Official Google Canada Blog: Trends

From top dresses to Leo’s big win, Google Trends from the Oscars

Monday, February 29, 2016

As millions of people tuned in to watch the 88th Academy Awards, many also turned to the web to keep up with the action. In fact, Canada was the number one country searching for the Oscars worldwide, followed by the United States and Chile.
We took a look at search interest in across the night’s biggest moments. The award for “most-searched”goes to Leonardo DiCaprio whose acceptance speech for Best Actor was the most-searched moment of the night and most searched speech following the ceremony. Top Searched Oscars Moments.jpg

The 88th Academy Awards also featured several performances showcasing the nominees for Best Original Song. While Sam Smith took home the Oscar for "Writing's on the Wall" from Spectre, Lady Gaga’s performance for "Til It Happens to You" from The Hunting Ground was the most-searched in Canada.
And despite not winning a statue, global search interest for Canada's The Weeknd increased by 488% following his performance. Most searched performances.jpg

The red carpet is many people's favorite part of the show and we wanted to know which gowns caught people's attention. Afterall, Canadians tend to search for the looks they love, more than the looks that fell flat -- “best dressed” is searched 91% more on Google than “worst dressed” in Canada.
The results are in, and this year’s fashion winners are... Most Searched Red Carpet Dresses (1).jpg

Most Searched Red Carpet Dresses (1).jpg

Congratulations to all the winners - both online and offline! For the latest Canadian Google Trends, check back here weekly or follow along.
Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, Google Canada

And the (search) envelope goes to…

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Time to brush up on your movie trivia -- it’s almost Oscar night! Out of the major entertainment awards shows, the Oscars are the most popular in Canada in terms of search volume, and as we discovered in previously patterns in search behavior can help us predict which stars will go home with shiny gold statues.
Best Picture Want help with your Oscar pool? There’s no telling which film will win, but over the past year, the title of top film in Search is The Revenant.

Best Actor and Best Actress All of the Best Actor and Best Actress Nominees have all shown an upward trend in search volume since nominations were announced. When you compare search query volumes for this year’s nominees over the past year, Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) and Jennifer Lawrence (Joy) appear to be Canada’s favourites to win their categories.

Best Supporting Actor and Actress Among this year’s nominees, Kate Winslet saw a huge surge in search volume in January following her nomination. But it is Canada’s sweetheart Rachel McAdams (Spotlight) is the most popular—searches for Rachel in the last 12 months outpace any of the other leading ladies. In the Best Supporting Actor category, Tom Hardy leads in search popularity in Canada, for his role in The Revenant.

Of course, we don’t have a Magic 8-Ball or access to the names in those top-secret envelopes, so our predictions are just that -- but it’s always enjoyable to look at how what people are interested in online plays out in the real world.
Stay up to date on what’s trending on Google in Canada, as we release real-time trends before, during and after this year’s awards ceremony!
Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, Google Canada

Tributes and Trends: the 58th Annual Grammy Awards through the lens of Search

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

As millions of people tuned in to watch the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, many Canadians also turned to the web to keep up with the action. Here's a look at the Grammy nominees and moments that captured Canada’s imagination and brought people to Google Search.
Artists in the spotlight This year’s most searched performance was Broadway musical Hamilton, as Canadians turned online during the cast’s live performance to learn more about the show, the cast and tickets. In fact, searches for Hamilton tickets increased 9X following the performance and 50X following their win for Best Musical Theatre Album.
Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood’s duet early in the evening was a search favourite, while the Eagles’ tribute to Glenn Frey was also at the front of the search pack. Canadians went to Google to learn more about the band following their performance, many asking “Who are the Eagles?”
Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie was also a top-searched performance, with Gaga roaring through nine of Bowie’s best-known songs in six minutes. During the performance, Canadians searched for the lyrics to many of the favourite hits being performed on stage, but searches were highest for ‘Heroes.’
Here's a look at the nominees and moments that captured Canada’s imagination and brought people to Google Search.

