UK regional newspaper publisher Newsquest has signed up for new Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe) six-month certificates. The move will allow the group to release overall Internet traffic numbers for its sites and to also focus on individual figures for larger Web sites such as its Swindon Advertiser and the Lancashire Telegraph, Journalism.co.uk reported Monday.

In the past, the publisher announced its ABCe data in an informal manner. Its unique users/browsers per month added up to an average of 5,124,715. The ABCe figures will now account for daily, weekly and monthly unique users/browsers, an ABCe release reported.

Other regional newspaper publishers to sign up for the new ABCe certificate include Johnston Press and Northcliffe Media.

“We are committed to the transparent reporting of our network in order to demonstrate not only the size of our audiences across the UK, but more importantly the localness of those audiences. The growing online power of our local and regional media brands combined with our traditional strength in print deliver unrivalled pan-platform opportunities for advertisers,” said Newsquest Digital Media Managing Director Roger Green, according to Journalism.co.uk.

From Journalism.co.uk, the average monthly unique user numbers for each Newsquest Web site are:

• theargus.co.uk - 245,764
• dailyecho.co.uk - 203,287
• eveningtimes.co.uk - 222,768
• lancashiretelegraph.co.uk - 175,098
• oxfordmail.net - 146,703
• sundayherald.com -197,249
• theboltonnews.co.uk - 147,022
• theherald.co.uk - 516,569
• thenorthernecho.co.uk - 209,582
• thepress.co.uk - 171,166
• thetelegraphandargus.co.uk - 167,009