March 9 , 2010

Olympic fans turn to Yahoo! Canada in record numbers
More than 1.7M unique visitors logged during Games                                                                                                                                                  

As the destination Canadians turn to for the most relevant, timely and comprehensive coverage of local, national and international events, record numbers of Canadians logged on to Yahoo! Canada Sports and Yahoo! Canada’s comprehensive coverage of the Games in Vancouver to stay up-to-date on stories, videos and analysis about Canada’s Olympians, and experience Canada’s collective fever during the Games.

To give Canadians a multifaceted view and analysis of the competitions, Yahoo! Canada Sports worked with Canadian Olympians and champion athletes including Elvis Stojko (figure skating), Ken Daneyko (hockey), and Jennifer Jones (curling) to cover the Games from a uniquely Canadian perspective. Yahoo! Canada sports editors and former Globe and Mail staffers Steve McAllister and Ian Denomme, and former Hockey News staffer Sam McCaig also provided expert insight and commentary about Canada’s gold medal hopes and rivalries.

Canadians came to Yahoo! Canada Sports in record numbers during the Games, with more than 1.7 million unique visitors during the week of February 15 th to the 21 st alone,** making Yahoo! Canada Sports one of the most visited online destinations during the Games. This represents almost a doubling of the number of unique visitors to Yahoo! Canada Sports in the earlier weeks of February 1 st to the 14 th.

“Our coverage of the Games in Vancouver showcased our commitment to covering Canadian sports in a way that matters to Canadians,” says Gina Cothey, director of audience for Yahoo! Canada. “Millions of Canadians went online to take in the full experience of the Games, and Yahoo! Canada Sports became the Olympics homepage for many sports fans. We plan to grow our sports content and continue to provide ongoing coverage of events with a uniquely Canadian perspective.”

Throughout the Games, live online chats with Stojko, Daneyko and Jones at Yahoo! Canada Sports were popular with Canadians, while Canadian figure skating fans went to Yahoo! Canada Sports to learn more about Elvis Stojko’s controversial perspective on the state of men’s figure skating and read his Yahoo! blog entry entitled: “The night they killed figure skating.” Canadian Olympians, from Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to Clara Hughes and Joannie Rochette, were among some of the most popular search terms on Yahoo.ca during the Games.

Canadians also watched more than 1.9 million** online videos at Yahoo! Canada Sports during the weeks of February 1 to the 21.

**Source: comScore Media Metrics