Do video thumbnails matter?

[dineANDrhyme]

I know this might seems like an obvious question, but I would like to hear from those of you that have been at this for a while. Do video thumbnails help get you more clicks.

Let me explain. When you upload a video to youtube, youtube gives a choice of three thumbnails to choose from or you can upload a custom one. My questions, is a custom more "Professional" looking graphic thumbnail going to get people to click on my video over a thumbnail taken from the actual video itself? Here are some examples.

Is this custom graphic thumbnail likely to generate more clicks

Then this thumbnail?

Or, I this custom enhanced photo thumbnail

better then this video thumbnail?

It won't hurt to customize your thumbnails and I think it's the better option!

 

[Dullardmallard]

ive been wondering this as well. I usually just post a thumbnail of the video that has a funny reaction in the facecam I haven't actually made any with a good thumbnail yet

 

[SereYT]

I believe people click on videos almost ONLY because of the thumbnails. It is one of the only ways of really showing off your capability as a creator without them seeing it first hand.

 

[Jungle Explorer]

I think it is well established now that thumbnails matter. But I think the question of what kind of thumbnails are better is still murky and unclear.

How about some of the more successful youtubers show us some examples of what they consider to be good thumbnail design.

 

[jwl9brla]

I think it depends on the content. I know a lot of musicians don't use thumbnails and still get a lot of views and games seem to sell themselves. I think for unboxing and vlogs and reviews thumbnails are a good idea.

 

[Jungle Explorer]

I agree, but I was talking more along the lines of the technical aspect. Let me show some examples of different styles from my channel and we can go from there.

Example 1. This is a thumbnail from a How To video on how to fill your own propane tank. The thumbnail comes from the video itself.

Example 2. This is an example of a professional picture taken about the subject of the video.

Example 3. The is an example of a simple graphical thumbnail with high visit text.

Example 4. This is a mixture of a photo taken from the video combined with graphical text.

Example 5. This is a purely graphical thumbnail created for maximum eye catching appeal.

The five above examples represent five different methods of creating a thumbnails that might apply to any channel. Of course another subject we could discus is, which colors are more effective at not only attention, but clicks.

 

[Superherofunkids]

Oh yes! Thumbnails literally changed our channel. We've had our channel for just over a year, and as soon as we started making bright and interesting thumbnails(for a non artist, lol), we saw a big boost in views and overall engagement. We even went back and updated some of our old videos, and those views went up.

 

[Robot Elixir]

Custom thumbnails are definitely the way to go. Personally I think faces in the picture help (human, animal or robot ^_^)

 

[Turk-Lvlone]

Thumbnails are important because it's the first thing a person sees before clicking on the video, it could either turn away or attract someone to actually watch the video. I find myself clicking on videos with appealing images compared to thumbnails I find unappealing.

 

[Gaijillionaire]

I wouldn't even click on a video if there wasn't some text in the thumbnail image. If it's just some random frame, it smacks of no effort. Only the biggest of channels with zombie followers would allow that