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Most Viral Ads of 2016

Arvin Hickman of AdNews.com
Dec 3, 2016
2 min read

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