The most searched red carpet looks The red carpet is many people's favorite part of the show. While no Grammy is awarded for "best dressed," we wanted to know which looks caught Canadians attention this year. The results are in and the most searched styles, in the hour after the red carpet show were: Red Carpet.png

Trending questions and artists we’re curious about Canadians also turned to Google to ask questions throughout the Grammy Awards. One of the night’s biggest moments came from an artist that wasn’t even present -- searches for ‘where is Rihanna?’ were trending in Canada, after RiRi dropped out of performing and attending over the weekend. We also saw searches for “Who is…” spike in the Best New Artist category, particularly for country musician Sam Hunt and Tori Kelly, the 23-year-old California pop singer who her start on YouTube. Grammy Qs.png

Search Predictions Before the ceremony started, we shared our “picks”- who would win if the Grammys were determined by search volume in Canada alone. Out of our three Google Search Picks, all three actually won! Best New Artist (1).png

This year's searches during the 58th Annual Grammy Awards and Red Carpet reveal the artists, albums and performances that Canadians love and those we turned online to learn more about. Afterall, Google's users are intrinsically curious. Why else would you search?
Happy searching!
Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, Google Canada

Super Bowl 50: Beyonce, Doritos and the hand jive

Monday, February 8, 2016

This year’s big game was filled with action, nostalgia and lots of star power. With all the excitement on the field, Canadians turned to Google to search for their favorite moments of the game - from going Gaga over the national anthem to an end-zone hand jive. Many of us couldn't get enough of the much-awaited halftime performance and went searching for more: Searches for Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars spiked dramatically during the halftime show, but the most searched performer during the course of the game was Beyonce.

Sunday's Halftime Show also featured some of the most iconic halftime shows of the past fifty years including the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, U2 and Katy Perry. Canadians turned online to search for their favourite past performances, with Michael Jackson’s halftime show performance leading the search pack.

In the meantime, football fans in Canada found themselves searching more for the Carolina Panthers than the Denver Broncos during the game, until the Broncos' win when Canadian searches for the Broncos surged.
Big Game Ads
During the game, globally we spent 300k hours watching the big game ads and teaser videos on YouTube and we’ve seen nearly 4 million hours of watch time overall so far. Big game ads and teasers have been watched over 330 million times, with 60% of that coming from mobile devices — the first time the majority of views happened on mobile phones. And that game ain’t over yet. From a witty and sharable PSA to a startling ultrasound, here are the advertisers that Canadians searched for most during the Big Game.

In the years past, we've seen a big spike the day after the game as people get to work on Monday morning and reminisce about their favorite big game Big Game moment. In fact, last year more than 40% of total watch time for big game ads happened in the weeks after the game. So don't forget to vote for your favorite before February 10th at Midnight ET.
The big game might be over, but there's always overtime online! Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Google Canada Communications Manager

2015: Canada’s #YearInSearch

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

A brand new Prime Minister, the Blue Jays epic playoff run, the introduction of Caitlyn Jenner and turmoil in Europe. Our 15th annual Year in Search showcases the Canadians, newsmakers and defining moments that captured our attention this year, as fans, as engaged voters and as global citizens. Here’s a look back at 2015, through the lens of Google search.

The Year in Search is Google’s annual analysis of trillions of searches performed globally throughout the year. The results include everything from top trending Canadians, sports, music, politics, news, and more.
Top Trending Canadian Searches of 2015:

Blue Jays

Justin Trudeau

Federal Election

Pan Am Games

Paris Shooting

Agario

Chris Hyndman

Charlie Hebdo

Lamar Odom

Caitlyn Jenner

View all of Canada’s Trending Searches here.
Fandemonium It’s no surprise that the Toronto Blue Jays landed the top spot in 2015’s Year in Search rankings, dominating Canadian search queries like they did the AL East this past season. From bat flips to “walk the parrot”, the playoff run of 2015 gave us endless opportunities to #comeTOgether. Stricken with baseball fever, Canadians took to Google to find out how they could catch the boys in blue, with questions such as ‘What is the score of the Blue Jays game?’ and ‘How to watch Blue Jays online’ also topping the charts as Canadians celebrated the Blue Jays first playoff berth since 1993.

#Elxn42 Canada’s election dominated news searches this year, with Federal Election, Justin Trudeau and “How to vote” landing in top positions. Our new PM knocked Stephen Harper off the #1 spot of most-searched politicians, and the list of the Top Trending Canadians included not one, not two, but three Trudeaus: Justin, Pierre and Margaret. For the second year in a row, “How to vote” ranked as the top trending ‘How to’ search in Canada. #elxn42 had the highest voter turnout since 1993, and with such a large and growing number of voters relying on the Internet for their election-related information, the web has become a vital tool for engaging and informing Canada’s electorate.

