---
title: '8 Easy Hacks for Viral YouTube Shorts | How to Viral YouTube Shorts'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=yqidqWe0FgE'
video_id: 'yqidqWe0FgE'
date: 2026-08-10
duration_sec: 703
---

# 8 Easy Hacks for Viral YouTube Shorts | How to Viral YouTube Shorts

> Source: [8 Easy Hacks for Viral YouTube Shorts | How to Viral YouTube Shorts](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yqidqWe0FgE)

## Summary

This video presents eight practical hacks for creating viral YouTube Shorts, based on an analysis of successful shorts. The creator covers techniques for hooking viewers in the first three seconds, using visual and auditory cues, emotional storytelling, captions, video length, custom thumbnails, and tools for finding viral ideas.

### Key Points

- **Hack 1: Fast First Line** [00:02] — Successful shorts deliver the first line of the script within 3 seconds. This mirrors the role of titles and thumbnails in long-form videos—viewers decide quickly whether to stay. If your first line takes longer than 3 seconds to say, change it.
- **Hack 2: Pattern Interrupt** [01:26] — Many viral shorts start with a zoom-in or zoom-out movement, which acts as a visual hook. This pattern interrupt catches the attention of mindlessly scrolling viewers. Adding such a movement takes only 5-10 seconds with keyframes. Transitions or effects can also serve this purpose.
- **Hack 3: Emotional Hooks** [02:42] — Use lines that trigger emotions like FOMO, challenge, urgency, anger, excitement, or hope. Examples: 'If you don't want ABC, skip this video' (FOMO), 'I'm sure you don't know about ABC' (challenge), 'You need to know this before it's too late' (urgency).
- **Hack 4: Captions** [03:59] — Adding captions makes passive viewers active because reading requires more focus than listening or watching. This is especially helpful for viewers in noisy environments or those watching without audio. Captions increase watch time.
- **Hack 5: Playing with Emotions** [04:55] — Use storytelling to create an emotional roller coaster, as seen in Mr. Mako 2.0's potato phone charging video. By alternating between disappointment and excitement, you keep viewers engaged. This technique can skyrocket audience retention.
- **Hack 6: Make Longer Shorts** [07:03] — Data shows that shorts between 50-60 seconds get significantly more views (average 1.1 million) compared to 10-15 second shorts (77,000 views) or 30-40 second shorts (690,000 views). Longer shorts with high retention signal quality to the algorithm.
- **Hack 7: Custom Thumbnails** [08:29] — Custom thumbnails matter for shorts appearing in browse or search features, where they compete with long-form videos. Steps: 1) Design a 9:16 canvas thumbnail, leaving bottom area clear for the title. 2) Add the thumbnail 0.1 seconds before or after the video in the timeline. 3) Select that frame as the thumbnail when uploading. 4) In desktop mode, the thumbnail persists.
- **Hack 8: Viral Ideas with VidIQ** [10:07] — VidIQ's Daily Ideas tool analyzes your channel and similar channels to suggest video ideas and predict view potential. You can save or dismiss ideas. There's also a customized ideas section for specific topics. VidIQ offers other features like AI content generator, keyword research, and AI coach. The Boost plan is available with a 90% discount for the first month via the special link.

### Conclusion

The video provides a comprehensive set of actionable hacks for improving YouTube Shorts performance, from hooking viewers in the first seconds to leveraging data and tools. By implementing these techniques, creators can increase retention, views, and overall channel growth.

