10 ads that rocked YouTube in 2014

Back in the day, if you wanted to see that ad everyone was talking about, you had to spend a decent amount of time in front of the TV, or hope that one of your mates could be bothered to video tape it for you. YouTube changed that forever.

Campaigns which would’ve once only been seen by a national audience can now go global, generating millions upon millions of views. And in 2014, plenty of ads did just that with their creators making full use of the freedom offered by the video-sharing platform.

For evidence of that, you need not look any further than the fact that the most watched ads on YouTube for 2014 are nearly 50% longer than 2013’s top ads, averaging around 3 minutes each. And contrary to the accepted wisdom that we’re all increasingly easy to distract, we spent more time watching those ads than ever before.

Read more: These are South Africa’s 10 most watched YouTube videos for 2014

In fact, YouTube says that we watched more than 1 billion minutes of the top 10 ads this year and, on average, 50% more time watching them.

Given that the year included a Football World Cup and a Winter Olympics, its should hardly be surprising that a fair number of the most viewed ads for the year had a sporting theme. As always, ads that tugged on our heart-strings were well-received, as were the quirky commercials that made us laugh.

1. Nike Football: Winner Stays. ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Ibrahimović, Iniesta & more

2. Nike Football: The Last Game ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Zlatan, Iniesta & more

3. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial — “Puppy Love”

4. Always #LikeAGirl

5. Devil Baby Attack

6. Duracell: Trust Your Power – NFL’s Derrick Coleman, Seattle Seahawks

7. Galaxy Note 4 — Then And Now

8. P&G Thank You, Mom | Pick Them Back Up | Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

9. Global Be(er) Responsible Day | “Friends Are Waiting” | Budweiser

10. Heineken | Routine Interruptions | The Payphone with Fred Armisen