Visible Measures Blog

Charlie St. Cloud surged onto the Top 10 Online Film Trailers Chart as it heads into theaters this weekend. The film shot to fourth place with a solid 950,000+ views. With audiences for Charlie St. Cloud consisting of more than 70% women with an average age of 20, it seems as though Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron hasn't lost his charm with the younger ladies.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- No viral meme can last forever, right? As good as Old Spice's "Responses" campaign was, it's peaked and is now in a downward slide, losing 70% of its audience on the web last week.

Three films open this weekend including action flick Salt and a pair of comedies, Ramona and Beezus and Dinner For Schmucks. Salt, starring Angelina Jolie, leads the group of openers at fifth place with 930,000+ views coming from a healthy 50% bump. Ramona and Beezus grew nearly 30% to reach seventh place with 615,000 views. Dinner For Schmucks is one step behind at eighth place and 360,000 views.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The 186 responses that Old Spice pitchman Isaiah Mustafa recorded for fans of his beauty, intelligence and outstanding physique took just a week to eclipse the original TV ads themselves in total views, according to new numbers from Visible Measures.

One of the drawbacks from having a handsome man in a towel get insanely popular is that it inspires less aesthetically gifted specimens to attempt the same approach. This phenomenon is what we've seen since Old Spice broke the online video advertising mold last week with its Responses campaign – men of all shapes and aesthetic dispositions have stripped down to their shower gear to spoof and challenge Isaiah Mustafa, the man your man could smell like.

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.

The highly anticipated Inception hits theaters this weekend after experiencing a significant increase in views this week, jumping nearly 90%. The film, staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page, garnered 1.6 million views, good enough for third place. Going from the mind to the magical, The Sorcerer's Apprentice will compete against the Warner Brothers' psychological thriller this weekend. With 575,000+ views, the Disney film featuring Nicholas Cage is over 1 million views behind Inception.

Apple has a way of attracting attention. Whether it surrounds a highly anticipated new product, an E-mail from CEO Steve Jobs, or a debate over video technology, the company commands audiences. Frequently, this attention manifests itself in online video. The controversy surrounding the iPhone 4 and its antenna is no exception.

With a fragrant, dashing man in a towel, Old Spice put on a viral video tour de force yesterday. Collaborating with actor Isaiah Mustafa, better known as the man your man could smell like, Old Spice unleashed a deluge of new clips on YouTube. The clips feature Mustafa responding to questions from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and blogs in as close to real time as you can get with online video publishing. (ReadWriteWeb has a great post on how they did it.)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Not often do we see a chart so dominated by one agency (Wieden & Kennedy) and one ad campaign (Old Spice). In fact, we've never seen it. But then, we also haven't seen a campaign that combines the humor and irony of "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," with a brilliant stunt like having Isaiah Mustafa responding to blogger comments in person, including to our own Teressa Iezzi and Ann-Christine Diaz.

Taking a close look at the Top 10 Viral Video Ads Chart this week might give you the impression that things are a bit funky in the world of online video. Literally. Three of the top 10 campaigns come from Old Spice, urging you or your man to smell better, or at least like actor Isaiah Mustafa. Three similar campaigns for the same brand is a rare occurrence on the chart, however with The Return of The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, we're seeing a phenomenon called viral reactivation. Viral reactivation occurs when there's a new video that reminds online audiences to watch older, similar videos, which increases their view counts, essentially reactivating their virality. The Return of The Man Your Man Could Smell Like attracted over 2 million views and helped the over-the-top Odor Blocker pound back 1.4 million of its own. The original The Man Your Man Could Smell Like sits a few rows back with close to 900,000 views.

When put head-to-head, online video audiences chose super goofy animated villains nearly two times to one over the ferocious flesh-ripping variety this week. This battle of the super villains makes the jump from the little mobile screen to the big static one this weekend with Despicable Me and Predators hitting box offices nationwide. Both films splash across the silver screen on a rise in online video, with Despicable Me increasing 50% and Predators jumping nearly 30%. Despicable Me wiped out nearly twice the views of its sinister competitor, reaching 3 million views to Predators' 1.5 million. Despite this gap in online video, Predators might be able to lean on its franchise for help at the box office. Who do you think will win this weekend?

Twilight Saga: Eclipse released Wednesday and has already made $68 million at the box office. The third installments of the vampire romance reclaims first place on the chart after being ousted by Toy Story 3's strong finale last week. With 13.3 million views, this week marks Eclipse's strongest online video performance yet. If you're interested in a deep dive on Eclipse's pre-release performance, be sure to read our analysis published earlier this week: Down in Online Video, Can Eclipse Beat New Moon at the Box Office?.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Apple storms the chart as this week's salutatorian with 1.8 million views for its highly anticipated iPhone 4. The Cupertino company's clip is a smart spot that focuses entirely on the new phone's Face Time app, which allows people to video chat over their respective iPhone 4s (yes, the future is now). Even better, the NA-produced ad is done without dialogue, only the nostalgia-steeped crackle of Louis Armstrong's "When You Smiling" tracked over images of grandparents, parents and soon-to-be-dads chatting with distant loved ones. Yes, it comes on thick. But it works. It almost makes you forget Steve Jobs' rant-prone presence on all things Apple and all things Apple doesn't like. Almost.