Nike Just Does It With Top Ad on YouTube in 2020

The Google-owned video site said in an email, “YouTube’s top trending lists reflect how the world changed and how creators quickly adapted to this change. From living room workouts to at-home haircuts, virtual graduation ceremonies to serious conversations, this year, people came to YouTube in search of content that met specific personal needs.

The top ads on YouTube in 2020, by in-month views, were:

1. Nike, Never Too Far Down | You Can’t Stop Us, 117.7 million
2. Google, Loretta | Google Super Bowl Commercial 2020, 62.4 million
3. Hyundai, Smaht Pahk | 2020 Hyundai Sonata, 44.3 million
4. Clash of Clans, LOST & CROWNED | A Clash Short Film, 43.2 million
5. TurboTax, TurboTax 2020 Super Bowl Commercial “All People Are Tax People Remix,” 33.9 million
6. Apple, The whole working-from-home thing, 28.9 million
7. National Football League, NEXT 100 || NFL Super Bowl LIV Commercial, 24.3 million
8. Geico, Aunt Infestation, 20.4 million
9. GMC, First Ever GMC HUMMER EV | “Horsepower,” 9.7 million
10. Michelob Ultra, Jimmy Works It Out | Michelob ULTRA | Super Bowl LIV, 8.8 million

YouTube said ads tallied over 470 million views and more than 1.3 million likes in 2020, with 714,000 of those likes going to the short film for Clash of Clans.

Five out of the year’s top 10 ads were Super Bowl ads.

Apple’s ad about working from home was the only one in the top 10 to reference the pandemic and the lifestyle changes it caused.

Finally, eight of the top 10 ads were comedic in nature, but the top two were inspiring and emotional.

The list was determined by an algorithm that factors in organic and paid views, watch time and audience retention, and it is limited to one ad per brand in order to better reflect the broad range, quality and popularity of YouTube ads throughout the year.

The top 10 trending videos in 2020 were:

1. 8:46 – Dave Chappelle, Netflix Is a Joke
2. Building the Perfect Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder, Mark Rober
3. First Debate Cold Open, Saturday Night Live
4. We Broke Up, jeffrreestar
5. I Bought the World’s Largest Firework ($600,000), MrBeast
6. I’m Coming Out., NikkieTutorials
7. Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters GRAND FINALE, Dream
8. Ricky Gervais’ Monologue – 2020 Golden Globes, NBC
9. Quarantine Stereotypes, Dude Perfect
10. Some Good News With John Krasinski Ep. 1, SomeGoodNews

2020’s top breakout creators were:

1. Dream
2. Tiko
3. Chloe Ting
4. EddieVR
5. Charli D’Amelio
6. GeorgeNotFound
7. Dixie D’Amelio
8. Corpse Husband
9. SomeGoodNews
10. Hyram

The year’s top creators were:

1. MrBeast
2. Dream
3. ZHC
4. SSSniperwolf
5. Tiko
6. Chloe Ting
7. JoshDub
8. The Royalty Family
9. LazarBeam
10. James Charles

The top music videos of 2020 were:

1. Future, Life Is Good (Official Music Video) ft. Drake
2. 6IX9INE, GOOBA (Official Music Video)
3. Lil Baby x 42 Dugg, We Paid (Official Video)
4. NLE Choppa, Walk Em Down feat. Roddy Ricch (Official Music Video)
5. Cardi B, WAP feat. Megan Thee Stallion (Official Music Video)
6. DaBaby, ROCKSTAR FT RODDY RICCH (Audio)
7. Roddy Ricch, The Box (Official Music Video)
8. Drake, Laugh Now Cry Later (Official Music Video) ft. Lil Durk ()
9. YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Top (Official Music Video)
10. Lil Baby, The Bigger Picture (Official Music Video)