UK retailer John Lewis has claimed the most shared ad of 2016 with its Christmas campaign Buster The Boxer, analysis by video ad tech company Unruly has found.
The two-minute video ad, which features an array of animals playing on a family’s trampoline at Christmas time, was shared 1,949,387 beat Channel 4's Paralympic promotion We Are The Superhumans (with 1.85 million shares) and Shell's Best Day of My Life (1.68 million).
Major sporting events drove several ads in the top 20 list, including Cristiano Ronaldo's Nike ad The Switch (sixth with 969,650 shares) and Doritos Super Bowl ad Ultrasound (seventh with 893,465 shares).
Nike also grabbed the 12th spot on the list with its tribute to Kobe Bryant, through a playful spot where his haters admit they’re going to miss him in “The Conductor.”
Video product demos from Samsung and Nintendo also make it onto the list at 14th and 20th, respectively.
Music video ads played a starring role in this year’s chart. Shell’s Best Day Of My Life features Jennifer Hudson, Pixie Lott and Steve Aoki, while Vodafone Egypt created a musical number and indie rockers OK Go released videos for brands S7 Airlines and Morton Salt.
There's also a couple of spots about Ramadan. Vodafone's Ramadan 2016 was the fourth most shared ad and Knorr's Spirit of Ramadan was the 16th.
The list shows video advertising is growing all around the world, with creative from 10 different countries, including the UK, US, Denmark, Egypt, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Norway, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Unruly’s top 20 most shared ads of 2016
1. John Lewis - #BusterTheBoxer - 1,949,387 shares
2. Channel 4 - We Are The Superhumans - 1,851,533 shares
3. Shell - Best Day Of My Life | #makethefuture - 1,683,072 shares
4. Vodafone - Ramadan 2016 - 1,435,350 shares
5. OK Go & S7 Airlines - Upside Down and Inside Out - 1,240,842 shares
6. Nike - The Switch - 969,650 shares
7. Doritos - Ultrasound - 893,465 shares
8. Ariel - #sharetheload - 877,558 shares
9. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk - Aliens - 852,895 shares
10. 7 Eleven Thailand - Teachers - 792,328 shares
11. McDonald’s Philippines - Tuloy Pa Rin - 699,396 shares
12. Nike Basketball - The Conductor - 641,359 shares
13. Volkswagen - Trailer Assist - 640,995 shares
14. Samsung - Introducing Samsung Galaxy S7 - 616,128 shares
15. OK Go & Morton Salt - The One Moment - 608,419 shares
16. Knorr - Spirit of Ramadan - 590,386 shares
17. Momondo - The DNA Journey - 585,903 shares
18. Facebook - Aquila Test Flight - 564,123 shares
19. Mentos Indonesia - Mentos Mentors - 548,334 shares
20. Nintendo - First Look at Nintendo Switch - 544,585 shares
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