Official Blog

It used to be that the great ads of the year were released during the Big Game. One day a year, we were treated to funny, touching, and memorable ads during the game that we rewatched online afterward (remember The Force or the Old Spice man?).

Today, brands have stepped up their game on YouTube and are creating videos that people seek out and choose to watch, every day. So what were the top ads of 2014? Well, we took a look at the ads that debuted on YouTube in 2014, and evaluated them against metrics including audience engagement metrics (watch time, likes, shares), video views, and audience retention metrics (how much of a video people watched) to come up with our leaderboard of the top ads of 2014 on YouTube.

Thanks to the creativity of this year’s videos, people are spending more time watching videos from brands than ever before. In fact, we watched more than 1 billion minutes of the top 10 ads this year alone. And while the top ads are nearly 50 percent longer this year compared to last—averaging around 3 minutes each—we stayed tuned longer, spending around 50 percent more time watching them.

Here are the ads that grabbed our attention in 2014:

1. Nike Football: Winner Stays. ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Ibrahimović, Iniesta & more
2. Nike Football: The Last Game ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Zlatan, Iniesta & more
3. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial -- "Puppy Love"
4. Always #LikeAGirl
5. Devil Baby Attack
6. Duracell: Trust Your Power - NFL's Derrick Coleman, Seattle Seahawks
7. Galaxy Note 4 -- Then And Now
8. P&G Thank You, Mom | Pick Them Back Up | Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
9. Global Be(er) Responsible Day | “Friends Are Waiting” | Budweiser
10. Heineken | Routine Interruptions | The Payphone with Fred Armisen

To celebrate this year’s top ads around the world, we teamed up with Kurt Hugo Schneider to remix them into an original video to the tunes of YouTube creators Scott Bradlee, Taylor Davis, Mike Relm, and Michael Thurber. You can watch it here:



You can also catch up on all the top ads individually by checking out our playlists for the Top Trailers, Top Brand/Creator Collaborations, and Top Sports Ads of 2014. For more on the top ads lists for the year, visit Think with Google.

Alyson Yaffe, YouTube Marketing, recently watched “Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens Official Teaser Trailer #1 (2015) - J.J. Abrams Movie HD.”

2014 was chock full of YouTube moments that vaulted into pop culture. We got pranked by a spider dog in Poland, learned what it’s like to walk the street for 10 hours as a woman in NYC, and watched total strangers share a first kiss. We laughed, we cried, and yes, we sang along to “Let It Go” roughly a bajillion times.

In celebration of the people, memes and moments that made up an epic year, more than 100 YouTube creators gathered together for our annual Rewind video: a giant, global mashup looking back at the best of 2014 on YouTube. With creators from Japan, Germany, Israel, Mexico, France and beyond, it’s the biggest and most international Rewind video yet.

 

And here are the top trending videos for 2014, based on views, shares, comments, likes and more. This year, the list represents the amazing variety of creativity brought to YouTube each day, which can include social commentaries, pranks, advertisements, and thrilling moments from traditional media and big names on YouTube. Collectively these 10 videos have hundreds of millions of views from creators with more than 21 million cumulative subscribers.

1. Mutant Giant Spider Dog (SA Wardega) by SA Wardega
2. Nike Football: Winner Stays. ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Ibrahimović, Iniesta & more by Nike Football
3. FIRST KISS by Tatia PIlieva
4. The Voice IT | Serie 2 | Blind 2 | Suor Cristina Scuccia - #TEAMJ-AX by TheVoiceOf Italy
5. iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test by Unbox Therapy
6. Bars & Melody - Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer act | Britain's Got Talent 2014 by Britain's Got Talent
7. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial -- "Puppy Love" by Budweiser
8. Devil Baby Attack by DevilsDueNYC
9. Goku vs Superman. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 3. by ERB
10. 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman by Street HarassmentVideo

When it comes to music, it was a year of powerful female artists, as you can see from our list of top music videos: female artists took eight of the top 10 spots (Shakira took two!). 2014's top 10 music videos were collectively played billions of times from channels with 55+ million subscribers. 

