While the automotive sector has seen many ups and downs over the last 18 months, Canadians are returning to websites to learn more about new vehicles and research their purchases.
That finding is among those found in Vividata’s Summer 2021 SCC Metrica Fusion Database, which merges Vividata’s Survey of the Canadian Consumer (SCC) with Metrica’s passive measurement of digital consumers to capture consumer behaviour both online and off. The database is able to analyze weekly visits to approximately 3,700 top websites and apps frequented by Canadians over the age of 18.
Visits to automotive websites and apps increased 4% from winter to summer 2021, with unique visits in an average month topping out at 14.76 million Canadians. Those that did visit also did so more frequently: nearly two million visited an automotive website or app 10 or more times in an average month during the summer, a 44% increase over winter.
Unsurprisingly, Canadians who intend to buy a hybrid or electric vehicle in the next 12 months were 41% more likely to visit an automotive and were also more likely to visit more frequently. Demographically, men aged 35 to 49 spent about two times longer than the national average browsing auto websites and apps at nearly 30 minutes per month. But BIPOC men under 35 were the most likely to visit 10 or more times in an average month, at 2.1 times the Canadian average.
AutoTrader, Car Gurus and Kijiji Autos were the most popular sites among Canadians interested in the used car market. Although leading site AutoTrader did reach an estimated 1.67 million unique visitors in an average month, traffic did drop from winter 2021 by slightly more than 15%. Kijiji, on the other hand, claimed a projected 83,000 new unique monthly visitors over the winter, which jumped to 449,000 in an average month by the summer.
Outside of automotive, lottery, gambling and betting sites and apps saw a 6% increase in traffic from winter to summer, aligning with the legalization of single-sport betting in Canada. Over one in three Canadian adults visited these websites in an average month, with the average time spent jumping by nearly two-thirds to 94 minutes, while those visiting 10 or more times in an average month increased from a projected 2.79 million in winter to 3.5 million in summer.
Men between the ages 35 and 49 were the most likely to visit 10 or more times than the average Canadian adult, while women over 50 spent the most time on the websites and apps, averaging over 5.5 hours in an average month.
Mobile and online gaming increased 15% from winter to summer, with a projected two in three Canadian adults visiting a related website or app. Even bigger jumps were seen in frequency, with two in five Canadians visiting 10 or more times in an average month and over one in four visiting 20 or more times – up 36%.
Men under 25 were 39% more likely than the average Canadian to visit 20 or more times in an average month and spent the most time on gaming properties at over 16 hours. Men between 35 to 49 spent the second most time at over 15.5 hours, followed closely by women 50 or older at 14.5 hours.
Twitch saw a 9% increase in traffic to its website and app from Canada, with just under 1.6 million tuning in during an average month. Men under 25 years of age were the most likely to visit a Twitch property, but it also had a 64% increase in female visitors under 25, from just 78,000 monthly in winter to 128,000 in summer, accounting for nearly 40% of all new visitors to Twitch properties overall.
Women were more likely than men to be engaged with mobile games, specifically when it came to the most popular apps: Candy Crush and its related titles, Wordscapes, Solitaire, Words With Friends and Pokémon Go.
