Top 10 YouTube Ads Of 2015: Clash Of Clans Ranks No. 1, But Mobile Is The Big Winner

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YouTube has released its most popular video ads of 2015, with “Revenge” from video game Clash of Clans leading the list.

Other brands to make the 2015 ad leaderboard included Hyundai’s “Message to Space” at No. 2, and the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” video at No. 3.

“Social conscience messages landed big on this year’s list of the top 10 ads,” says YouTube. Spots like the Ad Council’s video focusing on diversity and inclusion, Always’ #LikeAGirl campaign, and Fanpage.it’s “Slap Her” all put a spotlight on social issues.

What’s more newsworthy than the overall messages of the ads, however, is the way they were viewed. YouTube says for the fist time ever, more people watched the top 10 ads on mobile devices than on desktop.

[pullquote]The top 10 ads had 470 million views in 2015… nearly two-thirds of those views happened on mobile.[/pullquote]

According to YouTube, overall views for the brand channels that had videos on the 2015 leaderboard doubled this year, with subscriptions for the channels increasing more than 80 percent during the year.

YouTube’s Top 10 Video Ads of 2015

1. Clash of Clans: Revenge

2. Hyundai : A Message to Space

3. Ad Council: Love Has No Labels | Diversity & Inclusion

4. Boom Beach: Speech

5. Adidas: Unfollow featuring Leo Messi

6. Always: #LikeAGirl – Unstoppable

7. Durex: #Connect

8. Samsung: Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge Introduction

9. Fanpage.it: Slap Her

10. Budweiser USA: Lost Dog | Super Bowl 2015

Along with its top video ads, YouTube also ranked the top video game trailers and its most-watched videos overall. On the video game front, trailers for Star Wars Battlefront, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 Teaser and the Official Call of Duty: Black Ops III Reveal led the list.

Of YouTube’s most-watched videos overall, two ads made the top ten list – the Clash of Clans’ “Revenge” at No. 2 and the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” at No. 4.

The most-watched video on YouTube this year was Silento’s “Watch Me Whip/Nae Nae” with the young dancer Heaven King and the rest of her dance crew performing to the popular song.

YouTube touted its influence on music, citing how the No. 1 most-watched video is evidence that YouTube is now the “go-to place” for dance and music fans.

“Interestingly, the top video was part of the launch marketing strategy for the song,” says YouTube.

According to YouTube, the top 10 most-watched videos on the site in 2015 accumulated 550 million views and generated more than 25 million hours of watch time. The channels behind the top 10 videos have a collective 40 million subscribers.