Business Insider’s big rise in viewers

Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York writes Thursday about how Business Insider’s readership has grown dramatically in the past year.

Flamm writes, “Business Insider, which raised $25 million in January at a valuation that was reportedly double what it had been less than a year earlier, continues to have a very good 2015. Marked by a nimble, informal style and wide-ranging coverage, the six-year-old site grew its number of unique visitors 87% in March over the same time last year, according to comScore.

“Business Insider, which averaged 42.7 million unique visitors, is now in shooting range of business and financial news leader Yahoo Finance, which posted a 27% drop over the same period, to 55 million unique visitors.

“In an email, Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget credited Business Insider’s growth to its dedication to serving ‘the new generation of business leaders,’ who are digital natives and ‘want to follow and share news in real time, wherever they happen to be.’

“Launched in 2009 through tech blog Silicon Alley Insider, which was founded in 2007 by former DoubleClick CEO Kevin Ryan, Business Insider has also been an early and adept user of technology to track reader behavior.”

Read more here.