The 10 Most-Watched Indian Ads on YouTube in November 2016

Manyavar leads the pack.

From global trade and clothing trends to seasonal climate and human behavior; most things in the world follow a set pattern. Advertising is no different. If you observe closely, you'll see a systematic pattern in advertising through the year. Festive season is all about gifting, New Year and the year-end is all about exciting deals, summers see a carpet bombing by beverage brands whereas winters are all about clothing.

There are aberrations in this pattern of course, but mostly it's all the same. The month of November marks the start of the wedding season in North India and predictably, it's a clothing brand at the top of the table this time!

There are certain brand verticals however (like Automobile and FMCG) that have to focus on advertising throughout the year. Technology companies are also being featured in the top 10 consistently ever since Vidooly has been partnering with afaqs! to release the monthly YouTube ads' leaderboard. The top 10 for the month of November has 3 automobile, 3 FMCG, 2 technology brands, a food company and a clothing brand.

Note:

- All the stats here are updated until December 05, 2016.

- Only advertisements launched in November of 2016 are considered.

- The overall audience sentiment that is mentioned below each advertisement is based on - number of views, likes, dislikes, watch time and comments.

10. Skoda Rapid TV commercial

Charlie Sheen's character in the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men is the dream many men have dreamed of, isn't it? I mean, he is a philandering narcissistic prick; but who wouldn't want his lifestyle?! I've wondered if the lives of commercial jingle writers is actually that good in India? But if it is, the one who wrote and composed the jingle for this latest TVC by Skoda must be living it! A great jingle set to a nicely picturised video has made this TVC a hit among the audience.

9. 'We don't just hear. We listen' by Audi

Audi ran this ad across the world this November. It follows a set template that a lot of big corporations follow while creating their TVCs - motivational music, futuristic designs and a soothing voiceover. However, to be fair to the creative team that worked on this ad, the script is quite relevant and well done.

8. 'Lighting up smiles this Diwali' by HP

This brand video by HP is beautifully made! Celebrating the spirit of gifting during Diwali, it focuses on the human souls that have been ignored and orphaned by the rest of society – the elderly who have been neglected by their children and the orphans who have no family. But what I did not understand was – why was it launched after Diwali? It would definitely have got a lot more traction if it was released a few days before the festival.

7. Celebrating 20 Years of McDonald's India

Nostalgia is a huge driver of social media engagement. Did you watch the Aishwarya-Aamir Coca-Cola ad in your Facebook timeline recently? You must have right? We human beings are inadvertently creatures of nostalgia. We love remembering stuff from the past. This latest commercial by McDonald's is also about memories and nostalgia – the 20 years that the company has been serving customers in India.

6. Advanced Hair Series by Dove

There isn't much to talk about this ad really. The like-dislike counter has also been turned off for this one. Not a good idea Dove! Positive or negative, the first rule of building a brand image is to listen to your audience!

5. Headspin advert by YouTube

One of the biggest issues that video platforms have in India is the relatively low consumption pattern because of the lack of high speed data connectivity in most parts of the country. The entry of cheap carriers like Jio has, of course, given rise to hopes of a well-connected population; the issue with speed however is still not solved in the country. That's exactly why YouTube started offering the offline feature in India, last year. Following suit, Hotstar and Netflix also recently started offering the offline viewing features.

Here's a new version of the headspin-offline ad by Google.

4. Renault Kwid TV commercial

Automobile brands have been spending quite a lot of advertising budget on YouTube in India. Hyundai, Skoda, Audi, Renault, Mercedes; almost every brand is trying to woo prospective buyers in a rapidly developing economy. (We in fact did a report on the same, some time ago)

At number 4 we have the latest ad by Renault showcasing the AMT feature of it's KWID model cars.

3. Greed Versus Dog TVC by Maaza

Maaza has always ads that are fun and easy on the eye. This is their latest TVC and it is being promoted heavily on YouTube.

2. An Epic Undercover Fail by NIVEA India

Who doesn't like comic thrillers, right? This latest commercial by NIVEA is scripted around the action-comedy genre where agent 007 tries to capture an international don. Again, nothing much to talk about this other than saying that it is decently well executed.

1. Virat Kohli ki Ladki walo se demand by Manyavar

Virat Kohli is one of the most saleable faces not only in India but around the world! Just like how Tendulkar and Dhoni ruled the advertising scene in their heydays, and presently, Virat is at the top of his game now (both on and off the field). This ad by Manyavar is quite nicely made, I must say!

Final Words

It is great to see that internet and technology companies are doing a lot of video advertising these days. When we analyzed the top 100 ads (based on views), we were pleasantly surprised to see that they make up 33% of the overall views for the month! Next in line are the FMCG brands (with 30%) followed by automobile brands (with 17%). It'll be interesting to see if they can hold fort for the month of December as well.

(The author is product marketing manager at Vidooly, a YouTube audience development and analytics firm)