The battle for winner of the 2017 Christmas adverts is well underway, with November marking the arrival of big brands and retailers releasing festive footage to get shoppers into the spirit of things.

In 2014, John Lewis came out as number one with its “Monty the Penguin” spot, while Harvey Nichols was victorious in 2015 with “Avoid gift face”, followed by John Lewis back at the top with “Buster the Boxer” in 2016.

The champion of 2017 Christmas adverts, however, as revealed by facial recognition tech firm Realeyes, is Coca-Cola.

Tracking the expressions of viewers, Realeyes found that Coca-Cola’s advert had an overwhelmingly positive response. It featured families from Channel 4 show Gogglebox and showed the reactions of the cast members watching its Holidays are Coming advert.

According to Realeyes’ findings, Coca-Cola outshone 55 other 2017 Christmas ads, while it achieved a score higher than 96 per cent of ads the company has tested.

Completing the top three, Coca-Cola was followed by Vodafone’s six-part festive romance featuring The Hobbit actor Martin Freeman in second and McDonald’s in third.

“Whilst the hype around Christmas ads has now become a national pastime, it’s sometimes forgotten that their job is to help sell more products and people’s emotional response plays a big part in where they decide to shop,” says Mihkel Jäätma, Realeyes’ CEO.

“This year saw advertisers trying to be more authentic by using real-life situations, humour and romance to relate to people, which could be seen as a way to cheer them up via universal themes after what’s been another divisive and turbulent year.”

John Lewis appears to be something of a fallen star this year, with the normally popular maker of commercials ranking in 17^th spot of top 2017 Christmas adverts.

“Naturally, it’s difficult for John Lewis to keep hitting such high standards with the same formula so they could consider changing tack next year,” Jäätma added.

The full ranking of the ten most engaging 2017 Christmas adverts can be viewed below.

(1) Gogglebox Meets Coca-Cola’s “Holidays Are Coming” 2017 – 96 per cent score

(2) Vodafone: A Christmas Love Story – 95 per cent score

(3) McDonald’s: Carrot stick Christmas – 93 per cent score

(4) M&S: Paddington and the Christmas visitor – 85 per cent score

(5) Currys PC World: Merry Techmas – 84 per cent score

Continue on the next page to see the remaining five 2017 Christmas adverts in the top ten.

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(5) H Samuel: Beautiful Christmas gifts – 84 per cent score

(7) Waitrose: Christmas together – 81 per cent score

(7) Heathrow: Bears Christmas – 81 per cent score

(9) Pandora: Do get what you wish for – 80 per cent score

(9) Tesco: Turkey, every which way for – 80 per cent score