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It was absolutely a self-applied term used by people in the alt right. From roughly 2015 to 2018, it was the term of choice to describe the movement. If you listen to any TRS or Millennial Woes podcast recorded during that era, you'll see them using the term copiously. Here are some instances of the term appearing in text; there are many others.
https://counter-currents.com/2016/08/the-alt-right-means-white-nationalism/
https://www.unz.com/article/what-is-wrong-and-right-with-the-alt-right/
https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2019/12/08/the-abcs-of-the-alt-right-a-guide-for-students/
See my comment above. Thanks for these examples. It can simultaneously be true that media outlets used the term to paint with a very broad brush.
Also the google analytics show it is not even on the radar until Hillary Clinton's speech and the accompanying New York Times article.
Basically Hillary said, look at this fringe group that totally supports Trump, (although strangely Richard Spencer endorsed the Democrat candidate in 2020,) and suddenly it gained national attention.
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Yeah, the only real competitor was "intellectual dark web." And "alt-right" came across as a little more dignified.
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