Though I haven't seen stats to back it up - I've heard from multiple sources that thumbnails which include a gigantic bobblehead of the author with a particularly exaggerated stupid looking expression on their face induce more people to click through.
Even if it's for the sake of feeding the algorithm, I do my best to skip them.
I also internally prioritize videos which:
- avoid usage of superlatives "TOP X", "BEST OF Y"
- have more than 5k views and less than 250k views.
After a while, my YT recommendations have become mostly solid.
From looking at the link you posted, the immediate consideration, is it looks like they're all optimizing for a pornography face. Would not be very surprising based on the reputation of the internet.
It doesn't exactly help with your goal, but tangentially, I use a browser addon called DeArrow, from the creator of SponsorBlock, which replaces thumbnails and clickbait titles with a video still / user-submitted ones. I often forget it's installed until I use another browser, but it's a really nice experience!
> that thumbnails which … induce more people to click through
Entirely conjecture on my part, but I imagine this _was_ true, has now been done to death, and no longer has any juice left in it. It’s how all the marketing stuff goes: discovered, early adopters get great results, everyone starts doing it and it loses any value.
> discovered, early adopters get great results, everyone starts doing it and it loses any value.
You might still lose out, if you don't do it?
Just like virtually every car these days has great safety features, so it's not a good selling point; but just try selling a car with 1980s levels of safety.
Possibly! I guess it's probably best to be guided by if the real pros are still using them. I think people are less likely to click on obvious clickbait these days, precisely because they recognize it, than on more authentic headlines. Supporting your PoV though is that MrBeast's noggin' is still prominently in his thumbnails.
You can configure it to not be enabled by default, but you click a little blue circle next to the title and it will show you the community version.
Plenty of good content is forced to play the clickbait thumbnail/title game and it would be a shame to miss some of it because of YouTube's incentive problems.
gigantic bobblehead of the author with a particularly exaggerated stupid looking expression on their face induce more people to click through
I never avoided these. They naturally make me puke and disgust and want to smash their degenerate faces if I ever see one on the street. No need for doing my best. The realization that so many people happily click through that was sickening at the time. It’s “open doors” party in asylum and people rushing in in excitement.
Btw, many channels seem to moved on from that, in self-moderation after a short period of experiments. Those who stuck to it showed the most increase in mental deficiency and turning to stupid comedy/meme show rather than original material. One example of that were these new LTT formats, afair.
Even if it's for the sake of feeding the algorithm, I do my best to skip them.
I also internally prioritize videos which:
- avoid usage of superlatives "TOP X", "BEST OF Y"
- have more than 5k views and less than 250k views.
After a while, my YT recommendations have become mostly solid.