NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Lesson learned: never bet against Apple. Last week, I predicted that Apple's "Meet iPad" campaign, which debuted on TV during the Oscars, wouldn't go viral. Why? Because Apple videos typically don't due to the lock the company keeps on distribution. Sure enough, early on, "Meet iPad" got a slow start.
But guess what? I was wrong! "Meet iPad" had a pretty strong week with 2.4 million views, good enough for No. 2 on the viral chart. Why? Well, intense interest in the product, obviously, but also a shift in Apple's strategy, which we also noticed last week.
Apple has had a YouTube channel since 2005, but only recently started using it. In the past, they'd focused on driving views on Apple.com, but for the iPad, they allowed the video to be embedded across the web, and views were distributed across 100 different placements, according to Visible Measures. Apple turned off commenting on its own videos, but a robust conversation bloomed around copies. Interestingly, this posting, with 2,422 comments as of this writing, was most-viewed; Apple's official version was a distant second. Still, given the ambient Apple love on the web, shouldn't "Meet iPad" be No. 1? Check back next week.
But enough about Apple. The most-viewed spot this week is a video that's been hanging around the list since the Super Bowl, but got some extra juice from controversy. E-Trade was slapped with a $100 million lawsuit for "Milkoholic" by Lindsay Lohan, and the surge to more than 3 million views, including 80,000 referrals from Perez Hilton.
The only new entrant on the list -- aside from Apple -- is a video for BMW's R1000 motorcycle, "Welcome to Planet Power." Yep, it's a cool (and no doubt fake) stunt, and apparently these still work on the web.
The Most-Watched Viral Video Ads from Last Week
| Rank | Last Week's Rank | Brand | Campaign | Agency | Current Week's Views*
| % Change in Views** | Watch |
1 | 8 | E*TRADE | E*TRADE Super Bowl 2010 | Grey | 3,072,667 | 616% | |
2 | NEW | Apple | Meet iPad | TBWA/Chiat/Day | 2,449,213 | NEW | |
3 | NEW | BMW | Welcome to Planet Power | NA | 1,574,767 | NEW | |
4 | 3 | Evian | Live Young | BETC Euro RSCG | 1,087,512 | 4% | |
5 | 1 | Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like | Wieden + Kennedy | 1,030,975 | -13% | |
6 | 5 | Doritos | Crash The Super Bowl 2010 | Goodby Silverstein & Partners | 902,252 | 22% | |
7 | Back On Chart | Snickers | You're Not You When You're Hungry | BBDO | 708,495 | Back On Chart | |
8 | 9 | Microsoft | Xbox Project Natal | World Famous | 511,128 | 24% | |
9 | 6 | Sussex Safer Roads Partnership | Embrace Life | Director: Daniel Cox | 487,017 | -7% | |
10 | 7 | Pepsi | Oh Africa | NA | 427,514 | -17% | |
Source: Visible Measures
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Michael Learmonth is a reporter at Advertising Age. You can find the original article here.
The data used for The Top 10 Viral Video Ads Chart was sourced from Visible Measures.
*See our Top Ad Campaigns page for our methodology.
**Indicates percent change in views compared with the same period the week before.
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