Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective - YouTube

- Can I tell you something I'm bad at?

I am terrible at making clickbait.

Up until two years ago,

my most popular video was about a basketball

being dropped from a dam with a bit of backspin.

It takes off like a rocket and shoots out

way further than you'd expect.

This video was embedded

on literally hundreds of news websites.

And in its first week, it got 16.3 million views,

but almost none of those views came on the YouTube platform.

Why?

Because I gave it this thumbnail

and I called it "Strange Applications of the Magnus Effect."

This video is sponsored by KiwiCo.

More about them at the end of the show.

Now, I believe within YouTube,

I'm used as an example of how not to package your video.

As if to demonstrate just how bad

a title and thumbnail this is,

someone else re-uploaded the video with the clever title,

"Basketball Dropped From Dam."

And within a few weeks, that video had received

tens of millions of views on YouTube.

This is when YouTube gave me access to ContentID.

That's the system that allows you to earn revenue

when someone else re-uploads your videos, which was good,

but I still wasn't very good at clickbait.

So for this video, I called in an expert.

I wanted to see your reaction face.

Can you give me like a reaction face?

Like what's a good thumbnail face?

- Oh, I got you.

This is a thumbnail face.

(Derek laughs)

I have like 10, I go through the motions of like...

(Derek laughs)

And then we just take the best one,

I probably have like 500 of these just saved

and we can just Photoshop my face on my face.

That way, I don't have to do it anymore.

- When I started on this platform, some 10 years ago,

clickbait was less important.

Subscribers were what mattered,

because most of the views came from the sub feed.

And videos went viral usually

by getting a lot of attention elsewhere,

like on Reddit or Facebook,

not due to the YouTube algorithm.

But once you had a big video and people subscribed,

well, then your next video would likely get a lot of views

from those subscribers.

So YouTube would take that popular video

and share it with more people.

And so you'd get more subscribers

in a positive feedback loop.

But soon, YouTube realized that this did not create

the best experience for the viewer.

They discovered that showing people only videos

from channels they were subscribed to led to fewer clicks,

less watch time and less engagement

with the site as a whole.

Plus, they knew that relying on other platforms

to drive traffic to viral hits was risky,

since those other platforms might disable

the traffic at any time.

So they needed to make YouTube a destination in itself.

They wanted people to come to YouTube,

see videos that interested them,

click on at least one of them and watch it for a while.

Ideally get sucked down the YouTube rabbit hole

and spend hours on the site without even noticing it.

The ultimate resource is people's time

and attention, and every platform

is trying to capture as much of it as possible.

So, to make YouTube this go-to destination,

they had decrease the importance of subscribers,

make it less like a podcast app

where you only get the shows you're subscribed to,

and more like Reddit,

where stuff with the most engagement rises to the top.

But that necessarily meant increasing

the importance of clickbait.

Now, there seems to be a paradox when it comes to clickbait.

People almost universally claim to hate it,

but you also see it everywhere.

So why is this?

Well, one of the problems is we don't all agree

on the definition of clickbait.

When I google it, the top definition is,

on the internet, content whose main purpose

is to attract attention and encourage visitors

to click on a link to a particular webpage.

We could call this type I clickbait,

and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it.

I mean, if you didn't try to attract attention

and get people to click on your links,

then you wouldn't really be doing your job.

But there is a second definition.

One that I think more people ascribe to,

which is something such as a headline designed

to make readers want to click on a hyperlink,

especially when the link leads to content

of dubious value or interest.

Wikipedia says, "A defining characteristic of clickbait

is that it is sensationalized or misleading."

And it also talks about teasers

that intentionally withhold information

to exploit the "curiosity gap."

They give you enough information to make you curious,

but not enough to satisfy that curiosity.

Here are two actual titles from a news website.

Nine out of 10 Americans are completely wrong

about this mind blowing fact.

And someone gave some kids some scissors.

Here's what happened next.