1. Katy Perry - Dark Horse (Official) ft. Juicy J
2. Enrique Iglesias - Bailando (Español) ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona
3. Shakira - Can't Remember to Forget You ft. Rihanna
4. Shakira - La La La (Brazil 2014) ft. Carlinhos Brown
5. Jason Derulo - "Wiggle" feat. Snoop Dogg (Official HD Music Video)
6. Iggy Azalea - Fancy (Explicit) ft. Charli XCX
7. Sia - Chandelier (Official Video)
8. Taylor Swift - Shake It Off
9. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass
10. Nicki Minaj - Anaconda
... and check out even more top music videos.

Check out our YouTube Rewind channel for more top videos of the year from around the world, and our YouTube Brand channel to see a mashup of the top branded videos of the year and a list of the top ads on YouTube for the year. Stay tuned next week for Google's annual look at the people, places and events that captured the world's attention.

Kevin Allocca, Head of Culture & Trends, and the YouTube Rewind team recently watched “YouTube Rewind: Turn Down for 2014.”

To celebrate creativity and innovation in music on YouTube, we’re once again hosting the YouTube Music Awards, in partnership with Kia Motors and executive producer VICE Media - but in a very different way.



This March, YouTube will celebrate and award the artists to watch in 2015 as determined by our fans. For one special day, music will be the headline act on YouTube. We’ll take this moment to celebrate the biggest and emerging artists through new and unique music video collaborations with top directors and creators. And fans will be involved in every step along the way, guiding and creating these videos.

The YouTube Music Awards are our latest initiative in making YouTube the best place for artists and fans to connect. People have turned YouTube into the biggest music service in the world, thanks to music videos, remixes, covers and so much more across every genre imaginable. The Awards come on the heels of our new music experience including YouTube Music Key beta that gives fans more ways to enjoy music, while also giving artists more ways to be discovered and earn more revenue.

The 2013 YouTube Music Awards was one of the most watched music awards events ever with more than 54 million total views and counting, and we can’t wait to make this next event even bigger.

To kick off the celebration now, we have big stars and emerging musicians releasing new videos, all of which you can find at our new channel youtube.com/musicawards. Over the next week, you’ll see new videos from GD X TAEYANG and Megan Nicole, in conjunction with some of the biggest names in music video filmmaking like Colin Tilley. You can stay tuned by subscribing to youtube.com/musicawards, where we’ll have some surprises this December, and much more news to announce in January.

The YouTube Music Awards team recently watched “GD X TAEYANG - Good Boy (YouTube Music Awards).”

You didn’t just watch "All About That Bass" 200+ million times on YouTube. You watched Meghan Trainor perform it live for the first time ever and later with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. You used the song in tens of thousands of your videos, like covering it with an upright bass. Your views helped put the song at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for weeks. And that’s all just for one song.

You've watched, shared, remixed, invented, parodied and whatevered your favorite songs, making YouTube the ultimate place for artists and fans to connect. To celebrate all that music and unlock new ways to enjoy, we’re making it easier to find new music on YouTube and rock out to old favorites. Plus, we’re starting the launch of a new subscription service that lets you watch and listen to music without ads, in the background or offline.

A new home just for music

Starting today, you’ll see a new home just for music on your YouTube app for Android, iOS and on YouTube.com that shows your favorite music videos, recommended music playlists based on what you’re into and playlists of trending music across YouTube. You can find a playlist to perfectly fit your mood, whether that’s a morning motivators playlist or Boyce Avenue YouTube Mix. Check out the newest songs from channels you subscribe to, like FKA twigs or Childish Gambino. Or quickly find the songs you’ve played over and over and over again.
Full albums in high quality audio that are easy on your bandwidth

If a song exists in this world, you can probably find it on YouTube. But until today you couldn’t easily find and play full albums. In the coming days, you'll be able to see an artist’s discography on YouTube, and play a full album with both their official music videos and high-quality songs our music partners added to YouTube.
Introducing YouTube Music Key beta

You’ve asked us for ways to listen to music without ads, to keep playing music videos even if you lock the screen or start using another app, and to play music even if you’re not connected to the Internet. That’s why today we're introducing YouTube Music Key beta, a monthly subscription service starting with the promotional price of $7.99/month (discounted from $9.99/month) that will give you all that—ads-free music, background play and offline viewing. It will also include a subscription to Google Play Music, with 30+ million songs, expert-curated playlists, and in the coming days, the ability to watch many YouTube official music videos right from the app. And if you're already a Google Play Music subscriber, you'll also get access to YouTube Music Key beta.

