Drudge Report

The Drudge Report operates as a news aggregation website that curates and links to stories from a variety of online sources. It does not produce original reporting but instead provides headlines and hyperlinks that direct readers to the original articles. The site is updated continuously throughout the day, offering a constantly refreshed selection of national and international news. Its primary function is to serve as a referral hub that funnels traffic to other news outlets.

Although specific audience figures are not disclosed, the Drudge Report has been described as a major traffic referrer to prominent news outlets, capable of generating substantial spikes in visitation for linked stories. This influence was highlighted during the December 20, 2016 distributed denial‑of‑service attack, which caused a ninety‑minute outage and interrupted its referral flow. The site’s founder characterized the disruption as the largest denial‑of‑service incident in the site’s history and noted unusual routing patterns that he linked to Fort Meade, although no evidence was presented to support those claims. The incident occurred amid heightened US‑Russia tensions and was discussed in conservative media circles as part of the broader geopolitical context.

The Drudge Report was founded by Matt Drudge in the mid‑1990s and remains under his private ownership; there is no publicly known parent company or subsidiary structure. Its operation is notable for its minimal staffing, with the site largely maintained by its founder and a small team of contributors. The website’s editorial stance is generally regarded as conservative, and it has positioned itself as an influential alternative to mainstream media gatekeepers. These attributes—founder‑driven control, a simple link‑based format, and a reputation for driving referral traffic—distinguish the Drudge Report within the online news ecosystem.