[0:00] hello hello hello hope you're doing well
[0:02] all right YouTube thumbnail testing or
[0:04] AB testing as some would call it it has
[0:07] been out now for a couple of months and
[0:09] I have had the chance to do some testing
[0:11] in eight of my videos and my honest
[0:14] opinion here is it is good at least
[0:17] initially until I realized that it's
[0:20] horrible the way YouTube implemented
[0:22] this let me start by asking you a simple
[0:25] question what exactly is thumbnail
[0:27] testing to you it is basically comparing
[0:29] two or three thumbnails than checking to
[0:32] see which one has a higher click through
[0:33] itate am I right that was my initial
[0:36] thought and I instinctively think that
[0:38] that is what it is for so when I did my
[0:40] testing I looked at test results see
[0:43] which has the higher percentage then
[0:45] select that as the winner that is how
[0:48] the feature is meant to help I give
[0:50] YouTube Three thumbnails they test it
[0:52] out for me by swapping at random times
[0:55] then run the test for me if you have
[0:57] been using Tu buddies AB thumbnail test
[1:00] that is how it works as well in fact
[1:02] that is what anyone with common sense
[1:05] would think when we say AB testing ask
[1:07] any U iux designer and they will tell
[1:10] you that too but YouTube for whatever
[1:13] reason decided that the thumbnail should
[1:16] measure watch duration instead of Click
[1:18] through rate I mean why how on Earth can
[1:22] a thumbnail decide someone's watch
[1:24] duration so this is what YouTube has to
[1:26] say how is the winning thumbnail
[1:28] selected the winning thumbnail is
[1:30] selected based on the highest share of a
[1:32] video's watch time but why is watchtime
[1:35] share used great thumbnails don't just
[1:38] get viewers to click they also help
[1:40] viewers understand what the video is
[1:42] about so that they can make informed
[1:45] decision of what to watch all right fair
[1:47] enough by selecting based on watchtime
[1:49] share the winning thumbnail is the one
[1:52] that gets viewers to both click and stay
[1:55] to watch now that doesn't make any sense
[1:57] at all people click on a video because
[1:59] the thumbnail or the title made them
[2:01] curious but what makes them stay to
[2:04] watch the video is about the
[2:06] presentation the flow of the video the
[2:09] storytelling the engagement so what I'm
[2:12] seeing here is even if there's a channel
[2:14] out there who is in the same niche as I
[2:17] am who creates similar thumbnails as me
[2:20] who has the same type of information in
[2:23] our videos we may get the same
[2:25] click-through rate but that does not
[2:27] mean we will get the same watch through
[2:30] ation I'll show you imagine if I'm
[2:31] sharing a tip to making more money on
[2:33] YouTube so yeah guys today I made $100
[2:37] on YouTube and what I did is to make
[2:41] sure I create my video then I upload it
[2:44] and then I share it on other social
[2:46] media platforms and when my video gains
[2:50] Traction in other social media platforms
[2:53] they ended up clicking on my chat link
[2:55] and watching my video on YouTube then
[2:58] getting me more views
[3:00] so I made $100 like that extremely dull
[3:04] not much hand gestures no soul no
[3:07] expression whatsoever now compare that
[3:11] to this so today I made $100 on YouTube
[3:14] and I cannot believe what I did actually
[3:17] works what I did is to make sure I
[3:19] create my video then upload that video
[3:22] to YouTube and then I share it to other
[3:25] social media platforms these social
[3:27] media platforms will then get views on
[3:29] their own attracts new audiences for me
[3:32] and get those who are interested to
[3:34] watch my YouTube video via the link I
[3:36] shared and when my video gain Traction
[3:39] in other social media platforms they
[3:41] ended up clicking on my shared link and
[3:43] watching my video on YouTube than
[3:46] getting me more views on YouTube and
[3:48] increasing my revenue for that video it
[3:51] is as simple as that I didn't believe
[3:53] that would work and I hope you can try
[3:55] this out and see the traction as well
[3:57] same message but the watch time varies
[4:00] depending on the delivery right so I
[4:03] honestly don't think YouTube got this
[4:05] right at all the thumbnail has got
[4:07] nothing to do with watch duration even
[4:10] if the Creator nailed the thumbnail and
[4:12] delivered the promised value but YouTube
[4:15] did not end their explanation there they
[4:17] have more to say they state that
[4:19] additionally YouTube's search and
[4:22] Discovery systems consider both when
[4:24] ranking videos choosing thumbnails based
[4:27] on watchtime share will benefit both you
[4:30] and your viewers the way I read that
[4:32] sentence it is just covering up
[4:34] something they don't understand I feel
[4:36] like the team who came up with this
[4:38] feature needs to be content creator
[4:40] themselves hence I don't buy what they
[4:42] say it isn't benefiting me nor my
[4:45] viewers because the metrics are
