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Hi, I'm Plouffe. 2 00:00:01.001 --> 00:00:02.002 Hi, I'm Maria. 3 00:00:02.002 --> 00:00:06.940 Plouffe: And we're here today to talk to you about some of the thumbnails that we didn't talk about in our other video. 4 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:07.907 What do you want to start with? 5 00:00:07.907 --> 00:00:10.944 This DankPods collab that we did? 6 00:00:10.944 --> 00:00:13.880 So we've got some pretty, like, big obvious changes here. 7 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:15.682 One is with DankPods. 8 00:00:15.682 --> 00:00:17.984 And instead we've gone with AliExpress text. 9 00:00:17.984 --> 00:00:19.652 DankPods was a clear winner. 10 00:00:19.652 --> 00:00:23.456 MARIA: I think having his face will grab attention to people 11 00:00:23.456 --> 00:00:26.860 because they will be like, oh, there's a new host rather than just Linus. 12 00:00:26.860 --> 00:00:30.864 MARIA: So maybe that's why that would be a good Plouffe: Right. 13 00:00:30.864 --> 00:00:33.967 MARIA: approximation of why it was, like, way higher. 14 00:00:33.967 --> 00:00:35.568 Plouffe: Yeah, I think MARIA: What do you think? 15 00:00:35.568 --> 00:00:38.838 Plouffe: I think that, you know, people are kind of tired of AliExpress. 16 00:00:38.838 --> 00:00:43.910 And if they clicked for AliExpress and then they show up and it's more focused on DankPods, 17 00:00:43.910 --> 00:00:45.345 then they probably click away. 18 00:00:45.345 --> 00:00:48.348 Whereas with this one, it's kind of like the chair versus the pile of boxes, right? 19 00:00:48.348 --> 00:00:52.285 Like, we've got DankPods there, and if you know it's DankPods, 20 00:00:52.285 --> 00:00:54.854 then you're going to click him and you're going to stay and kind of watch. 21 00:00:54.854 --> 00:01:00.160 I'm just surprised that it's this stark of a difference, like 10% roughly. 22 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:01.127 It's quite a lot. 23 00:01:01.127 --> 00:01:06.833 MARIA: Yeah, as you said, maybe because people might be like, oh, another video of AliExpress. 24 00:01:06.833 --> 00:01:07.333 Plouffe: Yeah. 25 00:01:07.333 --> 00:01:12.639 MARIA: Rather than having a new host, new, like, something different from what we have done before. 26 00:01:12.639 --> 00:01:14.841 So maybe that helps, I guess. 27 00:01:14.841 --> 00:01:15.842 Plouffe: What's our next one? 28 00:01:15.842 --> 00:01:18.011 Oh, this was the water cooling a laptop video. 29 00:01:18.011 --> 00:01:21.147 Yeah, this was another really big difference. 30 00:01:21.147 --> 00:01:23.716 I just think this is kind of, like, he's holding some stuff. 31 00:01:23.716 --> 00:01:25.018 I don't get it. 32 00:01:25.018 --> 00:01:27.087 MARIA: I agree with you. 33 00:01:27.087 --> 00:01:30.190 The thing that he's holding is just, like, wires. 34 00:01:30.190 --> 00:01:32.358 Plouffe: Yeah, and, like, tubes maybe. 35 00:01:32.358 --> 00:01:35.428 MARIA: It’s not telling a story. 36 00:01:35.428 --> 00:01:36.429 It's just, like, holding stuff. 37 00:01:36.429 --> 00:01:37.097 Plouffe: Yeah. 38 00:01:37.097 --> 00:01:38.865 Plouffe: $30. MARIA: While the other - exactly 39 00:01:38.865 --> 00:01:43.436 While the other one is like, oh, he's, like, making a hole in the laptop. 40 00:01:43.436 --> 00:01:45.605 Like, I want to know more about it. 41 00:01:45.605 --> 00:01:48.341 Why is he making a hole there? 