2019 was an amazing year of online entertainment. We saw so many great new memes, viral videos from communities like TikTok, the final season of Game of Thrones, and some interesting new technology like the Tesla Cybertruck.
With all of that excitement in 2019, let’s take a look at some online trends that Canadians were most engaged in, based on various statistics from independent research labs.
Online casinos
Canada has been experiencing a tremendous boom in the growth of online gambling, which is interesting as Canada’s laws have online gambling is a bit of a legal “grey area”. It is technically illegal to operate a web-based casino from within Canada, but it is not illegal to play on offshore casino websites. Canadians generally play at licensed and reputable offshore casino websites, like Casumo casino online.
In fact, the rate at which Canadians have been embracing online gambling inspired Michigan, a U.S. state that borders Canada, to attempt to pass their own legislature that legalizes online gambling within Michigan.
In any case, throughout 2019, at least 18.6 million Canadians were engaged in online gambling, and spent around $4 billion, according to reports from CasinoValley 2019 report.
Gordon Ramsay and Shawn Mendes
YouTube released its 11th annual YouTube Rewind, which highlights viewing statistics around the globe per year.
For Canada, the top five trending videos in Canada for 2019 were :
- First We Feast Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Spicy Wings | Hot Ones
- Coach Jeremy 4 Year Old Mic’d up at Hockey
- James Charles No More Lies
- Shane Dawson Conspiracy Theories with Shane Dawson
- UCLA Athletics Katelyn Ohashi – 10.0 Floor (1-12-19)
And the top five most-liked music videos were :
- Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello – Señorita (13.3M likes)
- BTS – Boy With Luv (12.7M Likes)
- BLACKPINK – ‘Kill This Love’ (10.7M Likes)
- Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (10.1M Likes)
- Lil Nas X – Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) (9.5M Likes)
The top-ranking videos for each category come as no surprise, as Shawn Mendes is a home-grown Canadian himself, originating from Ontario. Canada is a well-known source of famous music artists, including names like Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Shania Twain, Nelly Furtado, and more.
As for the fascination with Gordon Ramsay critiquing spicy wings, well, Toronto is well-known for its gold-standard buffalo wings, so it’s a topic that hits home.
Political memes
The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21st, and Canadians were all over social media sharing memes and reaction videos related to the election results.
Sharing a land-border with the United States, Canadians have shared plenty of memes about US President Donald Trump, not to mention this viral meme of Justin Trudeau and Melania Trump.
Netflix Canada Originals
Canada has the third-highest viewership rate for Netflix globally, with an estimated 56.3% of Canadians having watched Netflix on various devices at least once per month. This means that roughly 20.66 million Canadians are watching Netflix, placing them behind the United States and Norway, respectively.
Netflix has done well with various promotions in Canada, including taping the Just For Laughs comedy tour in Montreal, and being the sole international distributor of Canadian productions Alias Grace and Anne, which both won top awards at the Canadian Screen Awards.
Esports
Esports have seen tremendous growth in Canada throughout 2018 – 2019. Tickets for the International Dota 2 tournament, hosted in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, were sold out in 2018.
According to research by Newzoo, 1.5 million Canadians watch esports at least once a month, and Canada has been called a booming hub for esports – and have already built the first official Gaming Stadium specifically for esports.
It was built in Richmond, British Columbia, and sponsored by Ubisoft, Red Bull, Vertagear and Tourism Burnaby.