[4:47] unrelated having said that I do find one
[4:50] very interesting fact about this and
[4:52] that is how YouTube does rank our video
[4:56] this is something that I have had
[4:57] suspicion on for years that's I think
[5:00] that some videos are ranked much like
[5:03] the Google algorithm and I strongly
[5:05] believe that big channels that have
[5:07] created one or more successful videos
[5:10] their channels are ranked secretly so
[5:13] say if I were to create a video of the
[5:15] same topic as Nate black then my video
[5:18] will not get as much impression as his
[5:20] because his channel is ranked higher
[5:22] than mine and therefore the videos he
[5:25] creates will have the advantage of
[5:26] getting ranked higher of course this is
[5:28] just my specul but that particular
[5:31] sentence from YouTube about ranking
[5:33] videos it kind of tells me that it does
[5:36] exist and is hidden from us anyways
[5:38] that's what I found from YouTube
[5:40] thumbnail testing and set to say I
[5:42] didn't even notice it until recently but
[5:45] not only that another big problem with
[5:47] YouTube thumbnail testing is it doesn't
[5:50] benefit small channels in order to have
[5:53] thumbnail testing perform efficiently
[5:55] you actually need a big sample siiz data
[5:58] for example most of my thumbnail testing
[6:00] takes at least two weeks to conclude and
[6:03] often it ends with no conclusion so
[6:06] that's a big waste of time but that's
[6:07] because my sample size is small meaning
[6:10] my videos aren't getting enough
[6:12] impressions for YouTube to do
[6:13] substantial thumbnail testing and who is
[6:16] responsible for giving me more
[6:18] impressions YouTube of course and here's
[6:20] the thing if you're a small Channel and
[6:23] you don't get as many Impressions
[6:25] because your channel isn't ranked yet
[6:28] then this whole thumbnail testing is
[6:31] useless to you your sample size is just
[6:33] too small to make any proper conclusion
[6:35] which is very counterintuitive because I
[6:38] thought thumbnail testing is for small
[6:40] channels but turns out it is really for
[6:42] the big players again I know shocking
[6:46] right I don't know why but when I first
[6:47] heard about thumbnail testing from
[6:49] YouTube from the big content creators
[6:51] out there who got invited to test this
[6:54] feature like Mr Beast I was given the
[6:57] impression that they are to measure
[6:59] click rate and when I look back at what
[7:01] Mr Beast posted when he first started
[7:03] testing this I think even he got
[7:05] confused about what YouTube's AB
[7:08] thumbnail testing is all about the post
[7:11] he made on Twitter or X or whatever he
[7:14] is clearly talking about click through
[7:17] rate and not watch share look that being
[7:20] said I do still use it these days for
[7:23] every video I launch I create three
[7:26] thumbnail versions and I upload them for
[7:28] testing this three thumbnails contain
[7:31] very subtle changes like font color or
[7:34] face expression but that's about it then
[7:38] I will test it out and 99% of the time I
[7:41] will get almost equal percentages which
[7:44] means it doesn't matter which thumbnail
[7:45] I pick they all give similar results
[7:47] there is one time where YouTube gave me
[7:49] a winning thumbnail after testing just
[7:51] one day but that happen only once and I
[7:55] actually don't know why just take a look
[7:57] yourself they're all the same nail I
[8:00] just tilt one and turn another one
[8:02] upside down I guess it does increase
[8:04] click through rate but again I don't see
[8:07] how that will affect watch time unless
[8:10] of course the formula is as simple as
[8:12] taking the clickthrough rate plus the
[8:15] watch time then giving a final score to
[8:18] that thumbnail to determine the winner
[8:20] so that means assuming watch time stays
[8:22] constants because the video style is
[8:24] only capable of doing so much then the
[8:27] deciding factor of a winning thumbnail
[8:29] automatically becomes the click through
[8:32] rate so I guess in a way it is still the
[8:35] click through rate and we're back to the
[8:38] correct way of AB testing look you can
[8:40] see how confusing this is and YouTube
[8:42] needs to be a little more transparent
[8:44] and be straightforward maybe for once
[8:46] stop working with big channels who have
[8:48] the edits advantage and work with small
[8:51] channels who really want to see if new
[8:54] features introduced can indeed help
[8:57] channels grow big channels are all
[8:59] already established they don't need
[9:01] these tools but small channels do so the
[9:04] very least you can do YouTube is to
[9:07] spend those billions of dollars you have
[9:10] to implement a feature that is made
[9:13] specifically for small channels big
[9:15] channels can help sustain YouTube they
[9:17] don't need as much help small channels
[9:20] though if you help us grow our channel
[9:22] to become the next big Channel then that
[9:26] benefits YouTube in the long run because
[9:28] the pool of big channels just gets
[9:31] bigger it's a win-win situation if you
[9:33] ask me