42 00:01:48.341 --> 00:01:55.315 Plouffe: So I know that when we write our thumbnail guidance, there's usually just one set of guidance. 43 00:01:55.315 --> 00:01:57.317 And these are, like, wildly different images. 44 00:01:57.317 --> 00:02:00.353 So do you remember which one was the guidance thumbnail? 45 00:02:00.353 --> 00:02:03.189 MARIA: Think for this one, we actually had both. 46 00:02:03.189 --> 00:02:03.723 Plouffe: Really? 47 00:02:03.723 --> 00:02:07.961 When you guys send me the guidance for the thumbnails, when it's 48 00:02:07.961 --> 00:02:11.965 just like, Linus holding stuff, I try to think of other ideas. 49 00:02:11.965 --> 00:02:12.966 Plouffe: Right. 50 00:02:12.966 --> 00:02:16.936 MARIA: Because, generally, I prefer to have something else. 51 00:02:16.936 --> 00:02:17.937 Plouffe: Yeah. 52 00:02:17.937 --> 00:02:20.907 MARIA: So maybe for this case, Plouffe: *unintelligible* 53 00:02:20.907 --> 00:02:23.009 MARIA: I think this was Alex's video, if I remember correctly. 54 00:02:23.009 --> 00:02:24.811 Plouffe: Yep, it is. 55 00:02:24.811 --> 00:02:28.481 MARIA: Probably they all told Alex, like, hey, can we do, like, this other version? 56 00:02:28.481 --> 00:02:33.219 And they took both versions, like, both pictures at the time. 57 00:02:33.219 --> 00:02:34.888 Plouffe: Do you remember if you were on set for this? 58 00:02:34.888 --> 00:02:38.892 Because you're usually either on set or looking through a camera or something to try to tell 59 00:02:38.892 --> 00:02:41.694 us, like, ah, that's kind of boring, let's do something else. 60 00:02:41.694 --> 00:02:43.563 MARIA: For this one, I wasn't. 61 00:02:43.563 --> 00:02:43.897 Plouffe: No. 62 00:02:43.897 --> 00:02:45.231 MARIA: Because it was a long time ago. 63 00:02:45.231 --> 00:02:45.665 Plouffe: Right. 64 00:02:45.665 --> 00:02:48.868 MARIA: This, like, me being on set is quite new, kind of. 65 00:02:48.868 --> 00:02:50.303 Plouffe: Yeah, just the last few months. 66 00:02:50.303 --> 00:02:55.575 I remember I used AI to make, like, maybe it's not super visible, but, like, the little 67 00:02:55.575 --> 00:03:03.049 pieces of the metal on the table, like, things that make it even look super super real. 68 00:03:03.049 --> 00:03:08.087 Which is more interesting than just, like, the tubes and a $30 text. 69 00:03:08.087 --> 00:03:11.491 Plouffe: Yeah, and our audience clearly agrees, because they kept watching this one way more. 70 00:03:11.491 --> 00:03:12.492 Yeah. 71 00:03:12.492 --> 00:03:15.461 I think it's just, yeah, like, you see the tubes and the $30, and you're like, okay, 72 00:03:15.461 --> 00:03:16.462 cool, what's he doing? 73 00:03:16.462 --> 00:03:20.133 But then if you get there and you don't care about what he's doing, then you're just gonna leave. 74 00:03:20.133 --> 00:03:21.267 MARIA: Exactly. Plouffe: Or as with this 75 00:03:21.267 --> 00:03:24.470 Plouffe: You’re like, you know, because the title is something like water cooling a laptop, maybe even for 76 00:03:24.470 --> 00:03:26.472 $30, I can't remember. 77 00:03:26.472 --> 00:03:28.274 And so it's like, okay, well, he's got the drill. 78 00:03:28.274 --> 00:03:29.142 Why the hell is he drilling it? 79 00:03:29.142 --> 00:03:29.909 I don't know. 80 00:03:29.909 --> 00:03:34.013 MARIA: And if it's on the title, like, oh, for $30, you maybe don't need 81 00:03:34.013 --> 00:03:35.982 The text on the thumbnail as well. 82 00:03:35.982 --> 00:03:38.651 Like, sometimes it's good to have it, but if you don't have it 83 00:03:38.651 --> 00:03:43.990 and then you have it on the title, it just, like, compliments each other, I guess. 