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A Year In Review 2022's Most Successful YouTube Ads

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A Year In Review: 2022’s Most Successful YouTube Ads

Our round-up of favorites from trending Youtube ads list 2022 won’t be a letdown! Especially if you’re someone who can’t seem to get enough of all the great mid-roll ads that Youtube makes you watch every chance they get. And while you could check out the other categories such as top creators, best Shorts, and trending videos – why would you? Because honestly, who cares about all of those types of content anyways? We know what you’re here to see, and that’s the ads!

A Year In Review: 2022's Most Successful YouTube Ads

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In this article, we’re going to be checking out some of the ads that made it into the top ten list. We’ll be focusing on U.S. data, but Youtube also has a run-down of the top adverts globally for anyone that’s interested.

Top 5 YouTube Ads of 2022

YouTube’s best-performing ads of the year highlight tech companies like Apple, Amazon, HBO, and Netflix. These companies not only made the U.S. top ten lists but are also included in the global roundup.

The ad leaderboard algorithm by Youtube analyzes various forms of data to award the title of most popular ads. They looked at audience retention, watch time, and views, including paid and organic traffic sources between November 2021 and October 2022. 

They also limited access so that advertisers could only enter one ad per year, leaving room for other brands to get involved.

Amazon’s Big Game Commercial: Mind Reader

Once again, Amazon is featured at the top of the leaderboard. Last year they took home the bacon with their Alexa advertising campaign, which delivered a creative and funny ad featuring movie star, Michael B. Jordan. Last year’s ad is amazing because it takes a product that can be hard and oftentimes difficult to advertise and quite literally Alexa to life with a celebrity.

And they’ve gone and done it again this year with their Alexa Super Bowl ad which currently stands at a whopping 69,665,244 views. This advert seemed to catch everyone’s attention.

Amazon’s Super Bowl ad for Alexa ran about 1.5 minutes, featuring Colin Jost, Scarlett Johansson, and a smart device that becomes a mind reader and begins to question their romantic affair.

A well-aligned celeb endorsement can help boost brand recall. In this case, it made for a noteworthy and persuasive ad.

Introducing iPhone 14 Pro by Apple

Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro ad showed remarkable storytelling that prompted interest and engagement, but the advert that took fourth place in this year’s top ten list also included useful and well-illustrated product features. The creators managed to produce the perfect balance of informative yet fun.

The advert was first uploaded to Youtube on the 7th of September 2022 and now stands at 23,857,776 views.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary By HBO Max

This HBO special for Harry Potter’s 20th Anniversary was a long-awaited hit of nostalgia that many people had been waiting for. It’s no wonder the advert made the list!

The ad was first posted to Youtube on the 20th of December 2021 and has since racked up an impressive 27,345,000 views. The 18,304 comments were fans getting emotional and being flooded with memories their of younger years… some even said the ad had them in tears!

The trailer invited fans on a magical journey across all of the other Potter films. There’s a line in the advert “this is the perfect time to sit down with everyone and reminisce” which is what the creators were trying to achieve.

4. All of Us Are Dead By Netflix

Netflix sure is loving K-drama at the moment! In 2022 the streaming giant began offering a wide range of Korean content, from sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat Squid Games to the demon-apocalypse saga in Hellbound.

The advert for All of Us Are Dead, a zombie series with a scary high-school plot twist, sure does a good job of grabbing the viewer’s attention and was awarded the sixth place.

The advert was first uploaded to Youtube on the 14th of January 2022 and now stands at 22,666,571 views. With an impressive 24,653 comments, viewers stated that they’d love the series, how much they enjoyed the K drama zombie mix, and how “It’s train to Busan” is hands down one of the best lines ever.

5. Sally’s Seashells By Squarespace

This ad was such a hit! Squarespace teamed up with Zendaya for their game day campaign and they sure did deliver. A “match” made in heaven!

According to Squarespace, they drew inspiration from the popular limerick “Sally Sells Seashells”, the ad featured none other than Zendaya as a solo entrepreneur called Sally, who’s wanting to scale her seashell biz. 

The tale unfolds with an impressive narration from André ‘3000′ Benjamin. He describes Sally’s business shift after starting to use Squarespace; from humble beginnings selling seashells, to selling a multitude of products and services, from jewelry accessories to seaside tours.

The advert was first uploaded to Youtube on the 9th of February 2022, and to date, it has amassed 21,587,406 views.

The remaining adverts that made the list include:

Conclusion

We feel like the adverts deserved to be awarded a spot on the list. The creativity is impressive, and the way in which the brands have used storytelling so that it evokes emotions, be it nostalgia or K-drama-induced fear, is outstanding.

We picked our favorites to feature on this list, and now it’s your turn. What do you think? Did your favorite YouTube ad get featured this year?

karina gandola

Karina Gandola was born and raised outside the city of Charleston, in the beautiful mountain state of West Virginia. Karina loves writing about the influencer marketing space and an area she is passionate about. She considers her faith and family to be most important to her. If she isn’t spending time with her friends and family, you can almost always find her around her sweet yellow Labrador retriever, Poshna.

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