In recent months, we have discussed the readership of local online portals. We referred to data from an independent auditor, namely similarweb.com. Unfortunately, instead of opting for transparency, our competition is trying to pull the wool over readers’ and advertisers’ eyes by publishing unverified data. Bolec’s representative is fledgling journalist Marcin Marczewski, who recently became known for claiming that the recording can be heard to show people in Bolesławiec shouting “f***” rather than “don’t be afraid” at a rally. He claimed this even though we did not see him at the election rally, and he probably could not have heard it live himself. In the comments, people and journalists accused Marczewski of unreliability and manipulation.
Now Marczewski’s manipulation regarding readership has come to light. Until now, he had discredited Similarweb data concerning his portal. Meanwhile, information from another independent website, Whitepress, confirms our position and contradicts what Marczewski claims. Most interestingly, Whitepress uses data that Marczewski himself sent them. These are therefore not estimates, but data confirmed by Marczewski. What do they show? An enormous gap between the number of users of istotne.pl and bolec.
- istotne.pl: an average of more than 233,000 unique users per month.
- bolec: an average of 163,000 unique users per month.
Everything is shown in the graphic below:
The readership of Bolesławiec portals in 2024 can be viewed on the bolecistotne.pl
Journalists’ comments
Here are comments from our editors on the matter, presenting the essence of the problem from different perspectives.
Krzysztof Gwizdała, editor-in-chief of istotne.pl, explains using a simple example:
– Let us imagine two manufacturers offering a similar product, for example a new smartphone model. One of them regularly sends its product for testing by an independent, reputable technology portal. The second manufacturer also sent its smartphone to the same portal once, but when the published review pointed out shortcomings and lower performance, it stopped sending its products for independent testing. From then on, it boasted about the excellence of its smartphone only on its own website and in promotional materials. Which manufacturer would you trust more when choosing a phone for yourself – the one that submits to constant public evaluation by independent experts, or the one that praises itself and avoids external verification? – says Krzysztof Gwizdała.
The same applies to portal readership. At istotne.pl, we have long made our Google Analytics data available to the independent Similarweb platform. You could say that this is our independent review of readership, available to everyone. Anyone can go there and see how our results are shaping up. The bolec portal also submitted its data for such an assessment for a short time (December 2023 and January 2024). However, when it turned out that the review of its readership was far less favorable than it would have liked and showed significantly lower results than istotne.pl, it quickly abandoned this independent verification. Now Mr. Marczewski presents only his own promotional materials, that is, charts and figures not verified by anyone from outside.
Fortunately, the truth always finds its way to the surface. Both portals cooperate with the Whitepress platform, which intermediates in the publication of sponsored articles. To operate there, we must regularly send official readership reports generated directly from Google Analytics – there is no room for personal interpretations. And the data that Mr. Marczewski himself sent to Whitepress show clearly: bolec has an average of 163,000 unique users per month, while istotne.pl has more than 233,000. That is a difference of approximately 70,000 users! These figures confirm what we have long shown on Similarweb.
– Checkmate, Mr. Marczewski. Your stories about huge readership have very short legs when one looks at hard, verified data – adds Krzysztof Gwizdała.
Marcin Zabawa, sports editor at istotne.pl, says it directly:
– As a sportsman, I value fair play. In sport, if someone avoids scrutiny, a red light immediately comes on. Why is Mr. Marczewski of bolec.info so panic-stricken about showing his real readership statistics to the independent company Similarweb, as we do at istotne.pl? It is not difficult at all; it only takes a few clicks. His argument that he is “protecting personal data” is, to put it mildly, misguided. Google Analytics, which both we and bolec use, does not display personal data! No one, not even Mr. Marczewski himself, can see readers’ first names, surnames or addresses there. We see only general demographic data – how many women and men, from which regions, and of what age. Sharing these aggregated data with the Similarweb platform in no way violates anyone’s privacy.
– The truth is brutally simple: when bolec briefly shared its data with Similarweb, it turned out that its readership was low. So they stopped sharing it in order to continue talking about their supposed power, showing their own unverified screenshots. Meanwhile, as Krzysztof mentioned, the hard data from Whitepress – originating from Google Analytics reports sent by Mr. Marczewski himself – state clearly: more than 233,000 unique users for istotne.pl versus 163,000 for bolec.info. So what is Mr. Marczewski really afraid of, if the figures are supposedly so favorable to him? – adds Marcin Zabawa.
Grażyna Hanaf, who handles cooperation with partners at istotne.pl, emphasizes the importance of reliable data:
– Mr. Marczewski, who often uses the name of the company IBM, where he works every day, for self-promotion, can tell various stories about his readership, discredit Similarweb and other independent tools, and publish any graphics on his portal. But there are facts that cannot be shouted down or manipulated – says Grażyna Hanaf.
– As we have already mentioned, both portals – istotne.pl and bolec – cooperate with the Whitepress platform. This is an important source of information because, in order to offer their services to advertisers there, portal owners are required to regularly submit Google Analytics reports concerning the readership of the entire website. Importantly, these must be documents generated directly by Google’s system, not independently prepared charts or fabricated figures. Whitepress then presents these verified reports to potential advertisers – adds Grażyna Hanaf.
Thanks to this mechanism, we learned the real data Mr. Marczewski had kept hidden. According to the verified reports that bolec itself supplied to Whitepress, the situation is as follows:
- istotne.pl: an average of more than 233,000 unique users per month.
- bolec.info: an average of 163,000 unique users per month.
The difference is significant, amounting to more than 70,000 unique users in favor of istotne.pl. Moreover, this is an average from the last three months, not a result from a single short period during which some popular, clickbait article might have appeared. The figures do not lie. And instead of ensuring full transparency and allowing Similarweb to continuously verify his data publicly – as we do – Mr. Marczewski prefers to bury his head in the sand and tell stories that have no basis in reality.
– At istotne.pl, we believe that our readers and business partners deserve truth and transparency. That is why our readership data are constantly verified by the independent Similarweb tool. At the same time, hard evidence in the form of Google Analytics reports supplied by both portals to the Whitepress platform unequivocally confirms our position and exposes attempts at manipulation by the competition. We encourage readers to assess for themselves who is relying on facts in this situation and who is trying to pull the wool over their eyes – adds Krzysztof Gwizdała.