A case against clickbait titles that linus uses

[Watanabe]

First of all, no one knows(besides google) how youtube algorithm works, so people like Linus who claims that it likes clickbait titles is just speculation, but here it goes my case about the clickbait that Linus uses on LTT:

 

Veritassium last year did a video about clickbait titles and he showed that it didn't worked like people says, if you're curious about it you can check it here:

 

If Linus has seen that Veritasium video, he 100% missed the point. Here are the examples Veritasium gives of his clickbait videos that performed well:

 

Now compare those to some of Linus' recent videos:

 

Every single one of the highlighted Veritasium videos has an interesting thumbnail and sentence that truthfully describe what happens in the video. Linus' thumbnails and titles leave me guessing WTF the video is about. What's the name of that folding screen laptop and why does he want to break it? What's the plan that Yvonne vetoed? What was Linus waiting for? Why doesn't Linus need internet? Who knows the answer to any of those questions, and none of them are interesting enough for me to click on the video to find out. Linus seems to think that good titles are just unanswered questions, but they have to ask a question that is actually interesting.

I don't think it is a coincidence (besides Veritasium cherry-picking videos that did well) that his videos have much higher view counts than Linus', despite him having fewer subscribers (12.9 million vs 14.8 million). Most of Linus' videos get around 2 million views, which is less than 1/7 of his subscribers, and his ten most recent videos have 0.871, 1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 1.3, 1.6, 0.806, 1.7, 1, and 1.3 million views. Veritasium's most recent videos have 6.9, 6.4, 12, 7.4, 5.7, 4.4, 6.8, 22, 12, and 8.5 million views. Two out of the last ten Veritasium videos had more people his subscriber count watch them, and all but two had more than views than 50% of his subscribers.

Linus's top video of all time has 22 Million Views. Veritasium has 12 videos with more views, and he's made way fewer videos.

 

Linus' clickbait strategy objectively does not work.

 

MKBHD, Linus' closest competitor, got nearly five times the view count on his review of the new iPhone than Linus did on his.

 

Marques' thumbnail and title look like this:

 

 

and Linus' look like this:

 

 

Which one would you click on if you heard that Apple launched a new phone and you want to find out if it's worth buying?

[ToboRobot]

1 minute ago, Watanabe said:

First of all, no one knows(besides google) how youtube algorithm works, so people like Linus who claims that it likes clickbait titles is just speculation, but here it goes my case about the clickbait that Linus uses on LTT:

 

 

Do you know how YouTube's algorithm work?

Are you just speculating?

Why is your speculation more accurate than speculation from people whose business literally is making YouTube videos?

[Watanabe]

Just now, ToboRobot said:

Are you just speculating?

I am

 

Just now, ToboRobot said:

Why is your speculation more accurate than speculation from people whose business literally is making YouTube videos?

First of all: Nothing really, you should read and form your own opinion on it, you have the rights to disagree or agree with what I said. I'm only giving my opinion about it nothing more, nothing less.

 

I'm a old time watcher of Linus and I still watch his recently videos but I dislike the way his clickbait titles works and I tried to argument that he isn't doing ir properly.

 

Second: My argument is based on Veritassium and MKBHD videos, which are two people who has more viewers than Linus and Veritassium is a smaller channel.

[ToboRobot]

Just now, Watanabe said:

I am

 

First of all: Nothing really, you should read and form your own opinion on it, you have the rights to disagree or agree with what I said. I'm only giving my opinion about it nothing more, nothing less.

 

I'm a old time watcher of Linus and I still watch his recently videos but I dislike the way his clickbait titles works and I tried to argument that he isn't doing ir properly.

 

Second: My argument is based on Veritassium and MKBHD videos, which are two people who has more viewers than Linus and Veritassium is a smaller channel.

Is it best to form opinions with facts or baseless speculation as your foundation of understanding?

You should increase the sample size of your data so that it is worthwhile.  Cherry picking a few videos does not make for solid analysis.