I think we can all agree that these are examples

of bad type II clickbait.

Now, imagine a clickbait space where on one axis,

you have how misleading or sensationalized it is.

And on the other, how much information

is intentionally withheld to create a curiosity gap.

Well, then these two titles fall in the top right corner.

And these are the zones of type II clickbait.

At the other extreme,

you have things that are so unsensationalized as to be dull.

You could call this the dead zone.

Now, here is where you would find

"Strange applications of the Magnus Effect."

I mean, I didn't tell you what the applications were.

Now, in the middle is where you would find type I clickbait.

But honestly, I think type I and type II clickbait

are so different, that we shouldn't even use

the same word for them.

Instead of type I clickbait,

my friend and YouTuber, Brady Heron suggested legitbait.

I mean, it might sound enticing, but it is legit.

Instead of type II clickbait,

we could use clicktrap, clicktrick, linktrap or dupechute.

What's important to recognize is that for any given video,

there is no one true title and thumbnail.

Each video could have hundreds or thousands

of different legitbait titles.

For example, how does a zero-G plane work?

I went on a plane that does parabolic trajectories.

What happens to fire on a zero-G plane?

Now, the most enticing titles and thumbnails

are found close to type II clickbait.

I'm reminded of the infographic by smarter every day,

showing that on social media,

the greatest engagement occurs close to the boundary

of what's allowable.

But remember that everyone's definition of clickbait

is different, and everyone's perceptions

of words and images are different.

So these are not clear boundaries.

They're actually kind of fuzzy.

What for one person might be legitbait,

for someone else, could be a clicktrap.

What's clear is that on a site

where click-through rate is important,

clickbait of all types is inevitable.

How important to a video's success

is the title and thumbnail?

- Very important. Of course.

If they don't click on the video,

they don't watch it.

You can't get 10 million views

unless 10 million people click on the video.

So, I mean, it's literally that simple.

They don't click on it, they don't watch it.

- So, why is clickbait everywhere?

Well, because it works.

More enticing thumbnails get more clicks.

Despite some people's claims

that they won't click or they'll unsub,

it's just like evolution.

Whatever survives, multiplies and traits become amplified.

If you don't begrudge the giraffe its long neck

so it can reach the highest leaves,

can you begrudge a YouTuber the red arrow

that allows them to reach further audiences?

I talked about this in my video two years ago.

To be successful as a YouTuber,

you need to optimize two things,

watch time and the click-through rate of your videos.

That's the number of times

the title and thumbnail are clicked,

divided by the total number of times they're shown.

That's the number of impressions.

Now at the time,

this was something of a revelation for me

because I always thought my job was to make great videos.

And then a title and thumbnail

that adequately represented what the video was about.

But now I've realized that making the title and thumbnail

is at least half the job.

This is not just because better titles and thumbnails

get you more clicks,

but because better titles and thumbnails

will get you way more impressions.

YouTube has limited real estate

with which to show you virtually infinite content.

And so it's not enough to make a good video

even if people watch all of it,

you also have to make a title and thumbnail

that gets clicked, especially in competition

with other really good titles and thumbnails.

That's the only way you can expect YouTube

to give you more impressions.

Now, the big development since my last video on this

is YouTube introduced real-time metrics

like views, impressions and click-through rate.

Now, I suggested this would create an arms race.

So what you can bet will happen

is that creators will launch a video

and then they'll be sitting there

with all these different variants of thumbnails

and they'll be swapping them out

and looking at what that does to click-through rate

and then going with the one

that leads to the greatest click-through rate.

And this is basically what has happened.

Let me give you my favorite example.

Last year, I made a video about asteroids,

which I thought was really good.

I called it "Asteroids: Earth's Biggest Threat,"

which is something Stephen Hawking said.

And people were very positive about the video.

They thought it was maybe one of my best,

but the performance was well below average.

In its first day, asteroids was ranked ninth

out of my previous 10 videos.

It was probably on target

for about one and a half million views.

