Mark Cantwell, Associate Publisher of CVG, added:

“With our new senior team and a leading group of writers working to deliver our focused strategy, CVG continues to go from strength-to-strength as Future’s flagship games news website.

“CVG and GamesRadar will continue to present their monthly traffic figures with clear geographical breakdown, highlighting exactly how our incorporated sub-domains contribute to our overall Network traffic to ensure advertisers know that their money is being spent against the right audiences and territories."”

ENDS

[Pic]