2013’s Top Video Ads and Brands

December 13, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Creative & Formats | Digital | Top Brands | Video

YouTube-2013-Ads-Leaderboard-Dec2013Which brands managed to take the most advantage of the burgeoning online video advertising space this year? A pair of new reports reveal the big winners this year: YouTube unveils this year’s Ads Leaderboard, while Unruly reveals the brands that scored the most shares of their ads. YouTube, recently forecast by eMarketer to generate $5.6 billion in ad revenues this year, puts Evian’s “baby & me” at the top of its leaderboard, which factors in paid views, organic views and audience retention when determining its rankings. Samsung, meanwhile, tops Unruly’s list.

The YouTube Ads Leaderboard tracks the most-viewed ads rather than branded content, measuring both paid and organic views. With more than 66 million views as of December 2, the Evian ad stood a significant distance from the second-placed ad, Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” (59.6 million) which also happened to be the most shared video ad of the year, according to Unruly.

The other ads making the leaderboard were (all view counts as of December 2):

  • Internet Explorer’s “Child of the 90s” (47.9 million);
  • Pepsi Max’s “Test Drive” (39.6 million);
  • PooPourri.com’s “Girls Don’t Poop” (20 million);
  • Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” (20 million);
  • GEICO’s “Hump Day” (18.6 million);
  • Ram Trucks’ “Farmer” (16.6 million);
  • Volkswagen’s “Get Happy” (14.7 million); and
  • Audi’s “Prom” (10.7 million).

Not too surprisingly, 6 of those ads landed on Unruly’s chart of the most-shared ads of the year. One more might have made it if not for a later launch: Volvo Trucks’ “The Epic Split feat. Van Damme” took the 6th spot in YouTube’s top 10 trending videos of the year. It joined 2 other branded videos to make the list: Evian’s commercial and the Carrie promotion “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” were the others.

All of the ads can be viewed by following the links above.

Top Social Video Brands of the Year

Unruly-Most-Shared-Social-Video-Brands-of-2013-Dec2013Several of the above-mentioned ads were so successful that they drove the advertisers into Unruly’s list of most-shared social video brands, which showed significant turnover from last year’s list.

Based on the number of video shares tracked between January 1st and November 18th, Unruly reveals that the top 10 brands were:

  • Samsung, with 7.3 million shares;
  • GEICO, with 4.93 million;
  • Dove, with 4.52 million;
  • Pepsi, with 4.02 million;
  • Budweiser, with 3.86 million;
  • Red Bull, with 3.75 million;
  • Evian, with 3.71 million;
  • Kmart, with 3.4 million;
  • Cornetto, with 3.39 million; and
  • EA, with 3.39 million.

Last year’s top viral video brand, Google, failed to make the list this year, coming in 12th. Unruly also notes that Nike, TNT Benelux, DC Shoes, P&G, Abercrombie & Fitch and Volkswagen also couldn’t repeat their successes from last year to make it into the top 10. The fairly high turnover from last year suggests that making the list is dependent on the virality of a limited number of ads: 6 of this year’s top 10 brands had a video ad make Unruly’s list of most-shared ads.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

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