YouTube Music Hits #1 On iTunes Charts After Ad Campaign, Beats ‘Pokémon Go’

Since mid-July, YouTube Music’s usage has trended upward, and a recent ad campaign has likely played a big role in the app’s resurgence. YouTube’s series of “who we are” spots led YouTube Music to the top of the iTunes free apps chart, where it even surpassed the hugely-popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go.

A YouTube spokesperson confirmed that the video site’s music app spent two days in the top spot on both iTunes’ Free Apps chart and its Music Apps chart. It has since dropped down a couple spots, and at the time of this post, it is #4 on the Free Apps chart, behind Pokemon Go and two others.

YouTube Music’s rise represents a dramatic increase since mid-July. On July 19th, the day we first noted the “who we are” campaign, the music service was #60 on the Free Apps chart. By July 31st, it was up to the chart’s 43rd position, before an early August surge drove it up to #1.

YouTube Music benefited from the “who we are” campaign’s prominent placement across the video site as well as the provocative nature of its spots. The ads in the series featured a diverse array of characters whose unexpected musical choices showed viewers that the power of song can reveal qualities about a person that might not be visible on the surface. More recently, as seen above, the ads launched across billboards in major cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

After spending years in development, YouTube Music launched last November. Beyond iTunes, it is also available through the Google Play store.