So I tried different titles and thumbnails

like, "Asteroid Impact: What Are Our Chances?"

Or "Asteroid Impact: What Could We Do?"

But none of these changes got much traction.

And then on day three after launch,

I changed the title and thumbnail

to "These Are the Asteroids to Worry About."

And immediately the video started doing better.

It quickly shot up from almost my worst performing video

to my best.

It now has 14 million views.

Nothing about the video changed,

just that one image and 38 characters.

But because of that, the video has reached

nearly 10 times as many people as it otherwise would have.

And the title and thumbnail accurately describe

what the video is about.

I mean, sure, there's a curiosity gap,

but you couldn't explain the whole concept

in the length of the title.

So if you see a YouTuber changing titles and thumbnails,

this is why.

Because that effort can be rewarded many times over.

I've seen people objecting to this practice

because they think the creator

is trying to dupe their audience,

get them to click on the same video more than once,

but that's not it.

The whole point is to get YouTube

to show the title and thumbnail to more people.

We're trying to increase the number of impressions,

which is heavily dependent on the click-through rate.

Now, a lot of my recent videos have this typical view curve.

There's an initial spike after I release the video

and then a dip, and then a second bump

after I have figured out a better title and thumbnail.

I change the title and thumbnail

and I watch the real time view graph.

What I'm looking for is a noticeable bump in views.

Sometimes there's no change, sometimes it gets worse,

but on occasions, when you see something like this,

well then, you know you've found a winner.

This is something all the big YouTubers are doing.

Not even Mr. Beast knows exactly

which thumbnail will work best beforehand.

Have you ever changed a title and thumbnail

and then the video did better?

- Oh, of course.

So everybody, I usually make like two or three thumbnails,

and then if it's not doing as well as I want,

we usually just swap 'em out and see if it does better.

'cause the thing is like, you don't really know.

I mean, you could know if you just were an almighty being

that could just predict what people would be interested in,

but you know, usually...

Like, you can do hide and seek.

You don't really know if like you hiding in a tree

and then someone walking below you is a good thumbnail.

Or if you hiding a trash can and them walking in front of you.

So, you know, just do both

and then see which one interests people a little bit more.

- I feel the same way,

but I do feel like you have a better sense

of this than like most people.

- Of course.

I mean, no one gets 40 million views a video.

(both laughing)

- But what is the point in getting more views?

If you're cynical,

you might say it's all about money and fame.

And while there are certainly financial incentives

to getting more views, that's not why I do it.

As an educational YouTuber,

I think there are two very good reasons

for using excellent type I clickbait

over more straightforward packaging.

To understand the first reason,

let's consider two different possible titles

for my most recent video.

I called it "The Simplest Math Problem No One Can Solve,"

but it's a video about the Collatz conjecture.

So perhaps a more straightforward title

would have been simply to call it that.

The problem is, if I publish a video

called the Collatz conjecture,

the most likely people to click on it

are those who already know what the Collatz conjecture is.

And the vast majority of people will never have heard of it.

So for them, the title is meaningless

and only the very curious

or those who really like Veritasium would click.

In contrast, calling it "The Simplest Math Problem

No One Can Solve," conveys more information

about the video to everyone.

And this means more people can click on it,

most of whom will never have heard

of the Collatz conjecture.

So I get to teach them something new.

And since the video has a higher click-through rate,

YouTube shows it to even more people.

So if my aim is to increase the level of knowledge

in the world by the maximum amount possible,

this is the way to do it.

The second reason we need to optimize titles and thumbnails

is to support the major goal of this channel.

We are trying to make the best science films

on every topic we tackle.

That means traveling to meet experts in film experiments,

hiring people to build props,

make spectacular animations, research and fact check.

We hire expert consultants

to double and triple check our work.

I don't wanna make vlogs.

I wanna make science documentaries on YouTube

that put broadcast to shame.

And to make this possible and sustainable,

the videos have to get views and lots of them.

