What kind of ads are people watching these days?

Brand News #17

Before I go on and write about what kind of ads are hip and happening now, let me submit that I am not going to touch up on traditional medium that is Television. 

So this post will focus on what people are seeing on the internet and more specifically on YouTube.

Let me start with a simple statistics. YouTube claims that the top 10 ads of advertisers have been viewed for 3.5 million hours and majority of it has come from the mobile platform. This is as per the YouTube leader board that is published by Google every month. The list is populated by an algorithm on the basis of paid views, organic views and audience retention/ engagement. (views mentioned here are between July and September)

According to the YouTube leader board, the ads by Xiaomi, Oppo Mobiles,Panasonic Smartphones, Droom and MuscleBlaze were watched over 1 minute. Such a brilliant fete on its own.

Lets have a look at the ads in detail one by one,

Durex: The slimmest condom as promoted by Durex and produced by Havas Worldwide that stars Ranveer Sing has been watched over 19M times since July 24th. 

Droom: Online auto market place ad crafted by Contract Advertising shows how you can buy an automobile at the right price. It was floated with the graphics video "bittuji ki beemer" and has been viewed well over 1.6M times since September 26th.

ICICI Bank: The bank's Money2India service which boasts of the easiest way to send and receive money has been viewed well over 2.9M times since July 18th.

Xiaomi: Xiaomi went on to sell a record 5M units of its popular Redmi Note 4 model within 6 months of its launch. To celebrate this record, they created another record. A mosaic art spread over 6000 sqft completely maid of grains (40,000 kg to be exact). The concept done by a boutique agency Humour Me also roped in Boman Irani, Mithali Raj and Virender Sehwag. Uploaded on 10th August, the video has been viewed over 2.4M times.

Panasonic Smartphones: The Diwali film made for Eluga Ray 500 model narrates in a very subtle manner how smartphones have become part of lives. The film made by Sociowash was published on 21st September and has racked up 9.6M so far.

Oppo: The brands Diwali blockbuster ad film featuring many cricket stars for the Oppo Selfie F3 model has gathered some 13M views so far. The fiml was titled 'your best diwali gift'

MuscleBlaze: The 'tum nahi samjhoge' film featuring runners and gym folks made by Medulla Communications focused on the unapologetic approach of the gym goers about their dedication towards fitness. With 4.3M views since July, the film has done pretty well.

Airtel: Indian telecom consumers were always frustrated by the fact that they could not carry over the unused data to the next month. Enter Airtel, with the 'Postpaid Promise" plan which allowed such a feature for the first time in India. The film crafted by Taproot Denstu well supplemented the service and has been viewed well over 7.4M times now.

What is interesting is that YouTube as a platform is catering very well to all sorts of genres when it comes to advertising. The fact that most ads are being viewed millions of times or more (at the rate of 1 minute per video) also talk about how well its being accepted. On the creativity front too, look how well story telling takes place. Consumers are being carried through very well with subtle mentions of the brand here and there. For an Account planner or digital media buyer, YouTube and such digital platforms makes sense because of the high ROI when compared to TV, Radio Net GRP's (unique impressions).

I always wonder how Television channels are commanding high premium for the prime time slots based on some 40,000 samples (based on the BARC data). And I cannot even imagine what these guys will do when the rather few folks who watch the TV switch over to the Internet completely. Food for thought I guess.