Who would have thought that a sentimental black and white video about strangers kissing would have been the most viewed video advertising campaign of the year? Especially when the clip, Wren’s ‘First Kiss’ was initially promoted as social video content, just the kind of footage that sites like Buzzfeed jump all over. The fact that it was wasn’t obviously a video advertising campaign may have been the main reason it generated 77.8 million views, 1,392,296 Facebook shares, and 68,740 Twitter shares in just 31 days. 

The ‘First Kiss’ video ad is the most watched of the year, with 156.6 million views, it’s also one of only 19 campaigns to ever surpass 100 million views. ReelSEO talked to the brand back in April, and it confirmed that the ad had directly led to an increase in website traffic of 14,000%, but more importantly, it had increased sales by 13,000%. It also beat last year’s most watched ad, Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches”, by over 23.1 million views, and continues to generate interest and engagement to this day

As we enter December, it’s time to start taking a look back at some of the other most successful video campaigns of 2014, and Visible Measures has just released data on the big video ads of the year. While the FIFA World Cup was the greatest video event of all time – generating 671.6 million views for ad campaigns – overall, branded video views increased by 73% in Q3 2014, compared to the same period in 2013 billion Views in Q3 2014. Average views for the top ten branded video campaigns increased from 69.4 million views in 2013 to 83.4 million views in 2014.

Top Ten Most Viewed Video Advertising Campaigns of 2014

While First Kiss tops the chart, the other 9 places belong to well-known brands, veterans of successful marketing campaigns. 4 of the 10 most viewed ads revolved around the 2014 World Cup, with Nike, Samsung, and adidas attracting 306 million views between them. The average World Cup themed campaign ad generated nearly 3x the amount of average views for a branded video campaign compared to 2013.

1. Wren’s “First Kiss”: True Reach of 156,670,932 views
2. Nike’s “Risk Everything”: True Reach of 138,929,384 views
3. Nike’s “The Last Game”: True Reach of 122,249,570 views
4. Samsung’s “Galaxy 11 The Training”: True Reach of 78,130,824 views
5. Always’ “#LikeAGirl”: True Reach of 60,281,400 views
6. Turkish Airlines’ “#EpicFood”: True Reach of 59,549,152 views
7. Budweiser’s “Puppy Love”: True Reach of 59,074,980 views
8. Dove’s “Patches”: True Reach of 58,645,812 views
9. Samsung’s “Official Introduction”: True Reach of 52,692,263 views
10. adidas’ “The Dream”: True Reach of 47,828,815 views

Video Advertising: Top Ten Most Viewed Brands of 2014

For the 3rd year in a row, Samsung is the most viewed brand when it comes to branded video advertising campaigns, with just under 600 million views. Interestingly, both Google and YouTube make an appearance, alongside brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser. The success of ‘First Kiss’ pushed Wren into 5th place.

1. Samsung: True Reach of 589,527,519 views
2. Nike: True Reach of 466,178,799 views
3. Google: True Reach of 337,449,360 views
4. adidas: True Reach of 218,034,065 views
5. Wren: True Reach of 156,670,932 views
6. YouTube: True Reach of 123,189,083 views
7. Budweiser: True Reach 117,341,809 views
8. Metro Trains Melbourne: True Reach 116,908,271 views
9. Coca-Cola: True Reach of 113,348,421 views
10. Dove: True Reach of 105,632,863 views

Methodology

Visible Measures also ranked the most viewed brands of the year, using their MRC accredited True Reach metric. True Reach measures views of brand-syndicated videos, as well as associated user-uploaded copies, across hundreds of the web’s top sites.

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