Why do you care about the titles of videos?  Why do you care about this so much that you have measured and recorded this data set and create an argument, and then finally created a new forum account to present your data and argument?  Why do you care so much about this trivial topic?  Are you harmed by clickbait? 

[Middcore]

1 minute ago, Watanabe said:

Second: My argument is based on Veritassium and MKBHD videos, which are two people who has more viewers than Linus and Veritassium is a smaller channel.

 

Veritasium uploads once or twice a month. LTT uploads basically every day, not even counting their secondary channels like TechLinked, Mac Address, etc. Their per-video numbers are not comparable.

 

Once you get a fuller picture, Veritasium is not more successful than LTT by any metric. So why should LTT follow Veritasium's model?

 

 

[Stahlmann]

Well the point of clickbaity titles and thumbnails isn't to describe the video. They should give as little information as possible so the user HAS TO CLICK on the video to even know what it's about. So it's baiting in people that probably wouldn't even have watched it if they knew what it's about.

 

These titles and thumbnails aren't even clickbait imo. They're as they should be: Descriptive of the content. Precisely the opposite of what LTT is doing.

[emosun]

well i do like that you made that entire argument without actually checking which channel was doing better , it's almost r/woosh worthy

[Dracarris]

Also there recently was this on Twitter:

"This Tweet was deleted by author" - LOL, I REALLY REALLY wonder why LS wanted to have this off the internets.

 

For those that don't know: He was showing a viewership graph which showed a steady downwards trend with some daily dips and spikes in BOTH directions. He highlighted one of the numerous, smaller dips and claimed that there was a causal relation to "changing the title to sth less clickbaity" that very day.

 

Yeah, sure. Basically everyone and their dog lectured him that that's not how statistics and data analysis work.

 

That being said, the production value of basically every Veritasium video is outstanding and not comparable, especially the educational aspect. But sure he uploads way fewer videos.

 

12 minutes ago, emosun said:

well i do like that you made that entire argument without actually checking which channel was doing better

What makes a channel doing "better" than another does not really have a clear answer and for sure I wouldn't say it's the socialblade rank.

 

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

33 minutes ago, Watanabe said:

Linus' thumbnails and titles leave me guessing WTF the video is about.

This.

 

There are videos that I would have watched, had I known WTF they were about based on the title and thumbnail.

 

I'm not interested in weeding through the clickbait to find the videos on the topics that I care about. So I don't.

[emosun]

1 minute ago, Dracarris said:

What makes a channel doing "better" than another does not really have a clear answer and for sure I wouldn't say it's the socialblade rank.

sweet then my channel with zero videos must be doing way better then if we get to just make up the aspects of what a good channel is.

[LapsedMemory]

If you subscribe to Floatplane, you get all the videos without the ads or the sponsorship spots, and the titles are far less click-baity because there's no algorithm to feed (Yes, actual video titles differ from their YT counterparts).

 

If you watch LTT regularly, it really is a pretty good deal.

 

/I am in no way sponsored by LTT, just a happy customer.

[Sarra]

38 minutes ago, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

1 hour ago, Watanabe said:

Linus' thumbnails and titles leave me guessing WTF the video is about.

This.

There are videos from LTT that I have no interest in, and if the title is clickbait enough, I'll start it then abandon.

[Rex Hite]

The example titles given for veritassium and LTT differ in that the LTT titles always refer to the first person, (my, and I). Maybe that's a significant factor.

Linus' job is to sell consumer tech to his audience directly, by inference, or by association. Veritassium's videos promote ideas and concepts not directly related to consumer industries. Of course they differ in tone; they differ in intent.

 

[benny_r_t_2]

I think the point is that  LTT videos do have a lot of click bait titles.  I don't think anyone can disagree with that.   I don't care if using clickbait helps or hurts their success or how they may compare to other content creators.  I simply do not like click bait titles, but that's just me.  It's kind of immature to use clickbait, but consider who we're talking about... Linus.  The problem with click bait, for me, is that I might skip a video if the title is too obscure or if I think it's not interesting based on the title.  

 

I've learned though that LTT videos are mostly interesting and entertaining even if I don't really understand the title from the outset.  But I would still prefer if the titles actually align more closely with the content.

