On Game Day, Budweiser’s Origin Story Leads Super Bowl Ads On YouTube

As Super Bowl advertisers vied for attention during the biggest TV broadcast of the year, American consumers went online to re-watch their favorite commercials from the Big Game. YouTube has compiled a list of the ten ads that received the most views on February 5th, and it was perennial advertiser Budweiser that once again turned turned heads, this time by telling the origin story of its founder.

The commercial in question, titled “Born the Hard Way,” spotlights Adolphus Busch, a German-born immigrant who moved to St. Louis as a teenager and became one of the two men behind the Anheuser-Busch company, which counts Budweiser among its brands. The commercial’s perceived pro-immigrant slant has caused it to generate both positive and negative buzz. At the time of this post, six days after “Born the Hard Way” was first uploaded to YouTube, the video has more than 21 million views, 40,000 likes, and 15,000 dislikes. Some of those views, as you might expect, have been of the paid variety, as I found out when the commercial was twice served to me as a pre-roll ad this morning.

“Born the Hard Way” continues a string of Super Bowl success for Budweiser. YouTube has noted the beer brand’s “Puppy Love

” spot as the most popular Super Bowl ad of the past decade.

All of the Super Bowl commercials from this year’s game can be found on YouTube’s Adblitz channel, through which viewers can vote for their favorites. Voting will close at midnight on February 10th, at which point the top Adblitz ad of the year will be announced.

Here, via a YouTube blog post, are this top ten Super Bowl ads in terms of Game Day views:

1. Budweiser – Budweiser 2017 Super Bowl Commercial | “Born The Hard Way”
2. Bud Light – Ghost Spuds | Bud Light Super Bowl Commercial 2017 feat. Spuds MacKenzie
3. Hyundai – A Better Super Bowl | NFL Hyundai Super Bowl LI
4. Kia – 2017 Kia Niro | “Hero’s Journey” Starring Melissa McCarthy
5. T-Mobile – T-Mobile | #UnlimitedMoves with Justin Bieber | T-Mobile Commercial
6. Tide – Tide | Super Bowl Commercial 2017 with Terry Bradshaw
7. 84 Lumber – 84 Lumber Super Bowl Commercial – The Entire Journey
8. Netflix – “Stranger Things 2” – Super Bowl 2017 Ad
9. Audi – Audi #DriveProgress Big Game Commercial – “Daughter”
10. Mr. Clean – Mr. Clean | New Super Bowl Ad | Cleaner of Your Dreams