Back in January, YouTube and Adweek's Ads Leaderboard was dominated by Super Bowl spots that had been released ahead of the Feb. 2 telecast—most notably, of course, Budweiser's "Puppy Love" ad.
Our Leaderboard for February, meanwhile, only includes ads posted to YouTube in that month—which means all the Super Bowl teasers from late January are ineligible. That makes room for the relatively few spots that actually premiered during the game—three of which are at the very top of this month's list. (They are joined by a fourth, Microsoft's "Empowering," at No. 9.)
Elsewhere among February's top 10: Pepsi Max's "Test Drive 2" with Jeff Gordon, which suffered a little bit from being posted on the penultimate day of the month (it has more to 14 million views to date, but had less than 10 million in February); a couple of New York City street pranks; and Hennessey's demonstration of the world's fastest legal street car.
To be eligible for the Ads Leaderboard, videos must be marked as ads on YouTube (i.e., they get some paid views) but must also earn significant organic views.
See all the ads below.
10. Samsung "Unpacked"
Upload date: 2/21/2014
Views: 2,933,879
9. Microsoft "Empowering"
Media: Starcom MediaVest and Performics
Upload date: 2/2/2014
Views: 3,610,599
8. Air New Zealand "Safety in Paradise"
Media: True
Upload date: 2/11/2014
Views: 3,641,517
7. Hennessey "World's Fastest: 270.49 mph"
Upload date: 2/24/2014
Views: 3,872,532
6. Chobani "Hungry Bear Loose in NYC"
Media: OMD
Upload date: 2/6/2014
Views: 4,023,456
5. AMC "The Walking Dead Zombies Prank NYC"
Upload date: 2/5/2014
Views: 4,084,236
4. Pepsi MAX "Test Drive 2"
Creative Agency: Davie Brown Entertainment/The Marketing Arm
Media: OMD
Upload date: 2/27/2014
Views: 9,812,498
3. Coca-Cola "America Is Beautiful"
Creative Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Media: SMG
Upload date: 2/2/2014
Views: 10,977,030
2. Chrysler "America's Import"
Creative Agency: Global Hue
Media: Universal McCann
Upload date: 2/2/2014
Views: 11,384,636
1. Maserati "Strike"
Creative Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Upload date: 2/2/2014
Views: 12,067,899