Yahoo Canada

A special project from Yahoo News Canada

By Noel Hulsman, Head of Media, Canada Polite. Charitable. Generous. Tim Hortons. Maple syrup. Hockey. We’ve come to know these terms as being synonymous with Canada and part of what makes her great. But as we approach Canada’s 150th birthday this year, we thought it’d be a good time to actually ask: who are we as Canadians and what do we value most?

With the assistance of Ipsos, Yahoo Canada set out to do just that, surveying 2,000 Canadians earlier this year about their priorities and political persuasions amid an evolving global landscape. The results have served as the basis for an in-depth and thoughtful examination of Canadians and their values, Canada Now: Who we are at 150.

The project is nothing short of illuminating, showing Canada as a country with a strong sense of social solidarity and a thoughtful eye for its future across generations and class. Health care, for example, was at the top of the list of priorities for 75% of Canadians. And more than half of Canadians think the country is better off because of immigrants.

The full results of the Yahoo/Ipsos poll can be found here, as well as a one-pager with key takeaways here.

Yahoo Canada’s coverage brings the Ipsos data to life with an overview of Canadian values, video interviews with refugees about their experiences arriving in Canada, best bets for cross-border travel, what Canadians think about Trump vs. Trudeau, a look at what people outside of country think of Canadians and more. 

By Allan Shifman, Managing Editor, Yahoo Canada Finance

New year, new look and even better functionality! Today we launch the newly updated Yahoo Canada Finance site, redesigned to offer a more modern and unified platform across all devices. It will continue to provide exceptional access to real-time data, editorial insights and analysis, breaking news and engaging videos. With the new design, all of this is even easier to access, and it can be custom tailored so that you receive all the news you need about the companies that matter to you.  

Here are the highlights:

Front and Centre Navigation: The navigation is now always at the top, making it easy to find from any page and freeing up room for a wider, richer content experience via the infinite news stream.

Custom Watchlists: Your watchlists and portfolios are combined into a customizable dashboard. Add symbols, check the price and percentage change, and more. Click edit to customize to your liking.

Curated News Stream: The news stream is more up-to-date than ever, curated by our Finance editors and tailored to offer you comprehensive finance news that matters to you most.

A Better View: For any quote, see more with interactive charts and key performance summaries or dig deeper for in depth data and related conversations. Get real-time access to your watchlists right from the quote page.

Richer Data: Stay ahead with comprehensive market data right at your fingertips.  

Interactive Charts: View and share full-screen charts, and quickly compare different symbols using your watchlists. New data visualizations in the right rail provide a quick company performance summary, while a new “View Watchlist” button allows you to see your stocks on any quote page without navigating away. And instead of 15 fixed headlines, we’ll now offer an infinite stream of content on the quote page, with related articles grouped into clusters, similar to the homepage.

What do you do for the friend who has been bogged down by the U.S. election or chasing Pokemons for the better part of the year? Treat them to the 2016 Cliff Notes, better known as Yahoo Canada’s 2016 Year in Review.

2016 in a nutshell: Yes, Donald Trump made the list. But Yahoo Canada’s Year in Review also revealed Canadians were captivated by human interest stories around the world.

This isn’t your mom’s average grocery list. Every year, Yahoo Canada releases its Year in Review lists, which reveal the people, events and stories that captured Canadians’ attention in the last 12 months. To develop the lists, Yahoo’s technical team pored over Yahoo Search queries based on a number of factors, including volume and growth from previous periods, to identify themes and deliver insights.

Tell me more. Let’s break it down. Yahoo looked at the top searched terms in a number of categories including news, celebrity, sports, and business. Here’s what you need to know for each:

News & Trending Topics

This past year was full of rivalries near and far. Most notably, there was the inescapable battle between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and the history-changing UK referendum, Brexit. At home we were galvanized by the disastrous fire in Fort McMurray, the spectre of Zika, and by the charm and grace of our young prime minister. When we weren’t delving into headline news, Canadians were entertained by trending TV shows, online games and dating apps.

Celebrity Scoop & Fashion Controversies

Hollywood was impacted this year by the dissolution of Brangelina’s marriage, and it was a particularly sad year for music fans who had to deal with the passing of musical icons Prince, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen, and by the news that The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. But, there was also several triumphant moments like when Leslie Jones and Ashley Graham took a stance against body shaming and Leonardo DiCaprio used his long-awaited Oscar speech to bring attention to climate change.

Surprisingly, this is the first in five years that a Kardashian didn’t make the list – but then again, Kanye brings enough drama for the whole family.

Sports: People & Stories

It was a big year for sports fans with lots to keep us entertained from the Summer Olympics to Euro 2016 in France, as well as all of the hockey at home. Some highlights were the bromance between sprinters Andre De Grasse and Usain Bolt, and Penny Oleksiak's historical performance in Rio with four medals at her first Olympics. There were also some low lights which included a beer can being tossed on the field in the wild-card game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles and Maria Sharapova’s doping scandal.

Business Deals & Blunders

Despite the fluctuating Canadian dollar, some of Canada’s industry-leading companies made major deals this year. Two of Canada’s most beloved (albeit, family-feud inducing) chicken restaurants - Swiss Chalet and St. Hubert - are now owned by the same parent company, and Canada's telecom industry welcomed a new player as Shaw introduced WIND mobile. Unfortunately some big brands took a real hit to their reputation and bottom line this year, in large part due to tech snafus.

There’s more! 