84 00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:46.159 Plouffe: Oh, the NCIX PC. 85 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:47.527 So this one's actually pretty close. 86 00:03:47.527 --> 00:03:52.865 I'm kind of surprised that gaming PC with the arrow pointing to it actually won. 87 00:03:52.865 --> 00:03:54.067 Not by a lot. 88 00:03:54.067 --> 00:04:00.073 Do you remember if we had that in guidance first to add the text, or did we do that after the fact? 89 00:04:00.073 --> 00:04:03.910 MARIA: I think I did that after the fact, if I remember correctly. 90 00:04:03.910 --> 00:04:09.015 Because for me, if I just see the NCIX sign, I will be like, oh, that's just that sign. 91 00:04:09.015 --> 00:04:11.417 People will be like, what? 92 00:04:11.417 --> 00:04:15.888 So I think it needed more clarification of, oh, this is a gaming PC. 93 00:04:15.888 --> 00:04:20.293 Okay, I'm interested because how that sign, it's a gaming PC. 94 00:04:20.293 --> 00:04:23.896 Plouffe: Yeah, because we mentioned that in the video, how some arrows are good, some are bad. 95 00:04:23.896 --> 00:04:27.900 If it's too obvious, like with the MetaQuest video, you just, you feel like we're pandering 96 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:28.901 to you or being dumb or something. 97 00:04:28.901 --> 00:04:30.737 But, like, with here, yeah, I agree. 98 00:04:30.737 --> 00:04:33.740 I wouldn't know just from looking at this, especially because there's not a lot of cables 99 00:04:33.740 --> 00:04:34.741 coming from it or anything. 100 00:04:34.741 --> 00:04:37.744 Like, there's RGB, but you can put RGB on any sign. 101 00:04:37.744 --> 00:04:39.245 But with this one, yeah, it's clear, It's good. 102 00:04:39.245 --> 00:04:40.480 Okay, gaming PC. 103 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.082 Cool. How do you fit a gaming PC in the sign? 104 00:04:43.082 --> 00:04:44.617 Plouffe: Now I want to know. MARIA: Exactly. 105 00:04:44.784 --> 00:04:46.419 MARIA: This one is weird. Plouffe: Big TV 106 00:04:46.419 --> 00:04:48.187 MARIA: I mean, the difference is not too much. 107 00:04:48.187 --> 00:04:53.526 If I had to guess, I thought that having Linus's face will be better than 108 00:04:53.526 --> 00:04:59.365 just having the, like, a really tiny Linus that you don't even know it's Linus over there. 109 00:04:59.365 --> 00:05:00.333 I don't know. 110 00:05:00.333 --> 00:05:02.335 Like, I'm really confused with this one, honestly. 111 00:05:02.335 --> 00:05:05.872 Plouffe: So I think this one works better. 112 00:05:05.872 --> 00:05:06.839 It's pretty minor. 113 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:08.908 It's another only, like, two or three percent difference. 114 00:05:08.908 --> 00:05:11.144 ‘Cause it shows such a good amount of scale. 115 00:05:11.144 --> 00:05:14.080 Like, it is hard to tell that it's Linus. 116 00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:17.150 And that's one thing we've always tried to do is, like, make sure the audience knows 117 00:05:17.150 --> 00:05:20.186 what channel they're watching, who they're watching. 118 00:05:20.186 --> 00:05:22.689 But here, it's like, I don't know, maybe it's Linus. 