The Top 10 YouTube ads that Canadians loved

Many people in the ad industry despise the phrase "going viral" – it trivializes a complex process and can wrongly equate viewcounts (which can be juiced with paid ads) with marketing success.

But when an ad is a bona fide hit online, there is something very powerful at work: people are actually paying attention to advertisers, and even using their social clout to share ad messages with friends and family. It's a more organic way to speak to potential customers.

On Tuesday, Google Inc. released the ads Canadians watched most on YouTube this year.

They have something in common: advertisers are taking advantage of the online medium to tell longer stories. The top 10 ads were on average two minutes and 39 seconds in length, much longer than the classic 30-second TV spot.

The time people spent watching videos on YouTube has grown 50 per cent this year.

To measure the most-viewed ads, Google looked at both the number of views and also the percentage of "organic" views (people who chose to watch on their own or because something was shared with them) compared with paid views. The period measured was January, 2014, to November, 2014.

Canadians often weren't interested in Canadian-made ads. Only two on the list were homegrown: the TD Bank spot at #1, and the video for Always, which was produced by Leo Burnett's Toronto, Chicago and London offices.

Editor's Note: An earlier online version of this article incorrectly named an ad agency as Diamond Interactive. This version has the correct name, Diamond Integrated.