The most watched ad on YouTube in 2017 was a spot from Samsung India Services

You are here:

The most watched video on YouTube this year belonged to Samsung India Services. The spot — “We’ll Take Care of You Wherever You Are” — generated 150.3 million views.

YouTube has released its 2017 ad leaderboard, ranking the most watched YouTube ads round the globe, along with the top trending videos of the year.

Three of the ads to rank on YouTube’s end of year ad leaderboard were Super Bowl spots: Budweiser’s “Born the Hard Way,” Kia’s “Hero’s Journey,” and Mr. Clean’s “Cleaner of Your Dreams.” YouTube says eight of the ten most watched ads featured story-driven narratives told by celebrities like actors Dwayne Johnson and Natalie Portman.

“No longer constrained by traditional ad lengths, ads are becoming the new cinema, with the videos on this year’s list totaling more than double the total time of last year’s top ads,” says YouTube.

According to YouTube, Dude Perfect’s “Ping Pong Trick Shots 3,” which ranked No. 3, saw the highest engagement of all the ads with three million likes and 393,000 comments. (YouTube says the median number of likes for the top ten global ads was 59,000, and the median number of comments was 5,000.)

Compared to last year, YouTube found this year’s top ads were more likely to take a stand on socio-political issues, with seven of the top ten spots created around themes of inclusion, diversity or empowerment. (Only two of 2016’s top ten ads took a stand attached to social issues.)

YouTube’s Top 10 Ads of 2017

1. Samsung India Services: We’ll take care of you wherever you are (150.3M views)

2. Clash Royale: The Last Second (110.7M views)

3. Dude Perfect: Ping Pong Trick Shots 3 (90.6M views)

4. Miss Dior: The new Eau de Parfum (43.0M views)

5. Budweiser: Born the Hard Way | 2017 Super Bowl ad (28.5M views)

6. Kia: Hero’s Journey | 2017 Super Bowl ad (25.9M views)

7. Adidas: Original is never finished (25.4M views)

8. Apple iPhone 7: The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day (25.3M views)

9. Levi’s: Circles (22.3M views)

10. Mr. Clean: Cleaner of Your Dreams | 2017 Super Bowl ad (17.6M views)

Of the top ten most watched ads of 2017, Dude Perfect’s “Ping Pong Trick Shots 3” was the only spot to also make it into YouTube’s top ten trending videos for the year.

Ed Sheeran was especially popular in 2017, with two videos in the top trending list: a video for his “Shape of You” song and his Carpool Karaoke session with James Corden.

YouTube says the top ten trending videos for the year garnered more than 633 million views combined, and more than 40 million hours of watch-time. The channels behind the top ten trending videos represent more than 55 million subscribers total.