It began at the 3rd annual VidCon
It’s 2012, and YouTube just announced that creators who reach a million subscribers will receive a gold play button.
But I was more excited that YouTube engineers were meeting with featured creators to get feedback on the website and give insight into what YouTube was releasing next.
In that room at the Anaheim Convention Center, I learned that YouTube was about to release thumbnail A/B testing.
“Soon.” They said.
I was blown away
2012 was quite the year.
- Gold play buttons
- I filmed and edited this video at VidCon on day 1 and then it played on the main stage on day 2
- An epic live show with The Gregory Brothers and the Double Rainbow guy (what a throwback)
- Coming “soon” thumbnail A/B testing
- In 2012, YouTube also changed its algorithm’s primary success metric from views to watch time. (No more misleading thumbnails to farm clicks!)
We waited. And we waited. Then, 6 years later…
In 2018 I got an email inviting me to the first-ever alpha thumbnail A/B testing program.
The alpha program worked by emailing a random email with three attached thumbnails. Then a couple weeks later I’d get an email back with the stats on how the thumbnails did.
It was janky and underwhelming – but it was happening and about to launch, this time for real.
“Soon.” They said.
We waited. Another 6 years…
Finally, in 2024, 12 years after that faithful day at VidCon, Thumbnail A/B testing is finally out. I was lucky enough to be part of the first group of channels to get the actual, for real, Thumbnail A/B testing in 2023, and I can confirm that…
🌈 It’s beautiful and everything I wanted 🌈
This is what you need to know about YouTube’s thumbnail testing
In the upload process, there are now three choices for thumbnails:
- Upload File (which is the traditional way to upload one thumbnail image)
- Auto-generated (equivalent to if no thumbnail was uploaded and YouTube default picked a frame from the video)
- Test & compare (this is the new feature – you want to click this)
Click “Test & compare” to use the new A/B testing feature (technically, it’s A/B/C testing since there are three choices… but everyone is calling it A/B testing)
A new window opens, and you can now upload two or three thumbnail images. You can click and drag them, one at a time, into the boxes (which is what I do) or click the + and upload through the file browser. Click “done.”
That’s it. You did it. 🎉
YouTube will now test the different thumbnails.
✨ Pro tip: If the data comes back saying all thumbnails did about the same, YouTube will default to the first, left-most image. Make sure that the left image is your preferred choice.
YouTube will test the thumbnails to see which gets the highest amount of watch time
If you’re seeing creators complaining about how the thumbnail testing does not show click-through rates, I don’t know how else to say this but…
Click-through rate is not the right metric to track. (it might feel like the right metric at first, but trust me, it’s not)
Remember how in 2012 the YouTube algorithm switched from views to watch time? Remember how, before that change, there were often misleading thumbnails that farmed clicks?
Let’s not go back there.
✨ Pro tip: It’s not about clicks. It’s about creating proper viewer expectations so videos get the most watch time — which also means the most happy viewers.
Critically important notes
- The thumbnails will be tested for up to two weeks — UNLESS there’s a clear winner
- If there’s a clear winner early on in the test (as quick as 24 hours), YouTube will stop the test immediately and select the winner
- Results can be viewed at any time (give it time though)
- The test can be stopped at any time, and a thumbnail can be manually selected as the final
- A new test can be started at any time
- You can set it and forget it — nothing needs to be done after uploading the two or three options — YouTube will automagically handle it and select the best
✨ Pro tip: Pick a few of your current best-performing videos and start a test by adding the current thumbnail along with two others to see if those videos can grow faster.
✨ Bonus pro tip: after the test ends with a thumbnail winner, start a new test with that winning thumbnail and two additional choices to see if it can get even better.
Show me what you got
This is an exciting time with new data and insights not easily seen before.
There’s even been a bunch of thumbnail results that have surprised me.
Share your wins! Send me your thumbnail results over X (Twitter?) and let’s talk.
See you “soon”✌️ (for real though)