Thanks to your music videos, remixes, covers, and more, you’ve made YouTube the biggest music service on the planet. To turn YouTube into your perfect music service, we’re launching YouTube Music Key as a beta with our biggest music fans first, and then we’ll bring YouTube Music Key to the whole world together. So, if you see an invite in your app or email, try it out for six months for free.


If you’re interested in getting more info on the beta, you can let us know at youtube.com/musickey.

The YouTube Music team recently watched “Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - YouTube Mix.”

Since we launched The YouTube 15 on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 radio with host Jenna Marbles, millions of you have tuned in to hear your favorite established artists like Ariana Grande and new stars like George Ezra. The YouTube 15 even brought Jimmy Fallon and will.i.am’s Ew! to the radio (which eventually hit the Billboard Hot 100).

Now we’re picking up the tempo with our second show powered by your YouTube views and programmed by SiriusXM: the YouTube EDM 15 on BPM, SiriusXM’s dance and remix channel.
This weekly show will highlight breakout electronic dance tracks and remixes from emerging DJs and artists around the world, and it’ll all kick off on Friday, November 21. Rising EDM DJ duo The Chainsmokers will host the show, with other notable guest DJs dropping in during the weeks to come.

The YouTube EDM 15 will air each week Fridays at 5 p.m. PT and again Saturday at 9 a.m. PT, Sunday at 5 a.m. PT, Monday at 7 p.m. PT, and Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT on SiriusXM’s BPM/channel 51, the SiriusXM app or online at siriusxm.com.

Michael Kauffman, YouTube Creator Marketing, recently watched “Victory.”

Gaming on YouTube is all about sharing. Sharing your favorite funny moments from Far Cry 4. Avoiding as many Aliens as you can. Even sharing your old video games.

That’s why starting today you can share gameplay directly to YouTube on PlayStation 4 like a bawss, and watch all the YouTube you love with a new app starting to roll out today in the PlayStation Store. Just hit the Share button on the DualShock 4 controller to turn your power move into your next great video on YouTube.


You can also find and watch videos uploaded to YouTube by your PlayStation Network friends in the “What’s New” section of the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation mobile app.

To enjoy all the glory of your games, the new YouTube app for PlayStation 4 lets you watch videos in up to 1080p and listen in 5.1 channel audio. The app also has our latest design for YouTube on TV that makes browsing faster and smoother.

Still rocking the PlayStation 3? We’ve got'cha covered there, as well as on the hundreds of millions of devices where you can watch YouTube. Game on.

Richard O’Grady, software engineer, recently watched “Robyn - Dancing On My Own.”

Since the launch of the YouTube Spaces in London, Los Angeles and Tokyo, thousands of videos have been created in these collaborative facilities that have informed, entertained and inspired legions of fans.

In November, the fourth YouTube Space will open in the heart of Manhattan at Chelsea Market, with the goal of providing YouTube creators even more resources, tools and guidance to unleash innovation and encourage experimentation.

At YouTube Space NY, creators can:

• Learn: From training programs and workshops to master classes, there are plenty of opportunities to get hands-on experience from industry experts.
• Connect: Attend events, collaborate with fellow creators, brainstorm ideas over a coffee, and share tips and tricks to get the most out of YouTube.
• Create: This is your space to make your videos and there are resources to help you from start to finish, including areas for creative collaboration; loaner production equipment such as cameras, lights, boom microphones, and more; permanent and rotating sets; three enclosed sound stages; and state-of-the-art post-production facilities.

By removing the barriers to production, we hope to inspire you all to try out new creative concepts and show formats, as well as deliver even more of the great videos and series your fans love.

YouTube Space New York will also include a Google BrandLab, a place that hosts workshops for brands and agencies to experiment with the latest digital tools.

Find more creator resources at youtube.com/creators and learn more about the YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, Tokyo and London at youtube.com/space.

Adam Relis, Head of YouTube Space NY, recently watched "Sisters Episode 3: Perfect Pitch {The Kloons}."