What's up with these shitty thumbnails? - Honest Answers Ep. 5

[AlTech]

So, you've probably really seen and hated lots of LTT's clickbait thumbnails. I quite dislike them personally and I want to take a stance against them 

 

Spoiler

 

Well, as Linus correctly identified as informed in his latest entry into the Thumbnail Clickbait Saga, the YouTube algorithm has a solution to fix your issues.

 

And yes, it is the incredibly important Dislike button. The Dislike Button is significantly more important than the like Button to YouTube. Dislikes cause new videos to be hidden from viewers if there is enough of them.

 

Disliking a video causes the video to not be shown which means less people will be able to see the video and less views for LTT. If people commit to disliking videos with bad thumbnails, LTT will lose viewership and hopefully stop producing nasty thumbnails in the future if they wish to gain new viewers. 

 

 

 

So please, next time you watch an LTT video, be sure to raise your voice and let it be heard if you're not happy with those cancerous thumbnails.

 

I can't wait for Linus to get his ass out of his head and start removing clickbait so that I can actually recommend LTT videos to others. This clickbait is making me not recommend people watch LTT videos and have really awesome ideas for other app projects but goddamnit, I can't cos of those damn thumbnails.

[Dabombinable]

I myself have actually found that the thumbnails stand out less among other, similar click bait style thumbnails. Some from completely different genres of content.

[Bwithnewcast]

Use linux, it is free and no bloatware

[tlink]

i couldn't care less about thumbnails.

[AlTech]

Just now, Dabombinable said:

I myself have actually found that the thumbnails stand out less among other, similar click bait style thumbnails. Some from completely different genres of content.

Really? Cos the kind of content I watch on YouTube means that out of all the videos in my feed, these are the most obnoxious by a damn mile.

[Dabombinable]

Just now, Bwithnewcast said:

Use linux, it is free and no bloatware

Bloatware is less of a concern than built in spyware....
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/01/ubuntu-online-search-feature-disabled-16-04

[IntMD]

Or you could just not care about a thumbnail. Really who actually cares about them anyway? I can't even think of one I have actually paid any attention too ever, on any channel.

[Dabombinable]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Really? Cos the kind of content I watch on YouTube means that out of all the videos in my feed, these are the most obnoxious by a damn mile.

Yep. My subscriptions feed is fucked by click bait thumbnails meaning that I need to go through the subscriptions list manually to prevent my eyes from bleeding. Plenty of channels with good content...but the thumbnails can make looking through them a chore.

[FloRolf]

3 minutes ago, tlink said:

i couldn't care less about thumbnails.

+1

 

And imho they aren't even very clickbaity. I mean, "GTX1080 in an Ultrawide AiO" shows a GTX1080 in an Ultrawide AiO soooo....?!?!?!

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, IntMD said:

Or you could just not care about a thumbnail. Really who actually cares about them anyway? I can't even think of one I have actually paid any attention too ever, on any channel.

Why are you lying to yourself? if I see videos with Thumbnails which are cancerous, then I really don't wanna watch the video and I can't recommend or share it.

[AlTech]

Just now, FloRolf said:

+1

 

And imho they aren't even very clickbaity. I mean, "GTX1080 in an Ultrawide AiO" shows a GTX1080 in an Ultrawide AiO soooo....?!?!?!

Thumbnail Clickbait. Not Title Clickbait. 

[zMeul]

bullshit still smells no matter how hard you try to polish it

 

LTT has nearly 4mil subscribers, but if you look at how many view each video has got, less than 1/3 of those subs are actually watching LTT content

 

this is a chart with the views for last 30 videos LTT published over ~1month:

 

Linus' excuse that cancerous thumbnails and shit titles helps LTT stay afloat ... I don't buy it

you create an audience and keep it engaged with quality content - clearly this isn't happening with LTT as views wieldy fluctuate and doesn't even reach the number of subs

LTT has ~1mil of dedicated viewers, even less if you factor in the fact you don't have to be a subscriber to watch LTT's content

 

I unsubbed couple of months ago and with the way Linus steers the channel, I have no interest in LTT's videos

[FloRolf]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

Thumbnail Clickbait. Not Title Clickbait. 

Yes, but the Thumbnail shows exactly whats in the video. So why would it not be the thumbnail?

You just want a plain text as the thumbnail saying the product number of the featured item? 

IMHO It's got nothing to do with clickbait that i'd rather watch a Video called and showing a "Acer Gaming Monitor" instead of "XB281HK bmiprz" 

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

Seriously? This is an issue for someone? The little pictures on a youtube video? come on guys.... there is way more important stuff in life :-)

[IntMD]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Why are you lying to yourself? if I see videos with Thumbnails which are cancerous, then I really don't wanna watch the video and I can't recommend or share it.

