A deep thumbnail discussion with Chucky (MrBeast) and Todd (YouTube Algorithm)

Chucky makes the thumbnails for @MrBeast. Todd leads the @YouTube growth & discovery team. Rene, our @YouTubeLiaison , brings them together for a very deep dive into thumbnails, titles, packaging, hooks — basically everything creators need to think about to not just get views but build up regular, loyal viewers

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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.

[BloodMaster]

Can't wait for all of us to have the equal playing field with A/B Thumbnail Testing 👍

[evrimagaci]

Can you guys add metadata changes to the data charts? Like "Thumbnail Change" or "Title Change" or maybe "Changes Detected: Thumbnail, Tittle, " etc. marked on the graphs in Analytics of a video, so that we can also see that is the reason why. Right now, we have to approximate when we changed the thumbnail or title.

[CodingAqyanoos]

The Harsh truth. Misleading confusing contents go viral because those contents are so confusing that the viewers stay longer to figure out what is really going on. Useless contents go viral because they are nothing but confusion. The YouTube algorithm is about one thing, only one thing -> keep viewers on the platform. If viewers watch most of the view then YouTube keep recommending and promoting the video, the video quality does not matter at all.

[DCInsightsbyM]

Even if we can't create custom thumbnails for shorts, would be great if we could at least choose which scene appears as the thumbnail. Very frustrating when YouTube uses a scene that I don't want to highlight, first. As an example, I posted a quiz, and YouTube used the scene with the answers as the thumbnail. I had to unlist it.

[evrimagaci]

As an idea for the question at 40:00 mark, you can probably show the most viewed portion of the video instead of the first seconds when someone stumbles upon a video thumbnail. This might give away too much for some creators, but still, it may attract more clicks.

[naturalnaela]

I’m genuinely curious though, at what point are people clicking on a Mr. Beast video, just bc he’s Mr. Beast, regardless of the thumbnail?

I just started this video, but I’d love to see this applied to a lot smaller channel (and I don’t mean 100k subs) I mean wayyy smaller 5k or less subs or 5k-10k subs.

[maryspot]

Does youtube push contents because of the thunbnails?
Youtube is not favorable new creators no matter how good the thumbnails are. It kinda frustrating

[andrewguiant]

Can't wait for A/B Thumbnail Testing so we can all figure out we need better content and not better thumbnails

[SaroDogTraining]

All this information is just ideal and useful for the MrBeast's channel. I don't think it will apply to any other channel. MrBeast's is a different world of YouTube.

[ZachGood]

I love how all of Mr Beast’s thumbnails show him with the same deranged smile and they just change the background, extremely fresh and innovative

[cppctek]

Glad to see closed mouth did better 😂😂😂😂 The shocked face thumbnail vs a genuine face has always been a wild debate but I’ve always been less likely to click shocked face thumbnails.

[CoconutPete]

think about the fact that YouTube is in bed with MrBeast and other creators don't get a fair chance as the game is totally rigged... YouTube hand picks who makes it and who doesn't. Thumbnails are just a distraction to make you think YouTube is a level playing field

[CraftsUnLeashedbyRobin]

And I also agree that you should pick out a handful of smaller channels that are doing well. Mr Beast style thumbs do not work in every niche.

[naturalnaela]

11:53 “when you design your thumbnail in photoshop” Me with Canva open: 👁️👄👁️

[naturalnaela]

32:38 I was SO CURIOUS about this! Thank you! I thought it got pushed out again if the thumb/title changed

[CraftsUnLeashedbyRobin]

I would like to know what has changed with the YT recommendation system since about the beginning of February....my most recent handful of videos are NOT getting the impressions, in fact my latest videos are getting around HALF the impressions during the 1st 24 hours. Yes, I've done A/B testing, changed the thumb and title at least 4 times. Something has shifted at YT.

[JamesLee해외주식]

Why can't we have custom thumbnail for shorts when youtube is so aggressive in pushing out this short form video? Because of this, some shorts thumbnail reveal spoilers that's supposed to be a surprise within a short video.

[bisayangtagalog]

Sometimes I put thumbnail but still low views. Sometimes my video have no thumbnail but high views😊🥰

[OhShiitakeMushrooms]

MrBeast this, MrBeast that. No, we all shouldn't try to copy MrBeast. These videos give bad advice. Just be you.

[davidvinc]

It would be nice to see something for a smaller channel, somewhere in the range of 50-100k subs - not everyone is a Mr. Beast, we need real world advice, not pie in the sky advice.