Mobile is by far the number one media destination for new Canadians, a study by Yahoo Canada has found.
Canadians that have lived in Canada for less than five years commit an average of four hours a day to mobile devices, compared to 2.6 hours on average for all Canadians. A full fifth of new Canadians are power users, with more than eight hours of usage each day.
Not surprisingly, a phone is the first major purchase they make upon immigrating, usually by three months into their stay (shorter than the average time it takes to buy a car, open a bank account or even find a job).
“One of the big discoveries is that, not only is digital an important media channel [for new Canadians], but mobile is the primary platform that they’re using to access digital,” said Yahoo country manager Claude Galipeau. “It makes sense, since the mobile phone becomes the primary link back to the home country — whether by voice, text or the internet — and it helps them to navigate the new country, research new brands and make new purchases.”
New Canadians also consume less legacy media than established residents, spending on average 1.5 hours a day watching TV compared to 2.5 hours for all Canadians; for radio, the gap is even wider.
Even on desktop digital, new Canadians are spending less time than the national average, at 3.8 hours a day compared to 4.4 hours.
Galipeau said the data shows a clear opportunity for multicultural marketers in mobile. He said a large reason for undertaking the study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of global, mobile-first media companies like Yahoo to identify and reach new Canadians with targeted messaging.
Using subscriber data, Yahoo can follow users in Canada that are visiting Yahoo pages and other sites in their own countries, and deliver ad impressions specifically targeted to those users’ banking, auto or beauty needs.
“Someone who resides in Canada might access the internet with a Canadian IP address, but we can see they’re going to Yahoo India, Yahoo Philippines, and so on,” said Galipeau. “We’ve discovered that quite often a new Canadian is a user of Yahoo, because they were a user in India or the Philippines. … They might be going to Yahoo India Finance to look at the currency pages, or they might be going to Yahoo India Sports to look at the cricket pages.”
The study found the largest group of new Canadians (47%) are looking to balance their native culture with Canadian culture, rather than fully integrate or fully maintain the lifestyle and traditions they’re used to.
Yahoo built a rough timeline of the acculturation process the average new Canadian goes through from arrival through their first year. Buying a phone and plan — the best way to communicate with friends and relatives back home — is usually the first major step, followed by opening a bank account.
Check out Yahoo’s infographic below for more detailed findings. (Click to enlarge)
