Air New Zealand Reigns YouTube’s Latest Ad Leaderboard With 11 Million Views

With October now behind us, YouTube has released its Ads Leaderboard detailing the most-viewed branded video ads on its site. The month’s Top 10 saw a range of topics from tech to food to cars, but viewers were more interested in watching Air New Zealand attendants dressed as Gandalf and Galadriel give in-flight instructions.

Air New Zealand’s “The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made #airnzhobbit” video ad dominated October’s Leaderboard with over 11 million views and 58,000 likes to date. As the title indicates, the Hobbit-themed ad features Lord of the Rings fans hopping on an Air New Zealand plane and partaking in some epic safety instructions taught by elves, dwarves, orcs, and some recognizable faces like Peter Jackson and Sylvester McCoy. Elijah Wood even makes a (dis)appearance when he concludes the endearing ad with familiar Tolkien-themed well-wishes before placing the One Ring on his finger.

While Samsung came nowhere near Air New Zealand’s views and likes, the tech giant still refuses to vacate YouTube’s ad leaderboard. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 “gluteus maximus test” ad placed seventh in October with over 2.5 million views (spurred by the recent complaints consumers have had about competitor Apple’s iPhone 6 bending in pockets). In the September leaderboard, Samsung placed both first and fifth with its ads introducing the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Gear S, respectively. That means, according to our records, Samsung has now been on YouTube’s Leaderboard 12 times this year.

Of course, what would YouTube ads be without a cat or two? Friskies teamed up with BuzzFeed to create “Dear Kitten: Regarding the Dog,” a delightfully entertaining three-minute piece where an older cat explains the intricacies of dog behavior to a kitten. The branded ad placed second on YouTube’s Leaderboard with over 7.6 million views and 42,000 likes.

Here’s the complete list of the most-viewed video ads on YouTube in October:

1. Air New Zealand: The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made #airnzhobbit; 11,624,957 views
2. Friskies/Buzzfeed: Dear Kitten: Regarding The Dog; 7,278,499 views
3. Chanel: CHANEL N°5: The One That I Want – The Film; 4,475,932 views
4. Fiat: Official Fiat 500X teaser – blue pill; 3,230,347 views
5. Nike: Together | LeBron James; 2,975,124 views
6. Diet Coke: Diet Coke – Taylor Swift Kittens; 2,537,909 views
7. Samsung: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Endures the Gluteus Maximus;2,505,090 views
8. Google Nexus: Nexus 6: Space to explore;2,082,810 views
9. Hendo: Hendo Hoverboard: The World’s First Hoverboard, 1,556,490 views
10. McDonald’s: Our food. Your questions. Is McDonald’s beef real?, 1,509,055 views