2020 has been one of the most momentous years of the past century. With the Covid pandemic, it kept netizens in the Philippines glued to their devices in search of information, ideas and opinions.
Yahoo’s Year in Review 2020 takes a look at the top happenings, people, and trends that captured the interest of the Philippines’ online community in 2020. Yahoo team analyzes users’ anonymized interest patterns based on what was searched for, read, recommended, and shared. Takes into account a number of factors, including absolute volume and growth from previous periods to see which themes and trends bubble to the surface.
Top newsmakers of 2020:
Taal Volcano was the top searched news in the Philippines this year with its activity in January threatened the lives of nearly a million people across Calabarzon, Metro Manila and some parts of Central Luzon and Ilocos region. Late NBA superstar Kobe Bryant ranked second in the search list as basketball-crazed Philippines reeled from news of his untimely passing.
Local and international politics was also in focus with the US Presidential Elections (3rd) and President Donald Trump (6th), President Rodrigo Duterte (4th) and the Bayanihan Act 2020 (5th), also known as the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, ranked high on users’ searches.
Francis Leo Marcos (7th) for his alleged violation of Optometry Law also grab people's attention.
Filipino celebrities dominated the most searched female celebrities list this year, taking eight out of the 10 top spots. Actress Ivana Alawi whose wildly popular YouTube channel drove her meteoric rise to fame in just a year. Sarah Geronimo ranked second on the list as news of her surprise secret wedding. Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray’s (3rd) controversial breakup with her ex Clint Bondad also circulated online.
South Korean Oppas dominated half of the spots in the most searched male celebrities list. International popularity with Crash Landing on You, 2020 was a shining year for Hyun Bin (2nd) as well as his commercial deal with telco Smart Communications. Lee Min-Ho (6th), Park Seo Joon (9th), and Ji Chang Wook (10th) also made the list. Suprisingly, Broadcast journalist and host Raffy Tulfo edged out South Korean male celebrities to take the coveted top spot.
Users turned to sporting events to keep them entertained in the comforts of their homes. The NBA and the PBA Philippine Cup were the top two most searched events in 2020; the latter took users on a rollercoaster ride with several changes in its schedule before resuming in October. The Australian Open (3rd), French Open (5th), and US Open (9th) secured three spots on the list. Other major sports events popular with locals such as baseball, football, mixed martial arts, racing, and golf rounded up the list.
#COVID19: Users searched for updates, symptoms, lockdowns and vaccine
‘Coronavirus Update’, ‘Coronavirus Philippines’ and ‘Covid19 symptoms’ became the top three pandemic search terms amongst users. ‘Covid 19 update worldwide’, ‘Covid 19 vaccine’, ‘Covid 19 tracker’, ‘Quarantine’, ‘Pandemic’, and ‘Lockdown’ were hot topics for the top search terms, coming in from fourth to ninth place. Interestingly, Italy was a country of interest to users in the Philippines, ‘‘Coronavirus Italy’ (10th) made an appearance as one of the popular searches related to Coronavirus.
For the biggest moments online and other surprises from the year, take a detailed look at Yahoo’s Year in Review 2020 – https://ph.yahoo.com/topics/ph-yir. Satiate your wanderlust while looking back into 2020 with the ‘Travel in Style’ series of augmented reality (AR) filters. Three AR filters, created by Yahoo, will be available on Facebook and Instagram.
