Two bogan blokes desperate for a date and a cheesy appeal to throw more meat on the barbie have won top spots in YouTube's half year poll of viral videos.
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NovaFM radio presenters, Fitzy and Wippa starred in the most popular video, a send-up of Carly Rae Jepsen's song, Call Me Maybe with poetic lyrics including: "Here's me number and a Bacardi Breezer ... I'm pretty basic. I'll take my top off and you can see my ink".
The other locally-made video to rate highly was a promotion for Meat and Livestock Australia starring ex-footballer Sam Kekovich, set to the tune of 90's pop song Barbie Girl. Kekovich and actress Melissa Tkautz dance around a golden barbecue with a wacky cast of party guests including drag queens and beach babes.
The Fitzy and Wippa video has attracted more than 1.6 million views, while Kekovich’s effort has been seen by more than 600,000 people.
Aside from proving the old adage that nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the general public, YouTube's half yearly rankings demonstrate a growing trend for brands to use the video sharing site as a legitimate part of their marketing efforts.
The second most popular video was the official trailer for Hollywood blockbuster Contraband. Official movie trailers made it to five spots on the top 10 list.
Karen Stocks, Head of YouTube & Display at Google Australia, said the success of many of the videos showed that the definition of advertising was growing and expanding online. Ms Stocks said few of the ads on this year's list would have been recognised as ads 10 years ago, but YouTube's audiences clearly responded to them.
“Video may be a time-tested medium, but ads don't need to be professionally-produced TV spots to find an audience and succeed on YouTube. Online marketers should think popular, not premium, and focus on creating ads that people love to share.”
Top 10 Viral Ads on YouTube in Australia, first half of 2012
