Thumbnails are a real problem. Why? Because they play such a vital role in whether someone clicks on your video. The simple answer is to use ClickBait tactics to drive clicks. If you look at the top-performing thumbs, you will almost always find some form of clickbait tactic involved,
whether it be the Goofy Face tactic,
Or the Pretty Girl tactic
or the MYSTERY tactic
Or any of the dozens of other tactics that rely on the manipulation of human behavior and instinct to get people to click on a video, they all are CLICKBAIT.
The sad truth is that YouTube has basically made it so that you have to use clickbait tactics to survive. YouTube's algorithm is completely geared towards promoting channels that drive interaction, regardless of how they do it. YouTube has zero interest in the actual quality of the product you are creating. They only care that you can manipulate people into clicking on your videos over and over again. Why? Well, it all boils down to MONEY.
The truth is that AD revenue is dying on the internet. The day is coming when YouTube may become a fee-based platform, like Hulu and Netflix because they cannot make enough off of ADs to pay the bills. Right now, they need people to binge-watch content on YouTube to make any money. So, YouTube has geared its algorithm to favor Binge-worthy Content (BWC).
Actually, ad revenue has fallen globally by a significant margin in the past year. Due to strict privacy laws, right now, over 40% of the internet is cookie free.
Anyone who knows anything about the internet knows that ads fund free services on the internet, and those ads NEED to be targeted to be profitable. Every study that has ever been done has shown that non-targeted ads do not work. Without data collection about user behavior, it is impossible to offer reliable ad targeting. As a result, companies are willing to pay only a fraction for no-targeted ads over what they were willing to pay for targeted ads. This is the simple fact that is happening right now all across the web.
So, it is likely that more websites will start moving to a fee-based platform to keep profitable as ad revenue declines due to internet privacy laws.
Internet privacy laws are becoming increasingly strict around the world. These laws make it more difficult for advertisers to track users online and target them with ads. As a result, advertisers are spending less money on online advertising.
This decline in ad revenue is forcing websites to find new ways to generate revenue. One way to do this is to move to a fee-based platform. This means that users would have to pay a fee to access the website.
So, the frank reality is, that the days of doing what you want and following your passion and getting paid for it are over on YouTube. If you want to make money on YouTube, you have to make BWC and use ClickBait thumbs. That is you want to make money from ad revenue. Otherwise, just do it as a hobby, or find some other ways to make money form your content, and don't worry about YPP.
