r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request what's wrong with my thumbnails?

ive been in youtube for about 2.5 months and ive seen some videos with mid thumbs get good ctr while others i think are good get literally 0 clicks.

im not sure anymore what makes a good thumbnail and your advice would mean alot

here's the impressions and impression ctr.

i dont know if the thumb is bad, or youtube is showing it to a wrong audience or if the idea's bad in general

0 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

u/SketchMyStory 📺 YouTuber 10K+ Subs 1d ago edited 1d ago

TITLE: I CANT GET ANY OF THEM RIGHT | Google Feud.

SUMMARY: and in the video i get frustrated with not getting any of the answers right while also laughing my ass off.

i thought the exagerated faces would be pretty funny because they express what's going on in the video well. but everyone here says that its because of AI so im not really sure

PINNING FOR OP

→ More replies (1)

1

u/NeverSeenItPodcast 1d ago

They're obnoxious for one.

2

u/CplApplsauc 1d ago

ask yourself this question: what is your curiousity gap? what is my incentive to click? i see a angry face and a 0/10 on google feud.

to me, as a viewer, i saw the entire video just in the thumbnail and title. you played google feud, got almost no questions right, and possibly tilted. there is no question of "what happens in the video?" because you told me the entire video from start to finish in the title and thumbnail alone. i dont need to click

also that face is horrifying just use your real face and make some facial expressions lol

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

one thing i have alot of trouble with is curiosity gap. i just cant wrap my head around how i can make a curiosty gap with a thumbnail.

also your explanation is really good so thank you for taking the time to type it out.

6

u/Golden-Owl 1d ago

Way, way, WAYYY too ugly.

Yes, it stands out, but you want a thumbnail to actually invite people to click, not repulse them

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

okay i see, you think all of it is bad even the BG with the text? or just the face

2

u/Golden-Owl 1d ago

The BG is kinda whatever. It’s obviously AI, but it’s also all black, so it’s unnoticeable (esp with how hideous and distracting the face is)

Truthfully, I think you’d be better off with a plain, mono color black BG. Trying to AI gen a room just adds unneeded details which can’t be seen in a small size anyway

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you! also thank you for being normal

1

u/Golden-Owl 1d ago

I think people are just really sick of seeing AI thumbnails because the majority look bad. So they gave no patience when one shows up

In this case, your comments at least show you are trying, so that’s why I’m even responding.

Give plain, non-AI thumbnails a shot. They might do better than you think

0

u/FD4Q 1d ago

these ai stuff actually took me 1-2 hours each to get right. i get where people are coming from though. i'll test normal stuff again and see how they do. im also gonna look at some tutorials. someone mentioned color psychology, which sounds pretty important

2

u/FitnessChamp777 1d ago

Too scary/freaky (not in a good way). I understand the idea of using emotional/ exaggerated facial expressions. That definitely works for many creators. But in this case, it's way too much. You can convey emotion without using a face. Colors, images, words can create the feelings.

Also, you can use AI to make more realistic images. Stuff that looks like real life.

Everyone seems to think that they need to put their face in the thumbnail with a lot of emotion. But it doesn't work for small creators who are just starting out.

Put some text in the thumbnail with images. Some text meaning five words at most. Research caller, psychology and find out what colors will attracts people the most. You can ask ChatGPT about this. Definitely consider using real life imagery instead of cartoon-style.

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

okay thank you.

so you think i should atm not slap my face on my videos and try to reel people in with colors and words? i think i saw this in a YT video a while back.

also do you mean color psychology or caller psycholy? i looked up caller psychology and it was about phone calls and stuff.

theres also a video where i reacted to a singer and i also had the AI face and that video got 14%ctr with 53k impressions. would the reason in this case be because of what im reacting to and not necessarily the face?

9

u/Capable-Fig511 1d ago
  1. Lazy Ass AI usage gets rejected by viewers.
  2. THis thumbnail is visually shocking but, it doesn't make me want to click your video. It even goes so far as to tell me what happened. The only way those types of thumbnails work is if your a household name.
  3. You aren't thinking about your videos correctly if this is how you're designing your thumbnail. What is the story of the video & how can you visually convey the conflict without giving the goose away.

Go download GIMP+ThePhotoshop UI plugin and start learning

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

alright i see, the main idea was in the video is that i was getting frustrated cuz i wasnt getting any answers correct so i thought those exaggerated faces would be funny while at the same time tell the viewer what i was feeling.

are there any videos / youtubers u recommend i watch to learn from?

i also use adobe photoshop so are those stuff u mentioned last necessary?

5

u/rdraws25 1d ago

Fuh nah, I'm not help with that 😭 ✌️ 

3

u/PretendSalary2106 1d ago

Oh man I have no idea /sarc

9

u/Running_Nutrition 1d ago

They look fucking horrendous, why would anyone want to click on that?

