ARLnow and its sister sites are among the most-read online local news publications in all of Virginia.
According to an analysis of web traffic data for selected publications, ARLnow is the No. 3 most-read, non-broadcast local news website in the state, while FFXnow — which covers Fairfax County — is No. 4. ALXnow, which covers Alexandria, also cracked the top dozen publication.
Only the Virginian-Pilot in Hampton Roads (No. 1) and the Richmond Times-Dispatch (No. 2) had more readership than ARLnow and FFXnow.
Our analysis of web traffic was conducted over the past two weeks using the data provider SimilarWeb. We looked at major publications on a city-by-city and county-by-county level, plus looked at major regional and statewide news sources. The time frame examined was February to April 2025.
Excluded were sites associated with broadcast stations and publishers that do not primarily focus on local news in Virginia and/or have no specific web address associated with just local news within Virginia.
The chart above contains a sampling of sites the analysis examined, omitting some outside of the top 12 for data readability purposes.
Despite headwinds for the news industry that have caused readership to drop at many publications, ARLnow and FFXnow have generally gained readership on a year-to-year basis, spurred at least in part due to bolstered editorial staffing and the acquisition of the Gazette-Leader newspaper last year.
