New YouTube Update - Text and Filters for Shorts Thumbnails

YouTube recently announced an annoying update that doesn't solve a problem some creators have. Let's investigate.

⏱️⏱️VIDEO CHAPTERS⏱️⏱️
0:00 - Custom thumbnails update for Shorts
0:42 - Where do Shorts views come from
2:53 - Creators are making custom Shorts thumbnails
3:49 - How to hack a custom Shorts thumbnail

#moresubscribers2024 #moreviews2024 #growyourchannel

[theduckgamerr]

YouTube is talking about thumbnails on shorts like it’s some super hard thing to implement 😭, it should be pretty simple, right?

[CarlRyds]

The crazy thing is… YouTube Shorts had custom thumbnails when they were launched… then they got rid of them. It’s not like the code isn’t already there to support it.

[dude.dans_]

As a shorts channel, 76% of my total views came from the shorts feed and most of the rest came from YouTube Search/Channel Pages; which both show the Thumbnail. And although it's only 24%, we're still talking about hundreds of millions of views. I honestly don't see why YouTube hasn't added that feature yet

[UnexpectedHistory]

I don't understand why the ability to use custom thumbnails on Shorts was removed in the first place. That was a boneheaded decision on YouTube's part.

[pranks]

I want shorts to go away. They ruined youtube.30 sec video use to pay the same as a 5 minute video. I think the change is to create the new 9 to 5 model for the next generation.

[JonnoPlays]

For anyone wondering how to put a thumbnail on your short: email yourself the video, download it on your phone, then upload from your phone in the YouTube app. At the final screen of the upload process you will see an edit button on the thumbnail which will allow you to select one frame from the video to be your thumbnail. This is the only process by which you can change your short thumbnail currently.

[nishilim]

What feels worse is it always says "FOR NOW, you can't change the thumbnail on your Shorts". The false hope that it's in the works...

[DCInsightsbyM]

I get it, we can’t create a custom thumbnail for a short, but why can’t they at least allow us to choose which scene is featured as the thumbnail? So frustrating.

[ToddlerTravel]

Small channel here, and 57.6% of our shorts traffic comes from YouTube search. Custom thumbnails would definitely help... most of ours look very stupid indeed! 🤣

[TylerSilverscale]

As someone who hates shorts taking over media I find this an absolute win.

[CubikArt]

As a shorts channel, 94.2% or 196M views came from the shorts feed and only about 10M views came from search.

[WGSeries]

There's a famous quote from a Blizzard Entertainment Executive about a decade ago when the community was asking for something from the company. I believe that scenario kind of describes Youtube's view on the matter in a similar fashion... "You think you do, but you don't."

P.S. "We think we want custom thumbnails on shorts, but we don't!"

[archiechoke]

I get most of my views from the shorts feed when it is first released. But later views come from the YouTube search function.

[CurtisBland]

Just checked, 74% is from YouTube Search

[SlavgaardsManga]

same.. 55.5% on shorts comes from search as well

[SolarEditsAMV]

Honestly, I believe that shorts thumbnails are very essential shame they aren't adding it😢

[leannedelux]

About 75% of my shorts views come from search….4% from the shorts feed.

[phrebh]

Custom thumbnails on Shorts was something that we had and they took away. So we know they can do it. We just want it back.

[Vigmaster]

For education creators thumbnails on shorts would be nice to have but for example gaming shorts arent usually searched for the most, meaning the views come from the shorts feed so no thumbnail is needed. But it would still be a cool addition to youtube anyway.

[fullgameclips]

Yeah, I, too, can't change the thumbnail of YouTube shorts on my laptop or even my mobile phone, or I can't upload a custom thumbnail. They should make it accessible to all YouTube creators.