The Patriots may have won the Super Bowl, but Anheuser-Busch was the advertiser to beat on game day.

Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser and Bud Light Super Bowl ads won the top two spots on YouTube’s list of the top 10 most watched Super Bowl LI ads on Super Bowl Sunday.

Budweiser’s “Born the Hard Way” — an ad that tells the story of founder Adolphus Busch immigrating to America from Germany  — was the most watched Super Bowl ad on YouTube (February 16, 2017). Using “A Christmas Carol”-themed story line, Bud Light ranked No. 2 with its “Ghost Spuds” spot, featuring the brand’s former mascot, Spuds Mackenzie.

YouTube said it saw the “highest ever watch time” during Super Bowl LI, with viewers watching more than 350,000 hours of Super Bowl ads on game day — a 15 percent increase over the time spent watching Super Bowl ads on YouTube last year. Google also confirmed that 70 percent of the watch time it tracked happened on mobile devices.

As noted in YouTube’s blog post covering its top 10 Super Bowl ads, many of this year’s most popular game day spots centered on politically charged content.

“The undeniable theme of the night was ads that connected to social and political topics — in fact, these ads accounted for nearly half of the watch time on Game Day,” reports YouTube.

From Budweiser’s No. 1 ad highlighting an immigration story to 84 Lumber’s controversial spot depicting a mom and daughter’s journey to the border and Audi’s “Daughter” spot promoting pay equality in the workforce, advertisers did not shy away from attaching their brands to issues that are driving today’s news headlines.

YouTube’s Top 10 Super Bowl LI Ads

1. Budweiser: “Born the Hard Way”

2. Bud Light: “Ghost Spuds”

3. Hyundai: “A Better Super Bowl”

4. Kia: “Hero’s Journey”

5. T-Mobile: “#UnlimitedMoves with Justin Bieber”

6. Tide: “Super Bowl 2017 Commercial with Terry Bradshaw”

7. 84 Lumber: “The Entire Journey”

8. Netflix: “Stranger Things 2”

9. Audi: “Daughter”

10. Mr. Clean: “Cleaner of Your Dreams”

Marketing Land’s Tim Peterson reports 84 Lumber’s ad created so much buzz its site received more than 300,000 requests within the first minute of the commercial’s airing: Super Bowl’s politically charged ads, like 84 Lumber’s, spark social buzz.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.