 

 

[Watanabe]

1 hour ago, Dracarris said:

For those that don't know: He was showing a viewership graph which showed a steady downwards trend with some daily dips and spikes in BOTH directions. He highlighted one of the numerous, smaller dips and claimed that there was a causal relation to "changing the title to sth less clickbaity" that very day.

I have the chart saved here but I don't know if I can post it

[Dracarris]

1 hour ago, emosun said:

sweet then my channel with zero videos must be doing way better then if we get to just make up the aspects of what a good channel is.

Everytime you comment it becomes basically instantly clear that there is no point in arguing with you. I'll try it one more time: Obviously that's not what I meant. Avg views per video would be something like the impact factor in academic research to filter out researchers that just spam low-quality publications.

[Watanabe]

33 minutes ago, NastyFlytrap said:

unless you want to be hounded by Linus' personal fan mob who act like he's the virgin mary

I realized that after I replied to the first Linus fanboy, so I began to ignore them, it's easier than trying to argue with them

 

35 minutes ago, NastyFlytrap said:

its actively turning me away from videos that may just interest me,

Same and maybe a video would interest me but because it's clickbait to the point I don't know what it's about, I just ignore it and go to watch something else

[ToboRobot]

2 minutes ago, Watanabe said:

 

 

Same and maybe a video would interest me but because it's clickbait to the point I don't know what it's about, I just ignore it and go to watch something else

and make a forum account to post your thoughts....

[Yoinkerman]

What really makes me chuckle is YouTubers complaining about click through metrics on notifications.

 

Bro I got a job and a life I'm not watching your YouTube video when it goes live ...

[kumicota]

40 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

and make a forum account to post your thoughts....

lol, touch some grass

[LogicalDrm]

3 hours ago, Middcore said:

Once you get a fuller picture, Veritasium is not more successful than LTT by any metric. So why should LTT follow Veritasium's model?

 

While this would be good point, making this kind of comparison is not really fair, to either. Different category, different audience types etc. Looking at monthly numbers from past 6-12months would give better look. And also comparing both to their closest competitors in their own category.

[Middcore]

3 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

While this would be good point, making this kind of comparison is not really fair, to either. Different category, different audience types etc. 

 

I generally agree it's difficult to make a meaningful comparison between them. But since OP touted view numbers of individual videos as though that proved something, I thought it was worthwhile to point out that if you look at any other stat the case for the superiority of Veritasium's approach becomes questionable. 

[Sarra]

30 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

And also comparing both to their closest competitors in their own category.

This also isn't exactly fair. I can watch Channel "A"'s videos, and their 'closest competitor', Channel "B"'s videos, and neither channel gets 'punished', or diminished, in any way.

 

Nothing on this platform is really that black and white. Except clickbait being stupid, despite how effect or ineffective it is.

[Blademaster91]

There is a point that clickbait becomes so misleading that you don't know what the heck a video is even about, and I think comparisons with other channels is fine, there are other channels that don't clickbait as much and their videos get more views, clickbaiting to the point of not even being to tell what a video is about or not being able to find a video later on is ridiculous and really annoying.

I got tired of the LTT clickbait years ago and I don't even watch most of their videos, people have been complaining about it for a while, but LTT and their fans always use the but they have to make money excuse, even though there are other channels that don't clickbait and are successful.

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, Sarra said:

This also isn't exactly fair. I can watch Channel "A"'s videos, and their 'closest competitor', Channel "B"'s videos, and neither channel gets 'punished', or diminished, in any way.

 

Nothing on this platform is really that black and white. Except clickbait being stupid, despite how effect or ineffective it is.

Way to proof you didn't get my point in under 100 chars. The "fair" in my post refers on making comparisons that make sense. There's no point comparing Average Joe's car channel to MrBeast giving away 10 Lambo's to first person to hug him. Thats what I refer with fair comparison.

 

35 minutes ago, NastyFlytrap said:

Also thats socialblade, which is always wildly off....

Doesn't really matter in this case and my point. Pun intended.