Theory of YouTube

Thumbnails have been an integral part of YouTube for years now. Once called the shop window to your videos.

But is their time finally up?

Wether you hover over a video on desktop or stop to scroll on the app, videos now just simply automatically play. This is YouTubes ‘Inline Player’. Helping the viewing decided if they want to stay or continue to swipe along to the next video. Now this isn’t new, it’s been on YouTube all last year.

However, thumbnails used to the be the only door into your content. This would be one of the deciding factors for viewers clicking your video but with the inline player your thumbnails only show for a split second.

So what does this mean?

The first 30 seconds (or even 10 seconds) of your video need to grab peoples attention and hold their attention maybe more than thumbnails.

Now thumbnails aren’t just going to disappear over night but it’s something to look out for and think about when creating content.