Ad Age’s weekly chart lists the top 10 viral videos from last week. There are no new debuts this week, but there are a couple of comebacks worth noting. After dropping off the chart last week off of a run of nearly five months, Microsoft’s Project Natal video is back in at number five with about 487,000 views. The more notable return with a lot of back story is Verizon’s There s a Map for That TV ad, drawing nearly 450,000 views to make number seven this week. The spot launched the mobile carrier s mud-slinging campaign questioning how well-suited rival AT&T s 3G network is for smart phones. Ad Age says it may have drawn extra attention this week after AT&T took legal action to label the ads as misleading and have them taken down. It lost the case.
Verizon’s enjoying quite a viral video run, with its Droid Does spot from the Droid app phone campaign also on the chart. It’s at number six with about 458,000 views. There’s more to note about the company’s viral video success. As Ad Age points out, the first time Verizon made the chart with “There’s a Map for That” it was because a YouTube user had recorded a video directly off of a TV set, meaning Verizon never released a digital version of the ad. Since then, Verizon has made sure to post TV spots on its own YouTube channel.
Ad Age’s chart includes number of views for the week and percentage change in views for videos that stayed on the chart. The list is compiled by Visible Measures.