According to new data released today by Unruly Media, Google is the most successful social video brand of 2012. The technology giant’s video campaigns attracted more shares this year than any other advertiser.

Thanks to the global success of campaigns such as Project Glass: One Day, Google increased the number of shares it attracted in 2012 by 196.8% from the previous year, beating Nike to the top spot by 421,359 shares.

The Most Shared Social Video Brands Of 2012

The Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index shows a number of newcomers in the top 10, with TNT Benelux, Coca-Cola, Abercrombie & Fitch, Samsung, and P&G replacing last year’s front-runners Budweiser, Evian, T-Mobile, Activision and Kia.

<img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-74776″ title=”social-video-brands-2012″ src=”http://cdn4.reelstatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/social-video-brands-2012-e1355082351369.gif” alt=”” width=”509″ height=”724″/>

Position	Brand	Total 2012 shares	% change from 2011	Difference vs. 2011 Top 10
1.	Google	5,892,608	+196.8%	Up six places
2.	Nike	5,471,249	+166.2%	Up four places
3.	TNT Benelux	4,352,283	N/A*	New entry
4.	DC Shoes	4,121,250	-19.9%	Down 2 places
5.	Red Bull	3,795,767	+45.6%	–
6.	Coca Cola	3,260,962	+485.4%	New entry
7.	Abercrombie & Fitch	2,435,774	N/A*	New entry
8.	Samsung	2,424,702	+85.5%	New entry
9.	P&G**	2,360,328	+94.0%	New entry
10.	Volkswagen	2,251,640	-57.9%	Down 9

The top 10 brands accounted for a colossal 35 million video shares. This indicates that competition in social video advertising is heating up. And it’s worth noting that Coca-Cola made the biggest leap, growing by 485.4% from last year, powered by campaigns like Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds!

According to Unruly co-founder Sarah Wood,

“The Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index is the definitive chart for measuring a commercial brand’s social video success as it’s based purely on sharing activity rather than views and subjective criteria. This is the content that people are choosing to share. Savvy brands are no longer creating content to merely watch their YouTube view counter tick up; they’re measuring who’s sharing the content, what they’re saying, and how it’s impacting brand metrics.”

Video Marketing Lessons from Social Video in 2012

Why should internet marketers and video content producers pay more than casual attention to the Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index?

Let’s start with the methodology.

The 2012 Index, based on data from the Unruly Viral Video Chart, ranks videos by the number of shares they attract across Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere as opposed to the number of views. As such, it is a measure of the brand’s viral success ranking branded content by the volume of active pass-on rather than the more passive metric of video consumption.

The list also shows the extent to which some brands have already recognized video’s potential for brand advocacy and are successfully leveraging the potential of the social web to increase sales. However, the top 20 does not include movie trailers.

Internet marketers and video content producers understand that the days when YouTube was exclusively a place for one hit, viral videos are gone. If you’re interested in building a successful channel on YouTube, you’ve got to consider your channel’s long term plan. And that requires developing a viable programming strategy.

Programming means creating a cohesive viewing experience across videos on your channel, where each video fits into the larger channel vision. It includes both what type of content to produce, as well as when to publish it.

And this extends to video advertising campaigns.

Social video grew up in 2012. It is the year when social video advertising proved it was the hottest trend instead of a passing fad by reaching heights usually reserved for Austrian space-jumpers.  (Click on the Top 5 Trends for Social Video Advertising in 2012, to download Unruly’s report on the topic.)

But you can’t begin to harness this trend unless you know which brands were the top performers in 2012.  You can’t develop new strategies unless you can see which advertisers seized the opportunity to engage with their consumers at scale.

That’s why Unruly has compiled a list of the top 10 social video brands of 2012. And that’s why you should pay more than casual attention to it.

The Unruly 2012 Social Video Share Index is your new yardstick for measuring the top 10 brands – instead of the top 10 individual videos. These are the brands that “get it.” Many of these brands have gone beyond creating one-hit wonders. Most of these brands are worth emulating next year and the year after that.

In other words, this is a chart worth getting on.

Get it? Got it? Good.