Visible Measures Blog

We're happy to report that there’s been quite a bit of online chatter centered around our recent discovery that Microsoft's Seinfeld / Gates commercials surpassed their “I’m a PC” counterpart ads by more than 4.3 million viral video views. And at a fraction of the price! But why is this the case? Theories abound, both in from blog posts and the numerous comments each has attracted.   

• Abbey Klasson of Advertising Age reports: BrandIndex, which measures online buzz, said the Gates/Seinfeld campaign was successful in generating buzz and that Microsoft has carried that momentum into its new campaign. And while buzz scores have flattened out over the past five to six days, when the Gates/Seinfeld ads were replaced by the "I'm a PC" ads, Microsoft's buzz levels are still significantly higher than where they were just before the campaign launched.

• paidContent weighs in:The reason [for the Seinfeld / Gates commercials’ success]? All the hate sparked dialogue and interest online.

• Peter Kafka of Silicon Alley Insider proposes:Here's the thing, though: People love watching the horrible, despicable, please-don't-make-us-see-this-anymore Seinfeld/Gates ads.

Other news outlets laid off the analysis, but suggested that the Microsoft campaign wasn’t as bad as everyone thought.

• Meghan Keane of Wired states:It looks like Microsoft got some value out of that $10 million it spent to have Seinfeld shill for the company after all. According to Visible Measures, which charts online video viewing trends, the Microsoft commercials starring Seinfeld have been far more popular than the subsequent "I'm a PC" ads.

• Erin Baker of Contentinople declares:Remember those Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Microsoft ads everybody hated? Well, it turns out no one hated them as much as we thought, at least not according to video tracking service Visible Measures Corp.

What do you think? What drove so many people to the Seinfeld / Gates clips instead of the “I’m a PC” videos? Was it love, hate, curiosity, or something else entirely?