Visible Measures Blog

With over 60 million views, Volkswagen’s The Force is 2011's most viral automotive campaign, and the top viral video campaign overall. The Force leaked a few days before the Super Bowl and generated more than 14 million views before the game even started. From there, the campaign took off and never looked back. With nearly 600 copies and derivatives associated with it, The Force has more than twice the number of views as 2011's runner up and has become one of the most-watched campaigns of all time.

Interest in automotive online advertising videos skyrocketed in December 2010, with viewership of videos on our Top 10 chart of the most popular ads higher than it has been since June 2010.

Seven new advertising campaigns have captured spots on Motor Trend's monthly collection of the 10 most popular automotive video ads, including new spots from Volkswagen, Kia, and Lexus. Toyota's Sienna minivan campaign apparently has enough swagger to remain in first place with more than 3.3 million views.

Toyota has regained its swagger with the new Toyota Sienna van, at least when it comes to popular automotive video ads.

Two new Nissan campaigns have captured slots on Motor Trend's monthly collection of the most popular Web video ads around.

We're entering the second week in which BMW's "Welcome to Planet Power" has blown away all other advertising campaigns on our Top 10 chart tracking the most popular automotive video ads. The ad was seen by "only" 786,860 times this week, down from over one million views last week. It appears BMW has mastered the challenge of effectively advertising a motorcycle that can accelerate from 0-60 mph in less than three seconds.

In the past few months, we've launched online video performance charts for the advertising, film, and webisode industries. Yesterday, we announced the debut of our latest industry chart. Published in conjunction with Motor Trend, the number one automotive authority, our Top 10 Online Auto Ads Chart showcases the Web's top-performing automotive video ads. As with our Ad Age Top 10 Viral Video Ads Chart, Variety Top 10 Online Film Trailers Chart, and Mashable Top 10 Webisodes Chart, The Top 10 Online Auto Ads Chart will be ranked on our unique True Reach™ methodology.