Samsung tops list of most viral tech ads of 2012

Samsung has been making a strong push with its ads this year -- employing LeBron James, poking fun at Apple and even using memes to its advantage -- and the effort appears to be paying off.

The South Korean tech giant topped a list released Wednesday for the most viral tech ads of 2012 and also had the most ads in the Top 10.

Atop the list was Samsung’s ad that pokes fun at Apple fans who wait in line for hours for the iPhone 5. While they wait, happy Galaxy S III owners tout the features their Samsung phone has that Apple’s doesn’t.

QUIZ: What set the Internet on fire in 2012?

The ad, which you can see above, ran right around the launch of the iPhone 5, when people were actually in line for the phone like those in the commercial, and apparently it worked. According to Viral Measures, the video analysis firm that put together the list, the ad had nearly 72 million “true reach views,” which is a measure of all Web video players not just YouTube.

Bringing in LeBron James’ star power also appears to have helped out as Samsung’s ad for the Galaxy Note II with James and his family had more than 42 million views and took the third-place spot. The South Korean company also grabbed the fourth and eighth spots with two other ads.

Surprisingly, Toshiba took the second spot on the list with an ad titled “The Beauty Inside,” which had more than 54 million true reach views.

Google had two videos in the Top 10. They included the Mountain View, Calif., company’s introduction video for its Project Glass smart glasses and a video for the Nexus 7 tablet, which launched this year.

Apple also made the list but with just one video and at just the sixth-place spot -- which was a big drop for the Cupertino company after landing the first-place spot on the same list last year. The ad was the introduction video for the iPhone 5, and it generated about 18 million true reach views.

“Apple’s performance in video advertising hasn’t grown much in 2012 while the competition has exploded,” Viral Measures said in the release for the list. “To stay competitive in video in 2013, Apple will need to rethink its video strategy.”

And not to be left behind, Microsoft also made the list but just barely. In 10th place was Microsoft’s ad for the Surface tablet, but not the click one you’ve been seeing a lot lately -- the one that was described as “tech porn” over the summer. It generated 13.6 million true reach views.

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