Top 10 UK YouTube ads of the year

With 2016 behind us, Google UK has released the 2016 YouTube Ads Leaderboard celebrating the most popular video ads among UK viewers of the year.

The ranking is determined using some of YouTube’s strongest signals of viewer choice – number of views and percentage of organic views versus paid views.

Some of the key trends we see in this year’s list include:

● Watch time: The top 10 YouTube ads in the UK drove over 200 years of watch time in 2016 (*YouTube Internal Data, UK, 2016).

● Ads as Entertainment: Humour is on show on this year’s list as some advertisers perhaps sought to entertain and lighten the tone against the backdrop of a difficult year.

● Added to the cultural conversation: This year, we saw several ads that added to the cultural conversation on YouTube. Take the Allegro and EDEKA which added to the conversation around family & belonging on YouTube.

“The topics these ads depict may range, but they all tap into what’s unique about YouTube and online video – its deep authenticity and participatory culture,” said David Black, managing director of branding at Google UK. “Congratulations to each of the brands, creative agencies, and media agencies on this list for embracing the storytelling power of YouTube.”

UK Ads Leaderboard – UK 2016

1. Sainsbury’s OFFICIAL Christmas advert 2016 -The Greatest Gift