I did another thumbnail test for a YouTube video, and the results are a bit interesting this time. The picture of a plate of food from Keng Nam Hai food court performed the worst at 26.8%. In a way, that surprises me because food videos are so popular on YouTube. The two other thumbnails featuring people performed better at 32.9% and 40.3%.
However, there is a significant bump for the third thumbnail featuring me struggling with a CoffeeBot Cafe machine. It has a score of over 40%, which is around 8% higher than the one featuring myself and my two brunch companions.
I guess it’s hard to say what exactly makes the third thumbnail perform better. It could be the image itself, which has some movement in it. It shows me standing and holding my arms out towards the malfunctioning coffee machine. But it could also be the words Coffee WARS that made the difference. Any thumbnail with a dramatic word like WARS on it would likely perform better.
It’s important to note, as always, that this YouTube test doesn’t record clicks. It doesn’t compare how many people click on the thumbnail. It compares how long people watch the video AFTER they click on the thumbnail. Therefore, it’s more of a measurement of how the thumbnail relates to people’s expectations about the video’s content.
People who click on the food thumbnail stop watching sooner. People who click on the Coffee WARS thumbnail continue watching the video longer.