Netflix just released some data that is super beneficial in helping us grow our YouTube channels. Seriously, this is huge. Netflix just released data on how viewers are viewing thumbnails on Netflix. And there’s a ton of gems that we can pull out of this study to implement into our YouTube thumbnails, to get more clicks and get more views. – You gotta just (camera beeping) press record.
Hey guys, my name is Nolan Molt with Think Media. Now on Twitter, I found a really cool tweet thread by Jay Alto, and he was presenting information from Netflix by TrungTPhan. And Jay Alto actually took this information and translated it into how YouTubers can use this Netflix data for our selves. I’m gonna leave a link to the Netflix article as well as the Twitter threads in the description. And also check out Jay Alto on Twitter.
He has a really cool account so if you’re looking to level up your thumbnails, you’re gonna love checking that out as well.
But in summary, here were some of the findings. On average, Netflix users are looking at thumbnails for only 1.8 seconds. Thumbnails were also the biggest influence in users selecting their content.
Also viewing thumbnails took up 82% of the user’s focus while browsing through Netflix. Now we can assume that the data is very similar from Netflix to YouTube. Now, this is only some of the information. I’m gonna get into way more data that is super interesting, especially for us YouTubers, but so far here’s what we can take away. Thumbnails are crucial for getting clicks and you don’t have that long to grab someone’s attention before they’re going somewhere else.
And this tells us that people are paying attention to the thumbnail when they’re scrolling through YouTube and not really the title first.
They’re looking at thumbnails mainly. Now we’re gonna get into some more practical tips for grabbing the viewer’s attention and getting clicks with this data, data, data. What is it, guys? Let me know in the comments.
I don’t know, but I’m gonna say data. Here we can see that Netflix found humans respond to faces, specifically ones expressing complex emotions, which carry more information versus benign expressions. So, you know the classic YouTube thumbnail face that people do, well it’s actually backed by science because it works and it gets people to click.
Netflix also found that using visible, recognizable characters equals more engagement particularly when it’s a polarizing figure. Now, this is a really interesting tactic and something we have done on Think Media, which is using other influencers in our thumbnails.
Now you have to make sure that, of course, the content backs up the thumbnail, and it’s not just clickbait. Now, this could be a really interesting strategy for someone to grow their channel based on someone else’s influence, especially if they are a controversial figure.
Now this one is really interesting. Netflix found that engagement dropped when thumbnails contained more than three people. Now on Twitter, Jay made the connection, and I totally agree with him, that this goes beyond just faces.
This could also be just images or subjects in your shot. For example, you can look at this Ryan Trahan and Airrack images, and you can see that yes, there is only one person. So that is less than three, which is positive, means more engagement, but also there are not more than three objects in their thumbnails. These thumbnails don’t have a lot in them, but they work really, really well. And this study backs that up.
Thumbnails are so important. In fact, the thumbnail of this video probably played a large part in getting you to click on this.
And this thumbnail was made by Jay using a lot of the tips and tricks from this Netflix article. But after you catch someone’s attention with a thumbnail, the next thing they look at is the title. And if you want to learn how to make the perfect YouTube title, then click on the screen right now. And I’ll see you guys in the next video.