The Most Watched Commercials on YouTube 2015

In 2015, people spent about 30 million hours— equivalent to 3500 years in watching the top 120 most popular YouTube commercials. The rankings are based on the statistics of YouTube. Since 2011, YouTube started to release the rankings of the most watched commercials every month and came up with the idea of Ad Leaderboard. By the end of each year, YouTube also announces the annual ranking of the most watched commercials on its Ad Leaderboard.

In the annual list of last year, the ad of mobile game Clash of Clans “Revenge” received the highest hits— 82 million views. Hyundai’s ad “A Message to Space” was ranked in the second place with roughly 69 million hits. Brands such as Adidas, Budweiser, Always, and Samsung also had a place in the annual ranking.  Many of them were continually listed on the Leaderboard in the past few years. An interesting fact is that the commercial ranked as the 10th place on 2015 Ad Leaderboard had 30 million views, which surpassed the champion of the  2012 one by 10 million views.

What can we tell from the data?  In my point of view, the way that consumers watch and engage with commercials is changing and evolving.

If you watched  AMC series “Mad Men”, you might know that there is a rule that protagonist Don Draper believes in— Advertising is based on happiness; if an ad allows viewers to link their products with happiness, then it is successful advertising. This rule is still valid today, but the meaning of happy has been infinitely broadened – it is no longer the literal sense, but rather a recognition of values.

Good advertising is not only a celebration of creativity but also let people see the changes in society.  The most popular commercials share something in common. They are capable of providing positive energy to their audience and address social issues. With a few pieces of this year’s most popular video ads as an example: Always the “Like A Girl” promotes the elimination of gender bias, Budweiser’s “Lost Dog”, celebrates friendship, Fanpage’s “Slap Her ” portrays children’s reaction to violence against women. These ads become prevalent not only because of their creativity but also because of the shared value –human interest.

Here is the 2015  YouTube Ad Leaderboard. Which is your favorite one?

Sources:

http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/advertising-branding/10-most-watched-ads-youtube-2015-168524

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/3-trends-transforming-how-we-watch-ads-168530