Or you could just not assume something you really have no idea about. I really do pay no attention to thumbnails, I read the titles on videos instead and I really couldn't care less what is in a thumbnail, nor can I understand why people get bent out of shape about a thumbnail even if they do look at them. If the description of a video is completely misleading, then I would care but generally with a couple of exceptions you know exactly what to expect on an LTT video. It isn't a difficult concept to comprehend at all. 

[idmb]

7 minutes ago, zMeul said:

bullshit still smells no matter how hard you try to polish it

 

LTT has nearly 4mil subscribers, but if you look at how many view each video has got, less than 1/3 of those subs are actually watching LTT content

 

this is a chart with the views for last 30 videos LTT published over ~1month:

 

Linus' excuse that cancerous thumbnails and shit titles helps LTT stay afloat ... I don't buy it

you create an audience and keep it engaged with quality content - clearly this isn't happening with LTT as views wieldy fluctuate and doesn't even reach the number of subs

LTT has ~1mil of dedicated viewers, even less if you factor in the fact you don't have to be a subscriber to watch LTT's content

 

I unsubbed couple of months ago and with the way Linus steers the channel, I have no interest in LTT's videos

He addresses this directly, saying that keeping viewers is less important than getting new ones and that clickbait is a better way to bring people in.  

[Princess Luna]

Honestly the only video I ever disliked of LTT was that video they made a big deal out of adding a SSD on an old laptop Luke had, since that video was not only clickbait, thumbnail bait and shallow/empty/pointless altogether then yeah it won my dislike but as long as the videos content is still good I over look the click/thumbnails bait.

[zMeul]

2 minutes ago, idmb said:

He addresses this directly, saying that keeping viewers is less important than getting new ones and that clickbait is a better way to bring people in.  

then he's an outright idiot

how on earth does the number of subs matter if less than 1/3 of them actually watch the content? if so, why even bother producing new videos? just upload the same shit from last week with a new thumbnail 

 

he will destroy if he continues, he will destroy the channel - mark my words

the trend line already shows he's losing viewers

[Guest]

 

Or seeing as though you seem to have already done that, you could, ya know, not watch them 

[Sauron]

I don't care about the thumbnails and boycotting a channel that I like for this petty nonsense is in my opinion morally wrong.

[AlTech]

Just now, Sauron said:

I don't care about the thumbnails and boycotting a channel that I like for this petty nonsense is in my opinion morally wrong.

Linus Media Group is a Business. You are a supporter of this unethical business behavior so long as you overlook this.

[Guest]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

Linus Media Group is a Business. You are a supporter of this unethical business behavior so long as you overlook this.

Unethical..... 

 

You think those thumbnails are unethical? 

 

Think someone needs to take a break from the Internet tbh

[HelplmChoking]

Perhaps you need to sit down and consider why it is you're getting so worked up about a small image that leads to a video...

The thumbnails are obnoxious and loud, but that's what get's the videos noticed and that's fine by me. I don't even see them thanks to Floatplane, but even on Youtube, they're a small image I'll see for a few seconds before I go to a video. The title is more indicative of the content, and if that's a big ol' lie, then I'm not going to be happy about it (not that LTT really does that, at all), or if the video straight up sucks. Not gonna lie, I've disliked a few LTT videos in the past (pizza heater, or the frog hunting, for example) but only ever because I disliked the actual video. 

[Guest]

I don't like clickbait titles and thumbnails. I even unsubbed a while ago because of this. I agree that it is being turned into infotainment with tech at it's core. But it's getting harder to take some of the tech part out of them vids.

 

When I see a clickbait title/thumbnail on one of LTT's vids, I "watch" it to give thumbs down.

 

I also go trough all my subbed chanels to look for new content. And if someone is subbed to LTT, why would they need a clickbait title/thumbnail to get them views? Be honest, and get the subs to watch the vid. Close to 4 mil subs, and after a week vids get close to 1 mil views @ best. I'd say: get rid of the clickbait tumbnails and get the titles to be somewhat funny and cover the content whitout getting into the clickbait zone. (and only use caps where needed) Get the subs to watch the content and moar subs will come.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, AUniqueName said:

Unethical..... 

 

You think those thumbnails are unethical? 

No, I think producing thumbnails for the sake of clickbait because 80% of people who would have watched their videos is not good enough.

 

If someone wasn't gonna click on your video without cancerous videos then you have a problem with your content and your content is just not good enough.