The YouTube Leaderboard consists of the ten most popular paid ads uploaded during the prior month.  YouTube views are inherently self selected – meaning those people chose to watch it. To be among the top ten of all ads viewed online in a month is a great achievement and speaks to the ability for that ad to resonate with a particular audience.

Ace Metrix scores are based on how everyone would respond to the ad – providing actionable data to marketers contemplating placing their online ads more broadly, digitally or placing them in front of a television audience.  To be both among the top viewed ads online and achieve a top quintile Ace Score or high Emotional Sentiment index is the remarkable confluence of great viral appeal and broad demographic appeal.

Ads with lower Ace Scores indicate that while the ad certainly resonates with a market – thus the repeat and accumulated views – the ad lacks broad appeal of multiple demographics.

For more details behind the data, contact your Ace Metrix representative.

Samsung is no novice to the YouTube Leaderboard and clearly this ad with 40+million views has garnered a lot of attention. It caught viewers attention and was slightly above norm for Change. Females 21-49 scored the ad above norm while males struggled to connect. This is one of two celebrity ads from Samsung featured on the list this month.

In conjunction with Jay-Z’s new album release, Samsung offered his album for free to users who downloaded an app to their Samsung phone. Celebrities and music are often very polarizing, which is seen through the ad’s component scores. The younger crowd resonated most – Females 16-20 came in just above the norm and Males 16-20 just below.

This joint promotion for Descpicable Me 2 and new Cheetos Mix Ups came in above the component score norms but struggled with Information. Females 36-49 scored the ad 22% above the Chips category norm.

Despicable Me 2 had a very successful opening weekend, earning $142.1 million over the 5 day holiday. This promo boasts high Attention and Likeability and resonated with Males 16-20, who were the only group to score the ad over norm.

This ad from Pepsi UK claims high Likeability, Attention and Change but is weighed down by slightly below norm Information, Relevance and Desire. Every gender/age break scored it above norm except Females 36-49, who were not as impressed.

Sony is currently promoting Playstation 4 and several new games that go with the gaming device. This ad in particular is advertising an interactive video on greatnessawaits.com that will give viewers a chance to unlock hidden objects and learn more about the impending arrival of new games. This ad scored highest with Males 16-20 but fell short with Males 21-35.

The latest ad from the Microsoft vs. Apple campaign scores well above norm with every gender/age group and every component of Persuasion and Watchability. It even touts a slightly higher than norm Emotional Sentiment score.

Coming right off the heels of the end of DOMA, this YouTube ad created a polarizing effect on viewers. Any time a company weighs in on contentious issues, they are bound to cause some controversy. The ad actually scored very well with Females 16-35 and had above norm Information, Attention and Change scores but the overall Ace Score was brought down by low scores from the other viewer groups.

Lebron James and the Miami Heat proved themselves as champions in the 2013 NBA Finals and several brands decided to capitalize on the event. Unfortunately, viewers had a difficult time connecting with the ad and found the ad to be boring (15%).

It’s no surprise that this online video that discusses a certain bodily function scored low and had one of the most negative Emotional Sentiment scores we’ve ever seen. Despite this, Attention was 20 points above norm and Males 16-20 and 21-35 enjoyed the ad. “Funny” was used in 11% of the optional verbatim responses.