ofcourse there are simple/cheaper programs. But you didn't ask that, you asked what program they used .
As someone said, you could use keynote to make more original ones. But the more expensive software gets, the less effects are done for you. So it requires more work and creativity, but it's more original. Consumer software almost never has as much freedom as professional programs, because the users don't need them and wouldn't know how to use them. So if you want to be more original, you would have to create stuff yourself (with gimp or photoshop) and then animate that.