Test and Compare is HERE, QR Codes, Mentions in Comments, Payment Activity in Studio, and MORE!

Hello Insiders! We're excited to announce that Test and Compare has begun rolling out to creators- we can't wait for you to try it. We're covering a handful of experiments and launches this week.

Check it out and leave us your comments and questions below!

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:05 Test and Compare Update
1:48 [Experiment] Creator QR Codes
2:26 [Launch] Expansion of Payment Activity in Studio
3:01 [Launch] Premium Jump Ahead
3:51 [Experiment] Mentions in Comments

Links:
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Creator Insider is an informal YouTube channel to share information from the YouTube Creator technical team with the wider Creator community. We will feature different people talking about the products they work on and changes we are making so you have more context.

[JasonParkerMagic]

For some of these features you were mentioning it would be really nice to have on-screen visuals to SHOW what you're talking about. Rather than imaging where to click through a menu to get a QR code, etc.

[GiGi.Studios]

PLEASE ! Thumbnail selection for shorts for PC users ! Whats the hold up ? Automatic selected thumbnail is often so bad 😭😭😭

[VrejGaming]

Please make it display the CTR alongside the watch time, I don't see a reason to hide the CTR.

[AndysAwesomeAdventures]

Test and Compare is a game changer! Just started using it yesterday. I assumed the results would be based on CTR, but now I know it's based on viewer watch time. I'm constantly changing thumbnails if a video is not performing well, so this feature will give me concrete data that will help me choose the best thumbnail, instead of just guessing. As you mentioned, if may be hard to have a winner if a video doesn't get a lot of views, but glad this feature is finally here.

[StreetCatSafari]

CTR is the ONLY thing I really want to know about a thumbnail. Also, show me the results in real time., weeks down the line is no use. Also, why are desktop users STILL not able to choose a shorts thumbnail?!

[Ofis_of_Zvenigorodka]

You can hold castings all day and upload short videos with interesting personalities in the evening. And it doesn't matter where you see them. Even one phrase reveals the essence of a person and conveys his state of mind.

[TBAG]

so we're not allowed to see the CTR for the different thumbnails..??? thats kinda weird

[zincberg]

I have been really excited for test and compare. A few small things, it does seem funny to me that it would work off view duration rather than CTR. I would have presumed CTR would have been more affected by the thumbnail, whereas view duration would be more affected by the content. Also, 2 weeks to see a winner? in 2 weeks my videos are dead and buried lol. Maybe im not as excited as I thought I would have been.

[BenFinio]

Another suggestion: something like a consolidated "test and compare" tab somewhere in Studio where we can find all our tests and results in one place? This is a little easier to remember for new videos, but I have a large library of existing videos, and eventually I'm going to have trouble remembering which ones I've set up experiments on and I'll forget to go back and check their results.

[JasonParkerMagic]

Well I don't see "Test and Compare" button available at all.... and I do have Advanced features enabled. Still waiting to try it.... doesn't really seem "HERE" yet like in the title of this video.

[alfredoistic]

📌 Great updates but I can't find the QR code you're referring to. For better clarity, could you please include a screenshot with each explanation? This will help ensure that everyone can follow along easily, as we are currently struggling to understand without visual aids.

[PreppingWithSarge]

Thumbnail is all about CTR. This metric would be more helpful for this feature.

Whether or not someone STAYS for the duration is decided after they start watching, so it doesn’t really make sense to us why that metric would be tied to the thumbnail?

Feedback: please revisit this, I see I am not the only comment pointing this out.

[AFGuidesHD]

I'm glad it's here for when I create like 50 thumbnails and simply can't chose.... but does it actually harm the algorithm ? Having 3 different thumbnails running surely can't actually be good for new content can it ?

[JoshSnodgrass]

I've noticed that over the last year or so since there were some significant algorithm changes, viewership is down for my channel and the other large channels in my niche. I understand that you're trying to compete in shorts with other platforms but you've probably gone too far in my opinion in pushing them at the cost of promoting other types of content. I post hours long videos with music I record that people play in the background as they work or relax. There is a significant community of creators who record music with the intent of using long YouTube videos as sort of a "streaming platform" in a way that allows the user to listen to significant quantities of music without the pause between songs that comes with a 1 song per video approach. I know that you say that the algorithm follows the audience so there could just be a decrease in interest in this type of video. There certainly is increased competition from channels who don't create any music but just take recordings created by others and add AI thumbnails (I constantly have issues with people taking my music without permission). I believe there is an issue where the algorithm is somehow not giving as many impressions for this type of video. The creators in my niche generate billions of hours of watch time on YouTube. My channel alone had over 12 million hours last year. I think this is a significant issue that needs to be addressed.

[BenFinio]

Super excited for Test and Compare! One preliminary bit of feedback: any way to get a better sense of how many *impressions* (and/or clicks) are required to achieve statistical significance/end the test? Two weeks is kind of vague - I have some high-traffic videos that get more views in a day than others do in a year, etc. So it's not totally clear if those high-view videos will just have their tests complete much faster, or if they will still run for the full two weeks. (I know I will find out if I'm patient and just wait, just set the tests up today). Thanks!

Edit - first test for an existing video that gets a lot of steady views was actually done in a day!

[Leaxiaoai]

I hope YT can have the "replace" feature for the published video. Because sometimes the creator may find some mistakes with the videos, be it a typo of CC or glitches of video, or simply just want to alter a little bit. Instead of deleting the video and re-uploading again, a video replacing would be much helpful for creators.

[OfficialJamesRWard]

I don't know what's holding back introducing thumbnail for shorts. That would be a great feature, and expect for consideration of it. BTW comparing thumbnails gonna be a game changer, Looking forward for it.

[mgtracey]

I WISH THERE WAS A VISUAL GUIDE ON HOW TO FIND THE NEW CHANNEL qr CODE, I CANT SEE IT ?

[nageshvishwakarma]

Test & compare option is not coming in my channel

[MrHoodieJones]

Please consider letting us pick our shorts' thumbnail, even if it's from the frames of that video on desktop.