Figures released by Melbourne-based Web ratings agency Hitwise show mainstream Australian news sites held their usual popularity at home on Wednesday. But US sites jumped hundreds - in some cases thousands - of places in popularity ranking, Hitwise said.
The agency said US broadcaster CNN's Web site, cnn.com, jumped in popularity almost 150 places, from being the 152nd most popular site with Australians - to the fifth.
The American Broadcasting Corporation's Web site, abc.com, jumped more than 1000 places to become Australia's 49th most visited site.
The Washington Post and the New York Times rose 995 and 404 places with Australian Internet users respectively.
Locally, the Sydney Morning Herald was the second most visited site by Australians yesterday - behind only the ninemsn online monolith.
The ABC's Web site, abc.net.au, stood by its usual positioning as the 10th most visited site by Australians.
Not abnormally, the most visited sites by Australians were free email Sites and chatrooms, such as Hotmail and Yahoo, Hitwise said.
Overall, Hitwise said print media Web sites experienced a surge in Australian traffic of 100 percent yesterday. The ratings agency said the online media sites experienced a surge in Australian traffic of 58 percent.
Australian Web traffic generally rose four percent from the previous day, Hitwise said.