119 00:05:22.689 --> 00:05:23.690 It doesn't matter. 120 00:05:23.690 --> 00:05:26.859 That's a person standing. 121 00:05:26.859 --> 00:05:29.128 And they're tiny next to this giant screen here. 122 00:05:29.128 --> 00:05:32.532 And, like, you kind of still get that in the second one with, like, Adam and I can't remember 123 00:05:32.532 --> 00:05:33.533 who else was with him on the shoot. 124 00:05:33.533 --> 00:05:34.367 MARIA: Arty, I think. 125 00:05:34.367 --> 00:05:35.968 Plouffe: Oh, is that Arthur? Oh, yeah, probably. MARIA: Yeah 126 00:05:35.968 --> 00:05:37.270 Plouffe: Yeah, I can tell by the haircut. 127 00:05:38.705 --> 00:05:42.709 I think that, yeah, he's just not necessary here, especially if you want to, like you 128 00:05:42.709 --> 00:05:45.144 just want to see how big this display is 129 00:05:45.144 --> 00:05:45.712 MARIA: Yeah, true. 130 00:05:45.712 --> 00:05:47.714 Plouffe: With this one, he's standing right next to it. 131 00:05:47.714 --> 00:05:50.717 So there's no weird forced perspective or anything going on. 132 00:05:50.717 --> 00:05:53.319 You just know, like, yeah, oh, wow, that TV is huge. 133 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:55.655 Plouffe: Yeah, that's true. MARIA: Or a display, It's a projector. 134 00:05:55.655 --> 00:05:57.957 Oh, yeah, this one. 135 00:05:57.957 --> 00:06:03.996 MARIA: Okay, again, not huge difference, but cringe versus not cringe face. 136 00:06:03.996 --> 00:06:10.403 Plouffe: Do you have any idea, this one, this is one that kind of flummox me, why people prefer, 137 00:06:10.403 --> 00:06:13.539 like, certain expressions with certain videos. The other one we talked about 138 00:06:13.539 --> 00:06:19.545 in the video was a similar thing where it's another server video even, and in one video 139 00:06:19.545 --> 00:06:23.282 Linus is exasperated or he's, like, upset, and then in the other one he's all smiley 140 00:06:23.282 --> 00:06:26.219 and happy, and in that one it was, like, a pretty clear winner 141 00:06:26.219 --> 00:06:27.854 Here it didn't at all. 142 00:06:27.854 --> 00:06:28.855 It lost by 2%. 143 00:06:28.855 --> 00:06:30.556 MARIA: Yeah, that's true. 144 00:06:30.556 --> 00:06:31.924 That's interesting. 145 00:06:31.924 --> 00:06:36.863 I have been noticing when he's, like, upset or, like, worried or like, 146 00:06:36.863 --> 00:06:40.767 these kind of expressions people want to know more of why 147 00:06:40.767 --> 00:06:45.304 all those like negative stuff, like, oh, I want to watch that because maybe it's not that good or... 148 00:06:45.304 --> 00:06:48.541 Rather than, oh, yeah, this is just pretty good and I'm good. 149 00:06:48.541 --> 00:06:49.942 Yeah, it's weird. 150 00:06:49.942 --> 00:06:50.543 I don't know. 151 00:06:50.543 --> 00:06:52.545 Plouffe: I think people like watching Linus suffer. 152 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:54.147 MARIA: Yes, exactly. 153 00:06:54.147 --> 00:06:55.281 That's what I meant, yeah. 154 00:06:55.281 --> 00:06:57.016 Again, it doesn't happen here. 155 00:06:57.016 --> 00:07:00.987 He's just, like, it looks like he's suffering, but you guys clearly, I mean, to be fair, 156 00:07:00.987 --> 00:07:02.455 it is a pretty minor difference. 157 00:07:02.455 --> 00:07:03.990 It's only 2%, so who knows? 