Global Citizens The horrific attacks in Paris on November 13th generated significant search interest for “Paris shooting” as Canadians sought details and deeper understanding of what had happened in the French capital. Paris was also the site of the targeted attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo earlier in the year. Charlie Hebdo was was a top-trending topic in 2015, and had Canadians asking “What is Je Suis Charlie?” as the popular hashtag circulated the globe with messages of support.
Who knew that a petri dish could make an ideal setting for an addictive online game? Developed in April 2015 by 19-year old Brazilian developer Matheus Valadares, Agar.io became a rapidly trending search topic due in large part to fan videos uploaded to YouTube that captured the weirdly compelling world of petri dish competition. The game also found itself part of the Turkish elections that took place this summer. Agar.io is particularly popular in Turkey, and several political parties referenced the game’s imagery in their posters.
The Google Doodle that featured the Penny Black Stamp on May 1st piqued Canadians’ curiosity, and landed “What is a penny black stamp?” at the top of the “What is...” list, which also included questions about major news topics such as ISIS, fentanyl, police carding and MERS.
What we search tells us... a lot about us. And the Year in Search offers a unique reflection of who we were as Canadians in 2015. So before heading into a fresh new year, take a moment to look back and reflect on the year that was at google.ca/2015. Search on Canada!
Posted by Aaron Brindle, Public Affairs, Google Canada

Kooky or spooky: Halloween's Hottest Trends on YouTube

Monday, October 26, 2015

Halloween is a just few days away, which means it’s officially crunch time to finish your costume. If you’ve waited until the last minute to pick a Halloween outfit, you’re not alone. Fifty per cent of costume and decoration searches in Canada happen within 5 days of Halloween.

YouTube is the ultimate Halloween destination from pumpkin carving tips to decorations and clever ideas on what to do with your leftover Halloween candy... and of course costume ideas. And with costumes like Harley Quinn, Minions, Donald Trump, Star Wars, Max Max and Left Shark topping the search charts on Google in Canada this year, expect a lot superheroes, cartoons and pop culture icons trick-or-treating at your door.

Tune into some of your favourite Canadian YouTube channels for tutorials featuring 2015’s most popular costumes, plus last minute costumes you can throw together in mere minutes to make this October 31st the spookiest yet.
The Sorry Girls: Harley Quinn Friends Kelsey and Becky started their YouTube channel while attending university together five years ago. Since then The Sorry Girls have become a destination for DIY and the latest style in home and fashion. This Halloween, they have tutorials for two of the year’s most searched Halloween costumes, Harley Quinn and Furiosa from Mad Max. Find out how you can channel the thrill and chaos of fury road and one of this year’s biggest blockbuster hits. Procrastinator Tip: Don’t have much time to put together a costume before Saturday? You can also check out The Sorry Girls’ quick and easy last minute costume ideas, mainly made up of items from around your house!
LaurDIY: Baymax Canada’s DIY darling LaurDIY has a ton of costume tutorials up her sleeve for her fans including the adorable Baymax, a top searched costume this year. The Toronto native started her channel from her dorm room in 2012, and has been spreading glitter and joy to fans ever since - all 2.5 million of them!
Chelsimadonna: Josie and the Pussycats Looking for a group costume with your friends this Halloween? Newfoundlander Chelsi is kicking it ‘old school’ this year with a Josie and the Pussycats group costume tutorial. As a singer herself, needless to say, Chelsi pulls off this look! CutePolish: Halloween Nail Art Dressing up not your thing? Sandi of CutePolish - the #1 nail art channel on YouTube - has the ultimate playlist for Halloween nail art. From skeletons to candy corn, this Windsor, Ontario creative has nail art designs for you, whether you’re looking for something spooky or sweet. We hope these YouTubers' tutorials can help make this Halloween your best yet. Use their tricks and share some of your own to make the most of this weekend, and have a happy Halloween! Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, YouTube Canada.

Official Canada Blog

From top dresses to Leo’s big win, Google Trends from the Oscars

And the (search) envelope goes to…

Tributes and Trends: the 58th Annual Grammy Awards through the lens of Search

Super Bowl 50: Beyonce, Doritos and the hand jive

2015: Canada’s #YearInSearch

Kooky or spooky: Halloween's Hottest Trends on YouTube

Labels

Archive

Feed