The love of Filipinos for entertainment is manifested in their online consumption — whether it’s related to gaming or streaming. Five out of 10 spots on the Google Philippines’ overall list of trending searches are occupied by games like Wordle at No. 4 and Axie Infinity at No. 9, and shows like All of Us Are Dead at No. 5, Encanto at No. 8, and Jeffrey Dahmer at No. 10 (because of the show Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story).
Ranked first in this category is Halalan 2022, followed by VaxCertPh at No. 2 and precinct finder at No. 3, while Warriors vs Celtics is at No. 6, and Ukraine at No. 7.
Google Philippines head of communications Mervin Wenke explained during a Google event that the first three top results showed that “people continuously look for information around this particular term as they travel because this is an important requirement for face-to-face engagement among others as we accelerate into a post-pandemic era.”
“We also see this year is actually how much Filipinos love entertainment and consuming online content. As you can see, five out of 10 search queries on the overall Top Trending Searches are related to entertainment (games and shows),” he observed.
“Filipinos’ love for consuming online content is actually validated by the latest e-Conomy report. According to the report, streaming or video-on-demand is the third biggest online activity of Filipinos after e-commerce and food delivery this year,” he added.
According to Google media release, the e-Conomy SEA Report also revealed that 58 percent of Filipinos regularly watch video-on-demand shows and movies.
The top TV shows or series are “heavily dominated” by Korean content, which goes to show that “Hallyu is very much alive in the Philippines,” Wenke continued. The Top 10 most searched TV shows or series are All of Us Are Dead, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Business Proposal, Alchemy of Souls, Euphoria, Twenty-Five Twenty-One, Big Mouth, Manifest, Our Beloved Summer and The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Wenke has also noted how Korean series had trended on Google for the past few years so they dedicated a category for the top trending topics on Korean series. Aside from the Korean shows mentioned above, Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area, Sh**ting Stars and Happiness are also part of the list.
As Wenke elaborated, “The behavior that we saw is that Filipinos love to use Google search as they binge-watch on their favorite Korean series to fuel their fandom. They are searching for trivia and more information about their favorite shows, favorite Korean personalities and their shows.”
Moreover, the Top Google Search for Movies are ruled by Disney and Marvel superhero titles, with Encanto leading the rank followed by Incantation, Eternals, Purple Hearts, Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Completing the tally are Turning Red, Black Adam, More Than Blue and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
In the Male Personalities category, basketball player Ricci Rivero topped the list of the most searched personality. “I guess it’s because of the time that he proposed (to Andrea Brillantes) after a (UAAP basketball) game,” Wenke surmised, referring to how the cager asked the actress to be his girlfirend after winning a game.
Other male personalities that Filipinos also searched about are other basketball players, international celebrities and Korean personalities, such as Johnny Depp, Park Solomon, Tyler Poarch, Chris Rock, Juancho Hernangomez, Ahn Hyo-seop, Jordan Clarkson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Levine.
In the Female Personalities section, the most searched celebrities are mixed of international and local personalities across show business, namely, Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard, followed by Kris Aquino, Deanna Wong, Anna Delvey, Kate Moss, Sofia Carson, Xyriel Manabat, Cara Delevingne, Alba Baptista and Bella Racelis. The ex-couple, Depp and Heard, faced off in defamation trial last April.
The Google Team also came up with a new category Losses, which contained the list of top trending personalities who passed away this year, “to pay tribute to those we lost through the years.” Filipinos searched about Queen Elizabeth II, Cherie Gil, Susan Roces, Aaron Carter, Technoblade, Shinzo Abe, Percy Lapid, Kim Mi-soo, Yoo Ju-eun and Betty White.
“The world stopped when we lost Queen Elizabeth and also we mourned when we lost two of our greatest (Filipino) actresses of all time, Cherie Gil and Susan Roces. (The) ‘90s kids also mourned the loss of Aaron Carter. Technoblade, one of the most popular YouTube gamer(s), succumbed to cancer. Betty White, she passed on the last day of 2021 but we saw a spike in trend searches during the first few days of 2022. That’s why she is on this list,” Wenke explained.
Likewise, the inclusion of songs from Filipino artists in the top list of Song Lyrics category is notable. These tracks are Adie and Janine Berdin’s Mahika at No. 4, Moira dela Torre’s Babalik Sa’yo at No. 5, Zack Tabudlo’s Pano at No. 9, and Adie’s Paraluman at No. 10. The overall most searched song lyrics are We Don’t Talk About Bruno at No. 1, followed by Sun And Moon (No. 2), Easy On Me (No. 5), Repeat (No. 6), Favorite Girl (No. 7) and Angel Baby (No. 9).
“We also see the rise of tracks from Filipino artists and at them same time, there are songs here popularized from short form content,” shared Wenke. “They search lyrics for the songs because they wanna practice their moves and content to be uploaded on that particular platform, YouTube shorts as well. So that’s the trend that we are seeing that’s why Filipinos are searching for more information about the song lyrics.”
In the News category, apart from Halalan 2022, VaxCertPh, precinct finder and Ukraine, Filipinos are also interested in the following topics: Monkeypox, NATO, Gwyneth Chua, presidential race update, Ethylene Oxide and Bagyong Karding update.
“Filipinos still rely on Google search to look for the latest news beat — global or local. As you can see the Top Three news related search terms are the overall trending for the year, which goes to show that Filipinos are really looking out for relevant and trusted information, be it about the elections or other local news such as typhoon updates and presidential race updates,” said Wenke.
“Filipinos are also particular with what is happening with the rest of the world,” he furthered. “Filipinos are still curious and want to know more of what’s happening globally.”
In the Sports category, Filipinos’ passion for basketball also showed in the top searches with keywords such as Warriors vs Celtics, Warriors vs Mavericks, Heat vs Celtics, NBA standings 2022, Grizzlies vs Warriors, Golden State Warriors vs Boston, PBA schedule, NBA playoffs and NBA draft 2022.
Deanna Wong is also part of the list. Her addition “also speaks volume of our love for volleyball,” commented Wenke. “So aside from basketball, the country is also a volleyball nation.”
Lastly, the most searched games are Wordle, Axie Infinity, Arceus X, Razer Gold, Tower of Fantasy, Jollymax, Lost Ark, Anime Adventures codes, Flyff Universe and MIR4.
“Online games are big in the Philippines,” Wenke pointed out. “In fact, according to the latest e-Conomy (SEA Report), 37 percent of users from the Philippines said they play online games at least once a week and that’s actually highest in the Southeast Asia region.”
The data are based on the “aggregation of trillions and trillions of Google searches over the course of the year and then we used tools such as Google Trends, and removed spams and duplicates,” said Wenke.
The list also “reflects the zeitgeist of spirit of the year,” Wenke told The STAR. “What’s happening in the real world deeply and greatly affects the attitudes and behaviors of users online.”
On the implication of the data gathered and the results, Wenke stated, “There are many ways to look at it. Perhaps, it’s also the rise of streaming, (for example) because of Disney+, (which) created that behavior among Filipinos to look for more information about what’s available on the streaming services. Probably, that’s one of the reasons.”