And to do that, we have to make

the best titles and thumbnails we can.

YouTuber and Patreon CEO, Jack Conte

has talked about adjusting your packaging.

The idea is know what you're passionate about,

what you won't compromise on

and that stuff goes in the box.

All the rest, like what paper it's wrapped in,

that's the packaging.

So the video is my focus and the title and thumbnail

are the packaging that I'm happy to adjust,

so I can make the type of videos that are important to me.

Now, is it ironic that a channel whose whole purpose

is to promote a true seeking mindset

has to experiment at the edge of what is truthful

in order to fulfill that purpose?

It is something that I often worry about.

You know, when I did like risking my life to do X,

it's like, well, what probability of death

does there have to be for you to risk your life?

Like 50%?

- I love how he always overthinks things.

(laughs) That's funny.

He's like, is my life risked enough

where I can put I risked my life?

I only had a 9% chance of dying

and I need at least a 13% chance.

You're so funny.

He was the same way two years ago

when he asked me all this stuff.

I was like, "Dude, just do whatever makes the most sense.

- Yeah, I mean, obviously I feel like my instincts

are not good.

But what I realized

is that I don't have to trust my instincts.

This problem of getting the best title and thumbnail,

well, it's a scientific problem.

We're just asking which accurate representation of the video

will get the most clicks from a general audience.

And that's a problem we can use

the scientific method to solve.

So I've hired a couple of really bright people

and we spend a lot of time brainstorming

and making titles and thumbnails and testing them out.

For example, on Twitter and Patreon.

Varitasium titles and thumbnails have gotten better,

not because I'm better at it,

but because of my team and our testing.

If you have ideas about how we could do it better,

please get in touch.

The results have often contradicted what I expected.

I mean, this video seemed to perform 10% better

when we excluded the word surprising from the title.

So it became simply The Secret of Synchronization.

I thought these two titles were basically a toss up,

but Patreon had a strong preference for one over the other.

What's interesting about this research

is that the more clickable titles and thumbnails

often better represent the content of the video.

Let me give you some examples.

One thing I didn't expect when YouTube brought in

the real time analytics tools

and allowed title and thumbnail changes

to affect impressions,

was that it would also work for older videos.

So here is an old video that I originally entitled,

"Why the Neutron is the Hero of Nuclear Physics."

In hindsight, it's a weird, kinda meaningless title.

So I changed it to, "Why Einstein Thought

Nuclear Weapons Impossible."

It's clearer, more accurate.

And this is what happened to views after the change.

I changed "Strange Applications of the Magnus Effect"

to "Backspin Basketball Flies Off Dam."

Again, more accurate.

And the video is now being watched on YouTube.

Probably 10 million more views

than it otherwise would have had.

Even anti-clickbait has proven effective.

Here's a video I originally titled,

"Are Negative Ions Good For You?"

Which is a question nobody asked ever.

Now, I changed it to, "Do Salt Lamps Work?"

Seriously.

And here's the result:

One and a half million more views.

I think looking at these examples,

you could easily make the case

that YouTube has made me better at what I do.

It has improved the clarity and accuracy

of my titles and thumbnails. It's helped me figure out

what is interesting to my audience

and how to encapsulate that in a single image

and fewer than 50 characters.

For those of you who worry that a focus

on titles and thumbnails will prevent me

from picking challenging science topics,

well, I simply ask you to look at the videos

from the last year or two,

like the ones on Gödel's incompleteness theorem,

general relativity, Penrose tilings,

the logistic map, Newton's method of calculating Pi,

the one way speed of light.

Good titles and thumbnails make it possible

to tackle these topics and to reach more people

who have heard of them before.

There is a symbiotic relationship

between views and video quality.

The more views we get, the more people,

locations, props and equipment

and research we can invest in.

This makes the next video better than the last.

If we can be good at titles and thumbnails,

the ultimate outcome is better videos.

That is something I think you and I both want.

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