How does John Lewis’s Christmas 2014 Monty the Penguin advert compare with previous years?
It’s already spawned parodies and has yet to air on TV, but the John Lewis Christmas advert is already on track to surpass the success of last year’s Bear and Hare ad.
The cuddly penguin called Monty has worked his magic, garnering the video more than seven million views on YouTube and Facebook in the first 24 hours since its online debut.
It’s the most shared ad of the week, according to social ad tracking firm Unruly. Across both YouTube and Facebook it has been shared 156,063 times.
YouTube views have already reached 4.1m – that compares to the final tally for last year’s ad of 13.1m. It is already just behind 2012s effort, The Journey, which racked up 4.7m views.
While YouTube is synonymous with viral videos, new data available for videos uploaded to Facebook and not available for John Lewis’ previous Christmas ads, reveal shares on the platform are surging ahead, accounting for 77 per cent of total shares.
To become the most shared Christmas ad ever, Monty the penguin would have to surpass last year’s ad for Canadian airline Westjet. The video gained more than two million shares and featured travellers wishing for something for Christmas. Santa then delivered their gifts on a luggage carousel at the airport.
The high street retailer will no doubt be hoping its viral success will be reflected in sales success over the Christmas period. Indeed, it's already feeling the "Monty effect" with the Monty and Mabel cuddly toys already selling out online.
A John Lewis spokeswoman said: "Although we ordered more products than last year, Monty and Mabel have proved very popular with customers.
"Although the cuddly toys have sold quickly, there is still stock in some of our shops, and we have other products available on johnlewis.com, and in John Lewis branches around the country. We are expecting to have more Monty and Mabel products in stock in the next week."
Here's how Monty the penguin compares to previous John Lewis ads after just 24 hours.
Click to enlarge on mobile devices
