• by Mallory Russell , December 10, 2014

It's no secret that viewership of branded video is on an upswing. Average viewership of the top 10 branded video campaigns increased from 69.4 million views in 2013 to 83.4 million views in 2014. Two creators of popular viral ads had banner years in 2014, with Samsung emerging as the most viral brand of the year for the third year running, and Wieden+Kennedy Portland emerging as the agency with the most viewed video of 2014 thanks to its work for Nike. 

The top 10 most-viewed brands of 2014 are:

1.     Samsung: 589,527,519 views

2.     Nike: 466,178,799 views

3.     Google: 337,449,360 views

4.     Adidas: 218,034,065 views

5.     Wren: 156,670,932 views

6.     YouTube: 123,189,083 views

7.     Budweiser: 117,341,809 views

8.     Metro Trains Melbourne: 116,908,271 views

9.     Coca-Cola: 113,348,421 views

10.  Dove: 105,632,863 views

There is no denying that Samsung is a branded video powerhouse, generating 589.5 million views in 2014 -- which is 98 million more views than last year and 123.3 million more than Nike, the No. 2 runner-up.

While its viewership grew 100% from 2012 to 2014, Samsung’s overall approach to branded video evolved considerably as well. In 2012, Samsung made a big splash with “The Next Big Thing Is Already Here,” a campaign that exemplifies the underdog strategy it has successfully used to steadily gain share of the smartphone market. In 2013, the consumer electronics giant shed its underdog persona in favor of creating superstar content. Its “Next Big Thing” campaign showcased cameos from LeBron James, Tim Burton, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, among other luminaries. And Samsung’s biggest campaigns of 2013 saw Jay-Z and Usher promoting different electronics products.

This year, we saw how Samsung could successfully use these strategies across a number of products. It returned to the underdog persona and leveraged humor in campaigns like “Wall Hugger,” which was released shortly before the announcement of Apple’s newest iPhone. Simultaneously, Samsung was running a campaign for Milk Music, its music streaming service, which called on the hottest performers of the day.

Its most popular campaign was “Galaxy 11: The Training,” which was produced for the World Cup and has generated more than 78.1 million views since its release in May. The video features 13 superstar soccer players who are training to fight aliens and save the world using nothing but soccer skills and Samsung gadgets.

Like many top brands and agencies, Samsung benefited from major global media events like the World Cup, which also spawned two hugely popular campaigns from Nike – “Risk Everything” and “The Last Game.” Both were created by Nike’s agency of record, Wieden+Kennedy, the most viewed agency of 2014. 

The top 10 agencies with the highest viewership for branded campaigns of 2014 are:

1.     Wieden+Kennedy Portland: 469,692,300 views

2.     BBDO New York: 190,741,939 views

3.     Krowd: 156,670,932 views

4.     72andSunny: 150,948,675 views

5.     McCann Melbourne: 113,341,054 views

6.     Cheil Worldwide: 106,379,427 views

7.     BETC Paris: 96,848,885 views

8.     Anomaly: 94,572,147 views

9.     Adam&eveDDB London: 94,572,147 views

10.  Ogilvy & Mather Brazil: 67,985,932 views

While the majority of W+K’s creative output in 2014 was for Nike campaigns, it also developed other widely viewed campaigns this year, including P&G’s Olympic ode to mothers, “Pick Them Back Up”; Coca-Cola’s “It’s Beautiful”; and Dodge’s hilarious “Don’t Touch My Dart.”