YouTube unveils top Indian ads watched in 2019

Google India recently announced its annual YouTube advertisement leaderboard for India, which highlighted the ads that have received the maximum views and shares from audiences across the country.

While Kia Motor's ad for its Seltos triggering design creativity bagged some 232 million views, Samsung India's campaign for its Good Vibes struck a chord with netizens garnering over 205 million views.

Chinese handset maker Oppo's ad spot for its F11 pro model bagged over 96 million views, while a television commercial by Xiaomi India about Mi TV brand registered over 133 million views.

Given the huge number of electronic and mobile brands that have made it to the top rank, BusinessLine reached out to Satya Raghavan, Director - YouTube Partnerships, India, to know what the trend revealed about consumption patterns across the country.

"YouTube’s year-end ads leaderboard is a reflection and true representation of the year’s biggest campaigns," said Raghavan. “With the growing reach and highly engaged audience, YouTube today is a preferred launch platform for brands. This is reflected in the leaderboard with Kia motors and many of the new mobile phone brands,” he said.

Noting that while advertisers have always preferred YouTube for long form ads, Raghavan said brands are also tapping into YouTube Blast that offers "unparalleled reach with relevant audience in minimum time and eventually provides higher impact."

As for helping brands reach out to consumers in today's cluttered marketplace, Raghavan clarified, “Viewers don’t come to YouTube for distraction, they come to engage. According to an independent study commissioned by Ipsos, 85 per cent of our subscribers watch new videos from their favourite creators within two days. And, that engagement also applies to ads. More than 95 per cent of YouTube ads are viewable, the highest rate in the industry," he added.

Top advertisements

Samsung India created a campaign for its Good Vibes app which helps deaf and blind people communicate with others. Made by advertising agency Cheil, the campaign tells the story of a young deaf and blind girl who uses the Good Vibes app to reach out to her family. The ad bagged the second spot on the leaderboard.

Another television commercial by Xiaomi India highlighted smart features of its Mi TV brand, specifically the voice command capability powered by Google Assistant. The brand leveraged the on screen chemistry of actors Sumeet Raghavan and Rupali Ganguly, aka comedy show series Sarabhai versus Sarabhai fame. This ad bagged the fourth spot on the leaderboard.

Chinese handset maker Oppo's ad spot for its F11 pro model was about key features and sleek design and bagged the fifth highest viewership.

At the seventh spot on the leaderboard is Aditya Birla Group's 'Big in your life' campaign which showcases the company’s journey of a brand that reached out to and empowers people at every stage in their life.

Given the massive depth and diversity of content on the platform, brands have leveraged YouTube to tell some of the year’s most compelling brand stories, the best of which form the YouTube ads leaderboard for 2019.

The list represents the top 10 ads on YouTube in India that resonated most with audiences and celebrates the brands that performed best through a combination of popularity and promotion.

Over the years, video have gone mainstream with YouTube-- now reaching 265 million monthly active users as per ComScore 2019 (April), making it a go-to destination for brands. They have innovatively capitalised on YouTube’s popularity by creating engaging ads, says the official.

Additional products

Over the last two years, the company has launched several ad products – Bumpers, Director Mix, TrueView, Video Ads Sequencing and YouTube Blast, being the newest tool. "These products are designed to ensure that YouTube is the perfect platform for both brand and performance advertisers," said Raghavan.

Citing an example, he added, with formats such as TrueView for Action, advertisers can create ads with interactive functionality. "This has been a huge success for performance advertisers looking to optimise video for a specific user action, like signing up for a service or buying a product," he added.

Speaking about leads and referrals, Raghavan added though YouTube is driving brand awareness and consideration, with TrueView for Action the firm can now offer a full funnel solution to drive results both online and offline.

"You can use video ads to drive any action on your website that’s important to your business, for example, leads or referrals. While driving online action is important, offline action is also crucial for driving business results and marketers across the board are tapping into this to drive business results," said Raghavan.