Gunman on Parliament Hill
Oct 22: 1,111,114 views
Mounties killed in Moncton
June 5: 556,004 views
Renee Zellwegger's new face
Oct 21: 339,232 views
A flasher named 'Popadick'
April 29: 333,595 views
Robin Williams' death
Aug 11: 307,129 views
Farmer's Almanac predicts 'T-Rex' winter
Sept 18: 288,387 views
Calgary boy and grandparents go missing
April 29: 279,040 views
New Year's twins born in different years
Jan 1: 262,709 views
Double stabbing at Canada's Wonderland
Jan 1: 249,570 views
Million-dollar baby
Nov 18: 237,249 views
- Shooting in Ottawa leaves one soldier dead
- Three Mounties killed in Moncton; gunman arrested
- Renee Zellweger is ‘unrecognizable’
- Exhibitionist named ‘Popadick’ arrested
- Robin Williams’ death
- Farmer’s Almanac predicts harsh winter
- Arrest made in case of missing Calgary boy, grandparents
- A pair of New Year’s twins are born in different years
- Double stabbing at Canada’s Wonderland
- Couple billed $1 million for baby born in Hawaii
One CTVNews.ca story drew in an audience like no other in 2014: the shooting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The incident -- in which a gunman shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo -- began when MPs reported shots being fired outside of Parliament and developed throughout the day. With readers clicking back for updates as the situation unfurled, the main story on the shooting was viewed twice as many times as any other story on the website.
The second most viewed story of the year was a similar tragedy in New Brunswick, involving the slayings of three RCMP officers. The initial shootings, the manhunt for the gunman and the subsequent arrest of the killer played out over two days, with the story being continuously updated.
Another gripping story was the arrest made in the case of a missing Calgary boy and his grandparents. Though the chart doesn't include the two weeks of stories covering the investigation, the interest peaked with the arrest of the suspect, which provided some sort of resolution to disturbing story.
There were other big stories of 2014 that didn't make the list. The disappearance and destruction of two Malaysian airliners were two of the year’s most newsworthy events, but weren’t represented by single articles, for example. Other stories include the West African Ebola outbreak, Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the spread of ISIS through Iraq and Syria.
In terms of single-article numbers, those drawn out stories were eclipsed by a different type of story: interesting, shareable pieces that weren’t necessarily "news" in any traditional sense, and didn't develop or persist throughout the year.
"Renee Zellweger is unrecognizable" got people clicking and sharing the story enough to make it our website's third-most-viewed story of the year. Another irresistible flash in the pan was a story out of Ottawa about a man with a painfully appropriate name arrested for indecent exposure at a park.
This list doesn't include views to our photo galleries – which often earn as many views as the stories themselves – or pages viewed on the mobile version of the website which are tallied up next.
Skating trail a hidden treasure
Jan 4: 472,060 views
Gunman on Parliament Hill
Oct 22: 460,452 views
No charges for speeding officer after crash
Nov 19: 365,887 views
Mounties killed in Moncton
June 5: 266,704 views
New Year's twins born in different years
Jan 1: 266,194 views
Calgary boy and grandparents go missing
July 14: 264,226 views
Farmer's Almanac predicts 'T-Rex' winter
Sept 18: 235,366 views
Million-dollar baby
Nov 18: 206,662 views
Robin Williams' death
Aug 11: 201,004 views
Double stabbing at Canada's Wonderland
Oct 26: 191,766 views
- This skating trail is one of Ontario's best kept secrets
- Shooting in Ottawa leaves one soldier dead
- No charges for speeding officer involved in deadly crash
- Double stabbing at Canada's Wonderland
- Arrest made in case of missing Calgary boy, grandparents
- Three Mounties killed in Moncton; gunman arrested
- A pair of New Year's twins are born in different years
- Farmer's Almanac predicts harsh winter
- Couple charged one million dollars for baby born in Hawaii
- Robin Williams' death
The list of most popular stories visited on mobile web has much in common with top 10 stories with the desktop list, but has some notable discrepancies. The most prominent being a local story out of Barrie getting more views than the Ottawa shooting story.
Behold the power of Facebook.
This quaint story about a popular skating trail a couple of hours north of Toronto was recommended more than 56,000 times on the social media site, skyrocketing it to the top of the list.
The number three story viewed on tablets and smartphones was also absent from the first list. The story about a speeding police officer involved in a fatal crash avoiding charges was also popular on social media. That story had 45,000 shares, again indicating the majority of people who share stories on Facebook do so on mobile.
