The very first television commercial appeared in the US in 1941. It showed a static image of a clock face. After ten seconds, a chirpy male voice piped up: “America runs on Bulova time”. It was essentially a radio ad, on TV.
Early TV advertisers like Proctor & Gamble and Kraft quickly saw that television had a lot more potential than that. Within a few years, transitions, tracking shots, illustrations and close ups were all part of a new creative medium, and TV was used to bring products to life through stories.
Today, advertisers in Australia are exploring the potential of digital to tell brand stories online. One of the most fundamental benefits of online over TV is the time brands can have with their audience: on YouTube, stories aren’t restricted to 30 or 60 seconds. Australia’s most watched YouTube ad last year, Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches, was three minutes long. And Australia’s most watched ad for the first quarter of 2014, Air New Zealand’s Safety in Paradise video, is over four minutes long.
Online, brands can spend more time with their audiences provided the content is right. The Air New Zealand video is not something you could show on TV, but it is something people want to see. In fact, seven out of ten of this quarter’s Australian leaderboard spots run for over 60 seconds.
Ads that are purpose-built for the medium, do best on it. That’s something we have known since the 1940s.
Note: We calculated the leaderboard using an algorithm that factors in paid views, organic views and view rate (how much of a video people chose to watch).
1. Safety in Paradise #airnzsafetyvideo
Brand: Air New Zealand
Creative: True
2. Simply Obsessed - NRL 2014
Brand: Foxtel
Creative: Clemenger BBDO
3. Not Crazy - AFL 2014
Brand: Foxtel
Creative: Clemenger BBDO
4. MANESIA: Threatens Australian Men - Are You At Risk?
Brand: Foxtel
Creative: MediaCom Beyond Advertising
5. Nando's reveals Big Mango Mystery
Brand: Nandos Australia
Creative: Banjo Advertising
6. Learn how to master the Winged Eye look
Brand: LOrealParisAU
Creative: McCann
7. Samsung GALAXY S5 - Official Introduction
Brand: Samsung Mobile
Creative: Cheil
8. Hands by Bridgestone
Brand: Bridgestone Australia
Creative: Showpony Advertising
9. Woodstock Bourbon - How We Roll
Brand: Woodstock Bourbon AUS
Creative: Cummins & Partners
10. Metamucil - Listen To Your Heart Australia
Brand: Metamucil
Creative: Hausmann Communication
Olly Grundy
Head of YouTube Solutions
Youtube