Sözcü
A high-traffic national news brand with a secular, opposition-leaning readership.
Sözcü at a glance
Sözcü is a news & media website and one of the most visited sites in Türkiye, currently ranked #6 in the country. It was founded in 2007 by Burak Akbay and is headquartered in Istanbul, Türkiye. Today Sözcü is owned by Estetik Yayıncılık A.Ş.. Our estimates put its audience at ≈ 65 million visits per month. The business earns money mainly through programmatic display advertising, direct-sold campaigns, video advertising. Its closest rivals include hurriyet.com.tr, cumhuriyet.com.tr, haberturk.com, milliyet.com.tr.
Traffic statistics
Traffic history
| Period | Visits | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | ≈ 62 million / month | — |
| Q2 | ≈ 64 million / month | +3% |
| Q3 | ≈ 67 million / month | +5% |
| Q4 | ≈ 65 million / month | -3% |
Traffic sources
- Direct38%
Loyal returning readership
- Organic search36%
- Social18%
- Referral & aggregators8%
Audience & demographics
- Men57%
- Women43%
- Age 35-4424%
- Age 45-5422%
- Age 55+21%
Skews older and more politically engaged than general news sites, with a strong Aegean and metropolitan readership plus significant European diaspora traffic.
Geographic reach
- Türkiye83%
- Germany6%
- Netherlands2%
- Other9%
SEO profile
- Organic keywords
- Millions of news and service terms
- News visibility
- Strong in Google News and Discover
- Service pages
- Exchange rates, weather, exam results drive evergreen traffic
Top organic keywords
| Keyword | Position | Volume | Traffic share |
|---|---|---|---|
| sözcü | 1 | High | — |
| son dakika haberler | 1-10 | Very high | — |
| emekli zammı | 1-5 | High | — |
| döviz kuru | 1-10 | High | — |
Backlink profile
- Referring domains
- Hundreds of thousands
- Profile
- High authority through constant news citation
Top referral sources
- Search engines52%
- Social platforms31%
- Aggregators17%
Technology stack
Website technologies
Advertising & analytics technologies
Mobile app statistics
Company information
- Website
- sozcu.com.tr
- Sector
- News & Media
- Owner
- Estetik Yayıncılık A.Ş.
- Owner type
- Private media company
- Founders
- Burak Akbay
- Founded
- 2007
- Headquarters
- Istanbul, Türkiye
- Employees
- Several hundred
- Ownership
- Privately held, associated with the Akbay family
- Revenue
- Advertising-led, not publicly disclosed
- Languages
- Turkish
- Top traffic sources
- Direct, organic search, social
Financials
- Revenue mix
- Advertising plus print
- Disclosure
- Privately held, no public financials
Business model & revenue
Sözcü combines a national newspaper with a very high-volume news website. Its clearly defined editorial stance produces a loyal, returning audience, and monetisation is almost entirely advertising-based with free access.
- Programmatic display advertising
- Direct-sold campaigns
- Video advertising
- Print circulation and print advertising
Products & services
Politics, economy and current affairs coverage.
Video and streaming news channel.
High-readership opinion writers.
National daily newspaper.
Employee statistics
Customer statistics
Website rankings
- Country rank (Türkiye)
- Top 10 most visited site
- Sector rank
- Among the top three news websites
Main competitors
Website comparisons
| Website | Monthly visits | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| sozcu.com.tr | ≈ 65M / month | Top 3 news | Highest direct-traffic loyalty among news sites |
| hurriyet.com.tr | ≈ 70M / month | Top 3 news | — |
| cumhuriyet.com.tr | ≈ 25M / month | Top 10 news | — |
What is Sözcü?
Sözcü is a Turkish national newspaper and one of the country's most-read news websites. Launched in 2007, it built its audience on a clearly secular, opposition-leaning editorial line covering politics, the economy and daily current affairs.
Who owns Sözcü?
The title is published by Estetik Yayıncılık A.Ş., a privately held company associated with founder Burak Akbay. Unlike several of its rivals, it does not belong to a large diversified conglomerate.
Traffic and audience
Estimates put the site around 65 million visits per month. Its most distinctive metric is direct traffic: a large share of readers open the site or app out of habit rather than arriving through search, which signals unusually strong loyalty for a news brand.
How Sözcü makes money
Advertising provides most of the revenue — programmatic display, direct campaigns and video pre-roll — supported by print circulation and print advertising. Access to the website is free.
Competitors in Türkiye
It competes with Hürriyet, Milliyet, Habertürk and Cumhuriyet, with political positioning as the main differentiator between the audiences.
Company history & milestones
- 2007
Launched as a national daily newspaper.
- 2010s
Becomes one of Türkiye's most-read news websites.
- 2020s
Expands into video and streaming news formats.
Latest news
- Legal cases against the publisherPress coverage · Recurring
The title has faced high-profile court proceedings.
- Growth of Sözcü's video channelIndustry coverage · Recent
User reviews & ratings
| Source | Score | Reviews | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Play | ≈ 4.4 / 5 | — | Loyal readership, ad complaints |
| App Store (TR) | ≈ 4.5 / 5 | — | — |
Pros & cons
Pros
- Very loyal, high-return readership
- Strong direct traffic rather than pure aggregator dependence
- Successful expansion into video and streaming news
- Free access with no paywall
Cons
- Clear political positioning limits its reach across audiences
- Heavy advertising on mobile
- Recurring legal pressure on the publisher
- Turkish-only, no English edition
Key statistics
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Sözcü?
Sözcü is published by Estetik Yayıncılık A.Ş., a privately held company associated with founder Burak Akbay and his family. It has no listed shares.
When was Sözcü founded?
The newspaper launched in 2007 and quickly built one of the largest digital news audiences in Türkiye.
How does Sözcü make money?
Through digital advertising — programmatic and direct display plus video ads — together with print circulation and print advertising.
Why does Sözcü have such high direct traffic?
Its clearly defined editorial stance produces a habitual readership that opens the site and app directly rather than arriving through search or aggregators.
Popular searches
Data sources & confidence
- Third-party traffic estimation providersSimilarweb-class estimates
- Public social media profilesX, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook
- Press coverage of the publisherTurkish and international media
- Data confidence
- Medium — the publisher is private and discloses no audited figures.
- Last updated
- January 2026
Traffic, follower and revenue figures are rounded estimates.
Social media profiles & statistics