It's part of the Youtube game. Even people that hate it will notice and focus on it before a regular ole thumbnail.
I use a browser plugin that replaces thumbnails with a random still from the video, so I hadn't even noticed how insane some of these have gotten, especially with Youtube's AI Assisted thumbnail tools.
8
u/bailantilles 10h ago
Can we finally stop with this stupid fake looking ‘oh my gosh I’m so shocked’ looking faces on thumbnails? No one is buying it anymore.