158 00:07:03.990 --> 00:07:05.391 It's almost a coin flip. 159 00:07:05.391 --> 00:07:07.960 MARIA: But still the face is more exaggerated than the other ones. 160 00:07:07.960 --> 00:07:08.961 Plouffe: Yeah. 161 00:07:08.961 --> 00:07:13.433 Maybe they just want to know why he's looking so smug, because he's not happy. 162 00:07:13.433 --> 00:07:14.434 He's smug. 163 00:07:14.434 --> 00:07:16.502 Like, yeah, that's right. I told you. 164 00:07:16.502 --> 00:07:17.970 I can't remember what the title is for this one. 165 00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:19.839 Let's actually, let's take a look. 166 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:21.107 The server won't break. 167 00:07:21.107 --> 00:07:22.108 I think that's why. 168 00:07:22.108 --> 00:07:26.646 He's looking smug, and so I think that the cringe face, like, of him being like, 169 00:07:26.646 --> 00:07:27.647 I don't think it really fits. 170 00:07:27.647 --> 00:07:28.648 MARIA: Yeah. 171 00:07:28.648 --> 00:07:30.650 This is more, like, confident, like, this won't break. 172 00:07:30.650 --> 00:07:31.651 This isn't going to break. 173 00:07:31.651 --> 00:07:36.789 It's just a clear example of it matching the title a lot better than the other one. 174 00:07:36.789 --> 00:07:37.290 MARIA: Yeah. 175 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:39.025 Plouffe: But even then, I mean, it's 2%. 176 00:07:39.025 --> 00:07:43.596 We have one of our, we only had two ABC tests, I think, in the whole 29 videos 177 00:07:43.596 --> 00:07:44.931 that we ran, and this was one of them. 178 00:07:44.931 --> 00:07:46.098 that we ran, and this was one of them. 179 00:07:46.098 --> 00:07:47.633 And it was, again, pretty minor. 180 00:07:47.633 --> 00:07:53.372 Like, Thumbnail 1 works, but it's only 34.6 versus, like, 33 and 32. 181 00:07:53.372 --> 00:07:56.108 Why do you think this one wins by so much? 182 00:07:56.108 --> 00:08:02.315 MARIA: Okay, first of all, the dark background, like, the almost black background in contrast 183 00:08:02.315 --> 00:08:09.155 with the Vision Pro, like, the battery and, like, color-wise, it has more contrast. 184 00:08:09.155 --> 00:08:14.527 And then, looking at Linus's eyes, you identify, really, really fast, it's Linus. 185 00:08:14.527 --> 00:08:16.295 And not just a random person. 186 00:08:16.295 --> 00:08:17.597 Plouffe: That's true. MARIA: So Maybe... 187 00:08:17.597 --> 00:08:23.035 MARIA: That could help, like, that this thumbnail wins over the other ones. 188 00:08:23.035 --> 00:08:24.403 That's my guess. 189 00:08:24.403 --> 00:08:29.609 Plouffe: Is there any reason why we didn't do what just about everyone else did and put 190 00:08:29.609 --> 00:08:30.610 like his eyes? 191 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:32.545 Why didn't we do that? 192 00:08:32.545 --> 00:08:33.546 MARIA: I don't know, honestly. 193 00:08:33.546 --> 00:08:34.347 Plouffe: Yeah. 194 00:08:34.347 --> 00:08:42.121 When we first did a video of, like, the Vision Pro, when it was just 195 00:08:42.121 --> 00:08:48.794 it was announced, but not even, like, it was just a guess that we photoshopped like, Linus. 196 00:08:48.794 --> 00:08:50.329 Plouffe: Yeah, it was WWDC, and we did that. 197 00:08:50.329 --> 00:08:52.131 MARIA: Oh, yeah, yeah. WWDC. Plouffe: We did that 198 00:08:52.131 --> 00:08:53.799 Plouffe: Yeah, and we did that. MARIA: We did that already 199 00:08:53.799 --> 00:08:55.801 Plouffe: We did put his eyes like everyone else was doing, yeah. 200 00:08:55.801 --> 00:09:00.339 MARIA: So maybe that's why we went with something different this time. 201 00:09:00.339 --> 00:09:01.340 Plouffe: Because I agree. 