The Mail Online continued to be the most popular UK national newspaper website in March attracting 39 million unique browsers a month and 2.25 million a day, according to Press Gazette.

Meanwhile, News International’s Times Online and Sun websites have dropped out of the monthly web audit, ahead of their move behind paywalls from June – users will be charged £1 for a day’s access and £2 for a week’s subscription for access to both papers’ websites.

Guardian.co.uk claimed second place in the audit with 1.85m unique browsers a day and 33.3m per month, the Telegraph was in third place, and Mirror Group and The Independent were a fair way behind in fourth and fifth.

In 2009, Rupert Murdoch announced he would introduce charges for all his newspaper websites, saying that News International wanted to prevent readers moving to free sites by making its content better and differentiated from other publishers. It is a bold and ground-breaking move by the 79-year-old Aussie media czar.

The jury is out over whether this kind of internet payment structure will be a recipe for commercial success, especially if the other nationals do not follow suit, but in the face of dwindling newspaper sales and resulting heavy financial losses, it is at least a step in the right direction towards protecting quality journalism for the future.