The New Daily is one of the fastest growing news websites in the country, according to just released data.

New figures released by online audience measurement firm, Effective Measure, show the site is now the 23rd biggest news site in Australia, just ten months after it was launched. This is a jump of seven places in a month.

Effective Measure, which uses both site tags and a reader panel to gauge audience size, estimated The New Daily’s unique audience at the end of August was 527,834, up almost 49 per cent on the July figure. Only one other site – eonline.com – grew faster; it came in at number 22.

Publisher of The New Daily, Mr Paul Hamra, said the increase in the site’s audience reflected first-rate coverage of significant news events in August, including the death of Hollywood star, Robin Williams, and a surge in subscriptions.

“We now have more than 125,000 subscribers and that figure is growing everyday,” Mr Hamra said. “Australians are obviously attracted to the notion of a free, fresh and reliable news service.”

The August survey also showed that while the top five news sites didn’t change, their positions did.

Most significantly, the smh.com.au displaced news.com.au in the top spot, while the two British-based sites – theguardian.com and dailymail.co.uk – swapped third and fourth place. The Age was unchanged in fifth position.

Mr Hamra said he expected The New Daily, which is backed by some of Australia’s biggest industry super funds, to increase its audience again in September.

“Our internal monitoring shows us growing at the same rate we did in August,” Mr Hamra said. “It is very gratifying.”