For English Canadian Web surfers, there’s no place like home. Particularly when it comes to shopping, banking and staying on top of the news.

That’s the conclusion of the latest report from digital media measurement firm Media Metrix Canada.

For the first time, the report has broken down its audience ratings by category, providing figures on Canadian Web usage in 27 vertical-interest categories, including retail, business/finance, news/information, and careers.

The report found that while Amazon.com might be the most popular retail site among Canadian Web surfers, homegrown sites ColumbiaHouseCanada.com, Chapters.ca and Sears.ca placed a respectable second, third and fifth in their class.

Similarly, RoyalBank.com, CanadaTrust.com, TDBank.ca, CIBC.com and Scotiabank.ca took the top five spots in the business/finance category, reaching a total of 36.4% of all unique visitors.

Brent Bernie, president of Media Metrix Canada, says the new category breakdowns were added to allow sites to see where they stand against their direct competitors.

The report also evaluated for the first time the "stickiness" of various kinds of sites, ranking them by the average number of minutes visitors spent there. Auction sites led the pack at 19.9 minutes per person per day.

Bernie says additional features will be introduced in subsequent reports, including a French-language sample to be released in June and a workplace sample to be released in July.

Media Metrix, which opened shop last fall, has been criticized by a number of major Canadian Web site operators, including Canoe.ca, for not taking into account French-language and workplace usage.

The Media Metrix report, based on data collected in March, derived its information from a panel of just under 5,000 home Internet users.

By Karen Howe

I’m attending Cannes from the glory of my dining room table. There’s not a palm tree in sight, yet inspiration and intel are present in abundance.

Cannes Lions is a global cultural pulse check. The social course correction in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and BLM has delivered far greater diversity in the judging panels as well as the work. And we are all better for it.

I’m proud to say that creativity defeated COVID, which speaks to its power. Great work and big ideas flourished, despite unimaginable odds.

The work from the past two years spans a vast emotional range. From the profundity of Dove’s “Courage is Beautiful” to the hyper exuberance of Burberry’s “Festive,” they are opposite ends of the spectrum, but each answered a need in us.

Take note, the ascendency of gaming cannot be understated. Smart brands have embraced the channel. It makes sense, because gamers participate to meet others around the world, not just to play. And they represent a huge and powerful community. That’s why QSR Wendy’s gamified their iconic gal in RPG’s Feast of Legends.

Burger King sponsored the unknown Stevenage Football Club, transforming the team into online heroes and vaulting BK into the fray at the same time. Once again, the brand embedded itself in culture.

The birth of gaming tourism arrived when Xbox snuggled up to travel guides and created a brilliant baby: a travel guide for gaming worlds. It, too, embedded itself in culture.

From the standpoint of social good, Reporter Without Borders showed how it worked with Mindcraft for its “Uncensored Library” to bypass press censorship, with Minecraft providing a loophole to a space where young people could be educated. It provided youth with a powerful tool to fight oppression: truth.

COVID changed us in unexpected ways. We learned how to pay attention again and there was a notable lack of 30-second commercials. Instead, longer format content thrived. Apple’s WFH was seven minutes long. Entertainment reigned king, so we find ourselves returning to our advertising roots.

Seeing competitive brands form partnerships was one of this year’s other great surprises. The brilliantly simple “Beer Cap Project” by Aguila to reduce binge-drinking saw the brand reach out to competitive beers to join in. Aguila put incentivizing (keyword: free) reminders to drink water, eat food and get home safely on its bottle caps from all sorts of fast food chains, ride-share co’s and H2O brands.

On a personal level, I’m so proud of Canada again this year. Given that it was two years of work from all over the world being judged, even making the Cannes shortlist was an accomplishment. Canada is herding in the Lions in tremendous numbers – and it’s not even over. Fingers are crossed.

Karen Howe is a Canadian Cannes Advisory Board Member and founder of The Township Group