Three MENA brands have gained recognition as part of the YouTube Cannes Ads Leaderboard, the annual top 10 most watched ads on YouTube in the last 12 months.

Telecom Egypt’s WE Summer Campaign, featuring Akram Hosny, grabbed the second spot. Qatar Airways’ official FIFA World Cup song C.H.A.M.P.I.O.N.S featuring DJ Rodge and Cheb Khaled, ranked fifth, and Orange Egypt’s Crazy about Football was seventh.

Now in its eighth year, the YouTube Ads Leaderboard spans 28 countries and is a sought-after recognition among brands and agencies in the advertising community.

The commercials that earned spots on this year’s list streamed in 28 countries across five continents.

Anthony Nakache, Google MENA’s Managing Director, commended the brands, “It’s great to see the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region’s diversity and creativity shine through on YouTube this year, which exemplifies the different formats on YouTube that allow brands to explore different styles and approaches to storytelling on the platform.”

Mohammed Abutaleb, Telecom Egypt’s Commercial Vice-President, noted that “agility is key to product success” in a “competitive technology marketplace.” The company is always ready to experiment and adjust its digital strategy, adding that “Google ad technology has been integral to our success on that front.”

For Qatar Airways, the platform is “a great place for driving brand awareness and one of the key channels to communicate to a wide audience of football fans from around the world,” a spokesperson said.

Orange Egypt regarded YouTube as a main platform that helps increase its “top-of-mind awareness.”

The selection of the ads on the leaderboard was based on an algorithm using internal YouTube data to analyze and measure audience engagement and retention, such as public views, organic views, and organic ratio.