## Transcript

Starting with Hack Number One So we know that a YouTuber's sentence should be very good and for a high view percentage you need to have a great hook so I went to the short feed and scrolled for a long time and analyzed the hooks of all the
shorts that I came across. At first I didn't find anything special but after some time I found some interesting patterns. The first thing I noticed was that in all the successful shots, no
For example, this shot: Can we ever make a 100% perfect circle? And make a 100% perfect circle? And this can you slice but with a can? This is chocolate vs. l? And let's see who wins? And this is the most unique e-reader
that you've ever seen as you can see. No creator took more than 3 seconds to say the first line of the script and this complete makes sense because the first 3 seconds of your short are the same.  The role that the title and thumbnail play in the case of long videos is of
course you never want a viewer to take more than 3 seconds after looking at your title and thumbnail just to understand what the video is about so if the first line of your short is such that it takes you
more than 3 seconds to say it then change it right now because decoding brother this is fine but what should you say in the first 3 seconds that will hook the viewer I will tell you but before that there was one more thing that I noticed in many shorts
pattern interrupt in the first second so here I have some shorts and right now I will play all these shorts for a second and try to notice what is common in all of them so today I am going to spend a lot of time this is puffer fi this is the
light you can open from a normal so if you noticed then great and if you did not then let me tell you that there is a zoom in or zoom out movement at the start of all these shots While editing a video, it will take you only 5 to 10 seconds to add such movement to a key frame.
You might wonder what the benefit of this would be. But there is a reason why all these big YouTubers are applying this technique in their shorts. Actually, interrupting the repetitive pattern of the viewers, which acts as a visual
hook. In simple words, viewers who were mindlessly scrolling through the Shorts feed suddenly see a change of visual in front of their eyes, which catches their and you will see that along with the visual, an auditory hook is also created. Yes, it is
not necessary that you use only this zoom and zoom out effect. You can use transition as used in this channel's shorts or you can also use any effect as this channel has done for every shot. But even if you
first 3 seconds of the shot.  I have to say something that hooks them intentionally. And for this, you can use hack number three, emotional hooks. There are some lines that you can use as hooks no matter what niche you are in. For example, if you don't
want ABC, then skip this video. If you are making an educational or how-to video where you are telling people how to get something, then you can use this hook and it will create fear of missing out in the mind of the viewer. For example, if you do
skip this video. Then there is a hook, I'm sure you don't know about ABC. Here, simply replace ABC with the topic of your video. For example, I'm sure you don't know about this update. This hook instantly challenges the viewer's mind
that there is something that they don't know. And the viewer gets hooked. Similarly, you create an emotion of fear in the mind of the viewer.  You can create urgency by saying something like you need to know this before it's too late. So, FOMO, challenge, urgency, anger,
excitement, hope, and there are so many emotions that you can use to create a strong hook. But even if you hook them in the beginning, there are chances that the viewers might swipe away your shot after a few seconds. If you are not able to maintain their
tension, so let's talk about hack number four: captions. We have two shots on the screen. Look at them and honestly tell me which shot you will watch for a longer time. No doubt, 90% of you viewers' answer will be this left one. But why, just by adding a caption,
left one. But why, just by adding a caption, psychological reason behind this. Reading is an active activity, whereas listening and watching are passive activities. That means, you don't have to put any effort yourself in these things. If you
add such captions, then the viewers who watch the short feed Even those who are passively scrolling become active viewers because reading text requires more focus. Additional captions can be really helpful. If viewers are
watching your video in a place where they cannot play audio or cannot hear the audio due to the noisy environment there, like public places. Then there is another way to keep the viewers engaged in short and that is hack number five: playing with emotions.
So I want you to think of a movie that you have seen or your favorite and tell me whether your emotions were the same from the beginning to the end of the movie. I am sure your answer will be no. If the movie starts with a happy note, then
after a while something happens which makes you sad. Sometimes the emotions go up and sometimes down, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. This is done to play with your emotions and engage you because if the emotions remain the same throughout the movie, then you will get bored. Now the reason why I am
Telling you all this is because many creators use storytelling techniques in their shorts to increase their retention. For example, Mr. Mako 2.0's video I try to charge a phone with potatoes. At the start of the video, Mr. Mako shows that the