202 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:05.344 It's definitely clearer that it's Linus here, so I understand, like, people are watching 203 00:09:05.344 --> 00:09:06.178 for longer. 204 00:09:06.178 --> 00:09:10.650 I do wonder how, if we'd had a fourth thumbnail, if we could have added, like 205 00:09:10.650 --> 00:09:11.651 this one here. 206 00:09:11.651 --> 00:09:12.718 MARIA: With his eyes. 207 00:09:12.718 --> 00:09:17.390 Plouffe: Do the black and blue, gray background, and then put his eyes over top of it. 208 00:09:17.390 --> 00:09:20.393 I wonder if that would have performed better than all three of these combined. 209 00:09:20.393 --> 00:09:21.727 Who knows? 210 00:09:21.727 --> 00:09:27.800 MARIA: We can still do it, like, remove, for example, the one with the green background 211 00:09:27.800 --> 00:09:32.171 and try that one with the black background. 212 00:09:32.171 --> 00:09:35.908 If we still want to do it, like, yeah, we can still try it out. 213 00:09:35.908 --> 00:09:39.345 Plouffe: One thing we actually didn't talk too much about in the video, if I recall correctly, 214 00:09:39.345 --> 00:09:42.715 is the fact that you can keep doing this over and over again. 215 00:09:42.715 --> 00:09:46.319 We did our second test later, but what I don't think we mentioned is that 216 00:09:46.319 --> 00:09:50.590 it takes longer for later videos, depending on how many views they're still getting, 217 00:09:50.590 --> 00:09:54.226 YouTube waits a certain amount of time until it's accumulated a certain 218 00:09:54.226 --> 00:09:57.229 amount of views after changing the thumbnail, so it actually has enough data. 219 00:09:57.229 --> 00:10:01.801 It's not just a timed thing, like, run test, okay, it'll be done in 24 hours. 220 00:10:01.801 --> 00:10:05.037 Like, MrBeast, when he runs a test, it's probably done in, like, two minutes. 221 00:10:05.037 --> 00:10:09.775 I wonder if we could do this again and it would still be getting enough views to see 222 00:10:09.775 --> 00:10:14.246 if adding his eyes over top, we might have to wait, like, three weeks or something, but 223 00:10:14.246 --> 00:10:15.615 it could be a cool experiment. 224 00:10:15.615 --> 00:10:16.882 MARIA: It's really cool. 225 00:10:16.882 --> 00:10:21.153 Plouffe: Yeah, it's interesting to see the results, whether or not we always understand them, 226 00:10:21.153 --> 00:10:25.891 because, you know, the more we run this test, the more we can kind of slowly begin to see 227 00:10:25.891 --> 00:10:29.462 the trends and figure out exactly what people are looking for. 228 00:10:29.462 --> 00:10:32.031 Just like you guys are always looking for more Floatplane exclusive. 229 00:10:32.031 --> 00:10:35.034 So, if you like this video, make sure to actually like it on Floatplane. 230 00:10:35.034 --> 00:10:40.306 Leave a comment if you think we're just completely wrong about any of this, or if you think we're right! 231 00:10:40.306 --> 00:10:45.044 And if you want other content, you know, make sure to watch everything that we put out, 232 00:10:45.044 --> 00:10:46.045 every video. 233 00:10:46.045 --> 00:10:48.047 If you watch it, I will know. 234 00:10:48.047 --> 00:10:49.015 Goodbye. 235 00:10:49.015 --> 00:10:50.016 Bye. 236 00:10:50.016 --> 00:10:51.517 All right, you're welcome.