- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
LONDON — It’s official: The royal baby was bigger news for newspapers than the election of Pope Francis or President Obama‘s second inauguration.
According to data compiled by Dow Jones, the labor, birth and naming of Kate Middleton and Prince William‘s baby boy George Alexander Louis from July 22 through July 24 was the biggest English newspaper story globally in the last year.
PHOTOS: London’s Royal Baby Frenzy
The number of page one stories in the press across the first three days hit 305, three more than the 302 tally for the election of Pope Francis around the world, according to the data.
The Dow Jones research has President Obama’s second inauguration in third place in the last year, with 131 front-page stories.
The Pope and the birth of a royal heir to the British crown are well ahead of other stories when it comes to front pages. Andy Murray‘s Wimbledon tennis triumph came in fourth globally with 81 front pages, outweighing Michael Phelps‘ record-breaking Olympic medal achievement during the 2012 London Olympics with 56 up-front stories.
The analysis was powered by Factiva, a data source now part of DJX, Dow Jones’ news and analytics platform.
PHOTOS: The World’s Most Notable Princes and Princesses
Breaking down the royal birth data further, it is perhaps unsurprising that the U.K., with 176 page-one stories, was the top baby-obsessed nation, with Canada in second place with 61.
The U.S. came in third with 45 front page stories, while Australia with 13 and Ireland with eight came in fourth and fifth.
The Dow Jones data matches the traffic boost reported by U.K. newspaper websites, and the surge activity on social media as the events unfolded.
U.K. Internet traffic to news and media sites reached 94 million unique visitors on July 22, far exceeding the usual average of 64 million. The Boston Marathon bombings drew 85 million unique visitors in the U.K.
Related Stories
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day