Agent_zed
Established Member
and you'll likely get more clicks if you are an attractive man or woman posing. But more clicks does not equal a better or more informative video, and in my experience the people that spend more time trying to get my attention have spent less time on the subject matter. Which is my entire point that I avoid clickbait thumbnails. It's not foolproof but generally if they are flashing a bit of cleavage or 6 pack (man or woman) then the video is likely to be more about them than the subject.
Well the videos I watch seem to show up fine without having to have someone posing in every thumbnail. So you can keep saying they aren't visible and I'm wrong, but as I've already said 7/10 chisel sharpening videos didn't have anyone in their thumbnails when I searched. You've shown a ~5% difference in your stats example. It makes no difference if nobody watches the video for more than 20 secs because it's not very good, and they have been clickbaited into watching it. The algorithm is more than just the thumbnail. It will also likely depend on the subject matter which will lead to likes and increased watch time. It's certainly possible if I am searching for Yoga videos that a person in the thumbnail is more important but chisel sharpening that doesn't appear to be the case.
Or 'bandsaw safety tips' 6/10 thumbnails don't show people.
'river table' 8/10 thumbnails don't show people.
'Turning a bowl for beginners' 9/10 thumbnails don't show people.
But 'how to play frisbee' shows people in 9/10 thumbnails.
Perhaps as I've said subjects that are people centric are more suited to use images of people. Sharpening a chisel isn't a team sport or fashion show and I don't care what the person looks like.