2016 was full of surprises - good and bad - but our Year in Review lists suggest Canadians remained optimistic and curious, always looking to educate ourselves or improve our well-being. The additional lists below provide a snapshot of what else Canadians inquired about this past year.

Another year has come and gone, and we’re in awe of the many highlights, trends, and viral sensations in 2014. Today, Yahoo Canada released its 2014 Year in Review, a look at the happenings, personalities and stories that Yahoo users in Canada searched for this year.

Your top searches this year included the iPhone 6, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ginette Reno. But, millions of Yahoo users searched the most for news related to Robin Williams on Yahoo Canada and Julie Snyder on Yahoo Québec.

Here is a look at the top searches for Yahoo Canada in 2014:

1. Robin Williams                                                                     

2. iPhone 6                                                                 

3. Jennifer Lawrence                                                          

4. Rob Ford                                                         

5. ISIS

6. Kate Middleton

7. Malaysia Airlines

8. Ebola virus

9. Joan Rivers                                                                       

10. Frozen

Here is a look at the top searches for Yahoo Québec in 2014:

1. Julie Snyder                                                                     

2. Jennifer Lawrence                                                            

3. Ginette Reno                                                                   

4. Vol MH370                                                         

5. Commission Charbonneau                                          

6. Robin Williams

7. Gilles Latulippe

8. iPhone 6

9. Ebola

10. Amal Alamuddin

The top searched news stories always reveal a wide breadth of local and global events. This year, the top news stories included tragedies, crime and political events. We closely followed local elections, disappearances, shootings, and political unrest. The ALS ice bucket challenge also made the list as many participated in support of a cure.

Here’s a look at the top news searches of the year on Yahoo Canada:

1. Flight MH370                                                     

2. Ottawa shootings                                   

3. ALS ice bucket challenge                                       

4. Missing Calgary family (Nathan O'Brien)               

5. B.C. teachers strike

6. Ukraine Russia

7. Moncton shooting (Justin Bourque)

8. Ontario election

9. Ferguson riots                                        

10. Scotland referendum

Here’s a look at the top news searches of the year on Yahoo Québec:

1. Élections Québec 2014 (Pauline Marois and PLQ majoritaire and Philippe Couillard)                            

2. Conflit Ukraine                                                                

3. Guy Turcotte                                                              

4. Fusillade Moncton (Justin Bourque)                                                        

5. Attentats St-Jean et Ottawa (Martin Couture-Rouleau and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau)

6. Référendum Écosse

7. Pierre Karl Péladeau

8. Le Ice Bucket Challenge

9. Tragédie de l'Isle-Verte

10. État islamique   

For more of your top 2014 searches, check out the 2014 Year In Review for Yahoo Canada and Yahoo Québec.

With an estimated 250,000 people immigrating annually, Canada is a very diverse, multicultural country. Our newest research “Digital Acculturation” explores the journey of new Canadians -- those who have moved to the country within the past five years -- as they navigate a new media landscape, especially mobile, and make key purchase decisions. While new Canadians choose to immigrate to Canada for varying reasons, many (47%) aim to find a balance between the culture from their country of origin and that of Canada creating unique opportunities for brands to connect with them.

Media Habits

When it comes to media preferences, new Canadians are digital first, with a particular focus on mobile devices:

Traditional media channels including TV and radio are less effective at reaching new Canadians. They watch only 1.5 hours of TV (compared to 2.5 for native Canadians) and listen to one hour of radio (compared to 2.1 for native Canadians) daily.

On average, they spend four hours per day on their mobile devices, compared to 2.6 hours for Canadian-born residents -- that's 54% more time on mobile.

They spend 3.8 hours on desktop daily.

47% also want to consume media in their native language.

Shopping Habits

New Canadians navigate key purchases they need to make in their first few months differently. In categories such as automotive, banking, and telecom, they seek new brands, products and education -- and effective advertising can help drive greater awareness with this audience:

Within the first three months of their arrival, new Canadians purchase a mobile phone and open a bank account.

Price is a significant issue in the telecom category, with 81% saying their mobile phone plan is more expensive in Canada than in their native country.

Within six months, they decide whether to purchase a car. And 63% say they are purchasing a car with features that are new to them.

For categories including grocery and beauty, new Canadians want to maintain aspects of their cooking and skincare routines, but are open to sampling new brands. Value, selection, and quality are key to their purchase decisions.

Engaging new Canadians

Brands have a unique opportunity to engage and influence new Canadians, but must keep their preferences top of mind:

    Online media has a significant influence on new Canadians when they prepare to make purchases across key categories: 92% found online resources most useful when researching banking products; 87% for automotive; 81% for telecom; 71% for beauty; and 63% for grocery.

46% would like to see ads featuring people with their cultural background.

48% say they pay more attention to ads in their native language and believe brands should make an effort to adapt to the ethnic diversity of Canada.

                    For more information, contact your Yahoo account director or email [email protected].

By Paul Montoy-Wilson, Co-Founder of Yahoo Aviate

In late June Yahoo Aviate launched globally in English, and with over half of our users living outside of the U.S., we’re thrilled to bring Yahoo Aviate to Canada in French! Our intelligent Android homescreen is now available in eight languages: French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Bahasa and Russian.

We continue to focus on meeting our users’ needs and creating the best possible experience on Yahoo Aviate. We’ve received valuable feedback, more than doubling our daily active users since launch and gathering data that reaffirms that phones should be dynamic.

We’re working towards bringing everyone around the world a more simple, intelligent and beautiful experience on their Android homescreen. Stay tuned for more to come in the near future!