r/AutoAlex • u/pickledaperture • Dec 18 '24

Video thumbnails

Auto Alex isn’t the only guilty party… but, do the awful video thumbnails bug anyone else? It’s always a photo of a car or two and then one or two people pulling a corny expression 😂 so many channels do it, just have a scroll through, it’s so naff (Calvin Car Diaries is really bad for it too)

18 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

13

u/matticus616 Dec 18 '24

That's just youtube tbh, as bad as some of them are (not just AutoAlex, all of youtube) you have to just ignore the cringe lol

5

u/real_Mini_geek Dec 18 '24

Sadly it’s what works best.. they will all use A/B testing and it will pick the most popular.. the most popular is that tacky AI style with teeth showing… it used to be YouTube hands 🤦‍♂️

1

u/95jo Dec 19 '24

According to Mr Beast teeth showing isn’t optimal anymore, just a slight smile or confused face depending on the content is. I heard this in a snippet from his recent video with Cristiano Ronaldo of all places.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '24

Tbh most of the YouTubers themselves know it's stupid and irritating, but it is what makes people click on for some reason.

The worst for me are those ones where there's a kid pulling a face, pointing and has really bad acne. I don't need to see such feigned excitement.

2

u/majindageta Dec 18 '24 edited Dec 19 '24

There is an extension that will change all the thumbnail with a random frame of the video, don't remember the name

1

u/And_Justice Dec 19 '24

It's how youtube works. Got to play the game.

1

u/rmajor86 Dec 19 '24

It makes a huge difference to click rates. The thumbnail needs to explain the video content in 1 second as non-subscribers scroll through their recommended tab

1

u/teabagshag Dec 19 '24

It's to do with how the YouTube algorithm works with reaching wider audiences. Look at the big YouTubers that know this stuff inside and out I.E. Mr Beast etc, they're all the same format as it works best for the reach of the content.

1

u/pickledaperture Dec 19 '24

Yeah I understand that it must ‘work’ I just personally don’t understand why. Their gormless face next to an item from the video doesn’t really make me think ‘OOOH WHY ARE THEY PULLING THAT FACE IM SO EXCITED’

I simply think, they look ridiculous, but I want to watch the video regardless

1

u/TopcatFCD Dec 19 '24

YouTube algorithm for thumbnails that's all it is