YouTube is all about letting anyone create content and upload it for the world to see, but cheaply made videos aren’t the only thing you can check out — you’ll also watch plenty of ads. It seems like YouTube is trying to drum out some hype for those ads, and has released its list of the “top YouTube ads for 2016.”
It’s really an interesting list, and shows off some of the top trends of the year. The top YouTube ad this year was the “Official Mobile Strike Super Bowl 50 TV ad,” which basically shows Arnold Schwarzenegger in an elevator fight for his smartphone, all over the game Mobile Strike.
“Once again, advertisers delivered spots that took us on a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from laughter to inspiration to ‘awwww…,’ compelling viewers to both watch and share,” said Google in a blog post.
According to the blog post, these ads were most often viewed on mobile — in fact of the five Super Bowl ads that appeared on the list, 81 percent of the views came from mobile devices.
A number of tech trends also made the list — apart from Mobile Strike claiming the top spot, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 introduction video also made the cut. Of course, the full list wouldn’t be complete without a Pokémon reference — the Pokémon20: Pokémon Super Bowl Commercial came in ninth.
There are plenty of 2016 lists coming out this week — today Facebook also released its year-in-review list, showing the top trending topics of the year. At the top of the list was the U.S. election, which was followed by the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the deaths of Muhammad Ali and David Bowie.
