Nike film featuring Cristiano Ronaldo tops this year's YouTube video ad leaderboard

With the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity underway on the French Riviera until June 24, 2017, Google has revealed the top 10 most popular video ads on YouTube.

Google's leaderboard celebrates the most popular global video ads since last year's Cannes Lions, more precisely, between March 2016 and April 2017. The whole top 10 combined represents some 11.8 million hours watched.

Note that comforting messages have been popular with web users, with plenty of films in the top 10 tugging at the heartstrings (Nike Football, Knorr, Hyundai, Budweiser). Casting stars also seems to help, with ads featuring soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, wrestler John Cena, singer Jennifer Hudson and actress Melissa McCarthy all in the top 10.

Top 10 most popular video ads on YouTube in 2016/2017

1. Nike Football Presents : The Switch (ft. Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Anthony Martial & More)

2. Knorr #LoveAtFirstTaste

3. Clash of Clans: Hog Rider 360

4. Best Day Of My Life | Shell #makethefuture

5. How to Use a Raw Egg to Determine if Your Mattress is Awful - #PURPLE

6. Samsung: This is a phone

7. The Unexpected John Cena Prank | Hidden Camera

8. Budweiser 2017 Super Bowl Commercial | "Born The Hard Way"

9. A Better Super Bowl | NFL Hyundai Super Bowl LI

10. 2017 Kia Niro | "Hero's Journey"

The YouTube Ads Leaderboard showcases the most creative ads the people choose to watch each month. Ads are determined by an algorithm that factors in paid views, organic views and audience retention (how much of a video people watched).