experiment of charging a phone with a potato is fake, but then he says that according to science, this experiment is possible. For this, all we need is a lot of potatoes. This intentionally changes the emotions of the viewers from disappointment to excitement. But then
by telling the viewers that we will have to connect so many potatoes with zinc and copper, which is a very challenging task and Mako is not even sure whether it will work or not. Still, Mako does not give up
and continues the experiment. Finally, the phone does not charge and the viewers get disappointed. But in the end, when he connects the wires to the LED, it starts glowing and the video ends.  It ends on a happy note, so as you can see, this
entire video was nothing less than an emotional roller coaster. Imagine if everything had gone as planned from start to end, Imagine if everything had gone as planned from start to end, think if you can use this kind of storytelling in your shorts. If yes, then
it will skyrocket your audience retention. Like, if I give an example of my channel, suppose I am making a short on the topic, how to get 4000 watch hours, then giving a tip to the viewers so that they can
introduce a problem that the viewers will face while following this tip and finally I can also give a solution to that problem. And basically, by playing with the emotions of the viewers in this way, you can keep them engaged. Number six,
make longer videos. I know, I know, I had said in my last video that the short is Make it of a length that aligns with your story. But since we're talking about hacks in this video, I guess I have to cover this tip. So this graph shows the
relationship between a short's length and the number of views on You can clearly see that in this study, shorts whose length was between 10 and 15 seconds had
only 77,000 views on average. Then, shorts whose length was 30 to 40 seconds, which is the length in which maximum creators make shorts, had 690,000 views on average. And finally, shorts that were in the 50 to 60 second range
finally, shorts that were in the 50 to 60 second range longer the short, the more views it will get. And this clearly makes sense because And this clearly makes sense because number one, keep it for a
best-performing shorts have audience retention of up to 100%. Now, if there's a 10-second shot from a page, then getting 100% retention on it isn't a big deal. So, it's getting 100% retention on it isn't a big deal. So, it's
However, if a 50- to 60-second shot gets 100% retention, then obviously the algorithm will understand that no one will accidentally watch such a long shot in its entirety. The accidentally watch such a long shot in its entirety. The video must be actually good, and that video will
value retention more. So, if possible, try creating longer shots once. Hack number seven: Custom thumbnails. So, when we talk about shorts, usually only one traffic source comes to our mind, and that's the shorts
feed, where thumbnails don't matter at all. But I'm sure many of you will be creators whose maximum views will in these traffic sources, your shorts will also have to compete with long-form videos
for the viewer's attention. So, here you Using this hack, you can add a custom thumbnail to your Nex Shot in just four steps. Step 1: Design a 9:1 canvas-sized thumbnail in your thumbnail editing software or app.
title of your short covers the bottom area of ​​the thumbnail in the browse feature, so don't put anything important there. Step 2: Go to the editing timeline of the video you want to add this thumbnail to and add that thumbnail 0.1 seconds before the start of the video or
0.1 seconds after the end of the video. This is a very short duration, so people will definitely This is a very short duration, so people will definitely notice it. Step 3:
so click on that. And here, you can use any frame from the entire timeline as a thumbnail. So, select the frame where you added the custom thumbnail and upload the video. And now you have a custom thumbnail
And now you have a custom thumbnail for your shot. Step 4: In desktop mode, you have and don't worry, that thumbnail won't go anywhere. And finally, hack number eight. Viral ideas. No
doubt, the easiest way to create a viral shot is to select a viral video idea. The tool that will help you with this is VidiQ. VidiQ's Daily Ideas tool analyzes your channel and other channels below yours to see
which types of videos are currently performing well. suggests excellent video ideas and also predicts the chances of them getting views. So, if you like a video idea, you can save it,
and if you don't, you can dismiss it. Like, I still remember that I got the idea for this video from VidIQ, but of course, you can find ideas for both shorts and long videos. There's also a customized ideas section where
you can enter any topic and it will show you related video ideas show you related video ideas for it.  For example, I will type
tools like AI content generator, keyword research tab, AI coach and more which will be very helpful in growing your channel. So, if you want to try VidIQ, then definitely you can install the free version, but if you want
complete access to all the features, then today you can get the Boost plan at a special discount. Click on the special link given in the description or post comment and you will get a 90% discount for the first month. Apart from this, I made this video
where I explain four ways to find viral video ideas for