iMedia Connection is pleased to bring you the first installment of a new monthly feature, the Top 10 Brands in Video chart. Powered by data from Visible Measures, the chart looks at the most-watched brands in online video, across all of their campaigns.
In this inaugural chart, T-Mobile wields a strong lead at the top of the chart, while competition among the bottom four positions remains tight. Online video stalwarts such as Evian, Old Spice, Nike, and DC Shoes are intermixed with a handful of newcomers to the upper echelon of highly viewed brands.
We hope you'll continue to check in for future installments of the chart, which will track the movement of these and many other brands across the dynamic online video playing landscape.
 |
Date range: April 30 - May 31, 2011 |
| This Month's Rank |
Last Month's Rank |
Brand |
Current Month's Views |
% Change in Views |
| 1 |
NEW |
T-Mobile |
8,412,803 |
NEW |
| 2 |
NEW |
Google |
7,174,081 |
NEW |
| 3 |
NEW |
Evian |
6,543,331 |
NEW |
| 4 |
NEW |
Old Spice |
5,069,024 |
NEW |
| 5 |
NEW |
Volkswagen |
4,617,485 |
NEW |
| 6 |
NEW |
Microsoft |
4,600,260 |
NEW |
| 7 |
NEW |
Justin Bieber |
3,342,673 |
NEW |
| 8 |
NEW |
Dirt Devil |
3,184,643 |
NEW |
| 9 |
NEW |
Nike |
3,177,945 |
NEW |
| 10 |
NEW |
DC Shoes |
3,124,462 |
NEW | |
1. T-Mobile
The telecom giant had a big month in May, when it shot to the top of the Brands in Video chart with 8.4 million views. Preliminary analysis shows that T-Mobile was not a top 10 contender on the chart in the months prior to May. So what accounts for this sudden success? It is easily explained by the seasoned viral marketer's efforts during the royal wedding. Making up nearly 80 percent of the brands views during the month, the T-Mobile Royal Wedding campaign continued to drive significant viewership in the weeks past the actual royal nuptials.
2. Google
Google followed the same trend as T-Mobile in that the search giant surged to the top of the list of most-watched brands this month, whereas it would not have held a dominant position in the months prior. The search company's gain in views was largely attributable to its The Web Is What You Make Of It campaign, which included a handful of widely viewed ad spots. These included Dear Sophie, Savage Love, and one from Lady Gaga. A separate campaign launched by Google in May (highlighting the new Chromebook) helped increase the brand's audience.
3. Evian
The French water bottler has one of the most successful online video campaigns of all time. Live Young was launched in the summer of 2009 and remains as competitive as ever. The campaign's growth has been virtually linear in the three years since its launch. It seems as though the content is compelling and engaging to audiences, and they continue to share the assets across the web with other viewers. Supporting the brand's growth is a more recent campaign titled Baby Inside, which was launched mid-April.
4. Old Spice
Old Spice went on a campaign spree last year by launching a multitude of campaigns that continue to drive views to the brand. The most-watched campaign from Old Spice this month was an effort launched in January titled Old Spice Man Is Back, accounting for 25 percent of the brand's overall views. The health and beauty brand was undeniably 2010's viral advertising darling; it revolutionized the way marketers leveraged social media, and the dividends are still paying off.
5. Volkswagen
VW has been a particularly active marketer in social video with more than 50 campaigns registered on the Visible Measures platform. The German automaker's Super Bowl campaign from 2011, The Force, is still the most-watched campaign within its campaign portfolio.
6. Microsoft
Competing in a number of different industries from search to software to mobile, Microsoft claims sixth place with 4.6 million views. The brand's campaign for Bing titled Search Overload has launched newer assets, such as Hawaii 2, driving significant viewership in recent months.
7. Justin Bieber Fragrance
A new fragrance from teen pop star Justin Bieber was just launched along with a song of the same title: Someday. This is the only campaign behind the brand in online video, and it was launched at the end of May. The brand's place on the chart speaks to Bieber's viral potency.
8. Dirt Devil
With 3.1 million views, Dirt Devil slots into eighth place. A relative newbie in online video, the brand launched a new campaign recently that humorously spoofs the Exorcist, amassing a lion's share of the brand's monthly views.
9. Nike
Another seminal marketer in online video, Nike has launched nearly 100 campaigns over the years, each helping to push the brand into the top 10 this month. Interestingly, a campaign launched last fall titled LeBron Rise is Nike's most watched this month, which could be driven in part by the Heat's (LeBron's new team) success in the playoffs. Other campaigns contributing to the brand's views are Throwdown, Write the Future, and Black Mamba (below), just to name a few.
10. DC Shoes
The DC Shoes brand has leveraged online video very cleverly as a small apparel brand that faces stiff competition from other large global apparel companies. Ken Block, company CEO and founder, has recorded several short films of himself driving his car in the Gymkhana style of racing, which serve as DC Shoes branded entertainment. Each effort generates significant viewership (more than 52 million cumulatively in the case of Gymkhana Two), pushing the apparel brand into 10th place this month with 3.1 million views.
iMedia's Top 10 Brands in Video chart, powered by Visible Measures, focuses on aggregated brand view counts across related social video ad campaigns. Each brand and campaign is measured on a True Reach basis, which includes viewership of both brand-syndicated and audience-driven video clips. The data are compiled using the patented Visible Measures platform, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on close to 400 million videos tracked across more than 300 online video destinations.
Note: This analysis does not include Visible Measures' paid-placement (e.g., overlays; pre-, mid-, and post-roll) performance data or video views on private sites. This chart does not include movie trailers, video game campaigns, TV show, or media network promotions. View counts are incremental by month.
Learn more here.
