Canadians are increasingly shifting day-to-day activities like banking, shopping and entertainment online, according to recent research from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The Internet Activities report found 90% of Anglophones 18+ now use the internet, spending an average of 20.7 hours per week online and engaging in what it describes as “a myriad” of activities.
While search, sending/receiving email and checking the weather are now firmly entrenched online activities, the study also found Canadians are increasingly engaging in practices including online banking and shopping (79% and 61% respectively).
Video calls are also gaining in popularity, with 30% of respondents indicating they have made online video calls via apps such as Skype, FaceTime or Google Hangouts.
Three quarters of Anglophones have visited a social networking site in the past month, with Facebook by far the most popular destination – attracting a reported 86% of respondents who use social networks.
That is more than double the use for the second most popular social network, LinkedIn (34%), and also ahead of Twitter (28%), Pinterest (27%) and Instagram (26%).
The internet has also become a key entertainment destination, with 90% of respondents saying they have watched online video in the past month, 73% saying they have streamed online audio, and more than half (53%) saying they have played an online game or watched online TV.
YouTube is by far the biggest destination for online video, with 76% of respondents saying they watched videos on the site. More than half of respondents (51%) watched a news clip or program online.
YouTube’s vast repository of both current and “long-lost” artists also makes it a popular music destination, with 61% of respondents saying they have listened to music on the site. That is more than double the number of respondents (22%) who have listened to music via a streaming service such as Spotify.
The research found 80% of respondents multi-task online while watching TV, with 43% saying they “always” or “often” use the internet while watching. Sixty per cent are engaged in second screen activities related to the show they are watching, while a third are using Facebook or Twitter to discuss TV or to follow or like programs and/or actors.
Multi-tasking is most prevalent among younger Canadians, with 18-34 year-olds typically engaging in 15 of the 24 online activities tracked by MTM while watching TV. The research also found people 65 and older are engaged in 10 online activities while watching TV.
The results are based on telephone interviews with 4,003 Anglophone Canadians 18+ conducted between Oct. 8 and Dec. 6, and are considered accurate within plus or minus 1.5% 19 times out of 20.