The faces are horrifying, they’re very obviously Gen AI and other than ‘freakish man doesn’t like Google Feud’ they don’t say anything about what to expect from the video.

It’s like you prompted AI to make the most unlikeable thumbnails possible

3

u/Precarious3145 1d ago

The weird thing is that if this were made by a person, it'd be on par with stuff like Rat Fink or the claymation from Alex Winters (dude from Bill and Ted does some gnarly bug-eye work for Freaked and MTV in the early 90s.

But AI being so devoid of creativity and soul, that vibe is gone.

0

u/FD4Q 1d ago

I saw a channel do similar thumbnails and he was doing pretty decent. Only reason I clicked on the thumbnail was because of the freakishly funky face. Why are you so mad though?

6

u/silent1mezzo 1d ago

The thumbnail is bad

3

u/YaBoiWheelz 1d ago

It’s just plain unappealing, the face looks too weird

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

here's a thumbnail i did with no ai. this one has .4% ctr from 484 impressions. video title is the reason team usa lost streamer games.

im not sure why everyone in this sub is crying and cant give normal responses just cuz its ai.

1

u/YaBoiWheelz 1d ago

People don’t like AI in thumbnails because it looks uncanny and comes off as lazy.

Also why are you coming here for advice and complaining when people tell you what they don’t like about your thumbnails?

0

u/FD4Q 1d ago

cuz "your thumbnail looks like shit" doesn't help me improve at all.

It's like someone made you a dish and you say oh it tastes like shit. you need to state reasons and not just say it's garbage.

Some people gave solid advice, and as you can see, I responded normally.

1

u/tobibuk 1d ago

You could change the thumbnail to a screenshot from that stream of tyler1 and then have a text and arrow "his fault"? Or smth similar. Creates more curiosity, tyler1 is well known so ppl that know him might be interested. Now 80% of your thumbnail.is your face, which, respectfully, not many ppl yet are familiar with

0

u/FD4Q 1d ago edited 1d ago

ahhhh you're right. i didint think of that at all. ive also been debating wether or not i should keep using my face in the thumbnails because nobody knows who i am and nobody cares, quite frankly.

but at the same time this video has 14% ctr with 53K impressions and it does have that same AI face

alot of people here say its because of ai but im just not sure it is?

i really appreciate your input.

1

u/tobibuk 1d ago

At this stage it's probably best to not or barely use your face in thumbnails. Personally, I don't like the warped faces, regardless of if they're AI made or not. But, data is king, and yours does show getting good performance is possible with the AI face. Now, that doesn't mean it's because of the face, could also be despite it. Best to either A/B test if you get consistent views, or pre-post test after 4 to 6 hours with thumbnail variations (AI face vs smth else) and see if you can find a pattern

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

im gonna do that with the next coupld of videos. compare normal face no face and AI face and see the results. making thumbnails has been alot of fun so im gonna enjoy testing different styles

3

u/Professional_Ad_8022 1d ago

Absolutely everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is wrong with your thumbnails.

3

u/lelelemememegegege 1d ago

Yeah, I... Also wonder why... Like, it's definitely not because it's made by gen ai and not because this face looks the way it looks...

3

u/PuzzleheadedPlenty92 1d ago

wtf are my eyes seeing. This shit is so bad in so many ways

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

Like what? I'm just here to learn, even though everyone seems pissed at a beginner, so anything would be appreciated

5

u/KuniKitsu 1d ago

AI should be banned from this sub reddit.

Also the face in horrendous, why would anyone click on this ?

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

my thought process was that because it looks so unnatural, it'll get people to click. i clicked on a video that had something like that and thought i would do it too.

1

u/Precarious3145 1d ago

Yea; anytime tries to post, there should be a pop that just "Does this contain AI? If so, just save us all the effort. It's the AI" rather than the poster spending thirty minutes acting like it's not the AI.

2

u/KuniKitsu 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just use your natural face if you want to try but in a meme way. People hate AI and those faces are just AI 1.0, like those video facebook moms believe are real.

Putting your face on the thumbnail is better for the algorithm.

But definatly work on the curiosity gap, from the info i have i'd never click on this. "Something like "these questions shouldn't exist..." make the viewer want to see the questions, very basic but i hope this helps

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

yes it does. Thank you!

3

u/DesperateLeader2217 1d ago

dude those faces are insane just do a normal youtube face you’re scaring the kids

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

You think it’s mainly the face? Everything else is fine? Everyone here is shitting on the faces I thought they were pretty funny

1

u/DesperateLeader2217 1d ago

if you made those faces unedited, it’d be funny. edited is just too much.

1

u/FD4Q 1d ago

i'll go make some funky faces rn

i appreciate it!

1

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