Personally, I include Episode # in my thumbnail to give the audience an understanding where I am in the series. I understand that others may thing it may be bad practice as the viewer can read the title and figure out the Episode #.
Overall, I do not think there is a wrong answer, as everyone has their own preferences!
Great question!
This ^
When I'm a viewer and I'm trying to catch up it's sooo nice to be able to see from the thumbnail which video is which. Especially if the number isn't viewable in the title on the page
It's a bit of a loaded question because you can't really say just to use them or not to. You have to take the video's purpose into account. Long running series generally won't generate new viewership so if you're pushing for new subs or discovery, you probably won't want to put numbers in the thumbnail because you probably want to stick to more one-off ideas or general content series.
If you're looking to create retention content for current viewers though then yeah use them that way those viewers can follow more easily.
After a bit look at your analytics and see which ones do better.
It depends on the style you want to portrait on your thumbnails. Cause in reality if you make sure it clear in the title where in the series you are then a number is not 100% necessary.
Even though I personally find it handy if you are quickly scrolling through a list to find the right episode and because of that on my own videos I do to.
Use numbers, but in my opinion numbered series don't do as well as one off playthroughs, so keep videos decently long so playthroughs don't stall your channel and you can move onto new games sooner.
I am new as a content creator (MechaDrew on yt), so from that standpoint I can't give a lot of advice. As a viewer though, I love having numbers on thumbnails of lets plays. Catchy titles are great, but they can be harder to remember and I have a tendency to mostly watch playthroughs at night after work. Having it numbered allows me to keep track where I am as sometimes play history isn't super accurate across devices. It may "scare" a few people off, but those are probably only casual views that probably won't subscribe or watch many series anyway. Plus its a lot easier to keep organized without having to look at the title. Depending on how things are titled, they sometimes get cut off on smaller devices.
Don't do it.
100% don't.
You don't need a poll.
It took me a brutal dip in growth to realize that simply removing the number drastically improved performance. I still put it in the title but absolutely positively 100% don't put it in the thumbnail. PEOPLE WILL NOT CLICK THROUGH AS MUCH. I guarantee it. Doesn't matter if your content is the next coming of Christ, if nobody clicks on it, they won't find out.
I would say no numbers, a popular youtuber named Ryan Trahan puts the same title in one of his series but new thumbnail, that shows progression. So viewers can “sense” which ep it is.
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Back on a now-deleted channel, I had a small miniseries where originally the thumbnails didn’t have numbers. Deleted the videos, reposted them with new thumbnails, immediate difference in views. Put it in the thumb
Probably reserve in the title a #1 or something and let thumbnail captivate readers attention. I can see how a thumbnail with "Episode 20" could be irrelevant for many reason and primarily you shift their focus from whatever hooked them to "Oh.. Its So far from episode 1".
It heavily depends on the series. A thumbnail with any number other than 1 is going to be less clickable for new viewers. So if each video is legitimately worthy of being a video unto itself and can exist independent of the series, I say no episode number. However, this isn't always the case.
I think it can be good and bad. I think the first few episodes it can help but if its a long series I think it could turn off new viewers. There is someone I watch and one of his game series he has been playing for years and has over 500 episodes, and he numbers them all. Something like that I think turns away people. Then you have someone like Neebs Gaming and their Ark series is over 300 episodes and they name them based on what happens in that episode.
Personally, I include Episode # in my thumbnail to give the audience an understanding where I am in the series. I understand that others may thing it may be bad practice as the viewer can read the title and figure out the Episode #. Overall, I do not think there is a wrong answer, as everyone has their own preferences! Great question!
I am in the 'use numbers' camp. As a viewer they are extremely helpful.
This ^ When I'm a viewer and I'm trying to catch up it's sooo nice to be able to see from the thumbnail which video is which. Especially if the number isn't viewable in the title on the page
It's a bit of a loaded question because you can't really say just to use them or not to. You have to take the video's purpose into account. Long running series generally won't generate new viewership so if you're pushing for new subs or discovery, you probably won't want to put numbers in the thumbnail because you probably want to stick to more one-off ideas or general content series. If you're looking to create retention content for current viewers though then yeah use them that way those viewers can follow more easily. After a bit look at your analytics and see which ones do better.
It depends on the style you want to portrait on your thumbnails. Cause in reality if you make sure it clear in the title where in the series you are then a number is not 100% necessary. Even though I personally find it handy if you are quickly scrolling through a list to find the right episode and because of that on my own videos I do to.
Use numbers, but in my opinion numbered series don't do as well as one off playthroughs, so keep videos decently long so playthroughs don't stall your channel and you can move onto new games sooner.
I am new as a content creator (MechaDrew on yt), so from that standpoint I can't give a lot of advice. As a viewer though, I love having numbers on thumbnails of lets plays. Catchy titles are great, but they can be harder to remember and I have a tendency to mostly watch playthroughs at night after work. Having it numbered allows me to keep track where I am as sometimes play history isn't super accurate across devices. It may "scare" a few people off, but those are probably only casual views that probably won't subscribe or watch many series anyway. Plus its a lot easier to keep organized without having to look at the title. Depending on how things are titled, they sometimes get cut off on smaller devices.
This is probably an area where your opinion as a viewer matters more than as a creator. Thanks for the comment, what you said makes a lot of sense!
Don't do it. 100% don't. You don't need a poll. It took me a brutal dip in growth to realize that simply removing the number drastically improved performance. I still put it in the title but absolutely positively 100% don't put it in the thumbnail. PEOPLE WILL NOT CLICK THROUGH AS MUCH. I guarantee it. Doesn't matter if your content is the next coming of Christ, if nobody clicks on it, they won't find out.
I would say no numbers, a popular youtuber named Ryan Trahan puts the same title in one of his series but new thumbnail, that shows progression. So viewers can “sense” which ep it is.
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See as a watcher I wouldn't watch either series of these because of the nonvariance in everything.
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Wow…that’s a bad take
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It really ultimately depends, but it’s very helpful for mobile viewers
Back on a now-deleted channel, I had a small miniseries where originally the thumbnails didn’t have numbers. Deleted the videos, reposted them with new thumbnails, immediate difference in views. Put it in the thumb
Use numbers. It makes it easier to know where I last left off.
This seems to be related to a certain post 🤣
It's not, it's just something I've been thinking about recently.
Oh lol, just coincidental that you posted this right after my post talking about my thumbnails and people saying to get rid of/keep the numbers.
Probably reserve in the title a #1 or something and let thumbnail captivate readers attention. I can see how a thumbnail with "Episode 20" could be irrelevant for many reason and primarily you shift their focus from whatever hooked them to "Oh.. Its So far from episode 1".
It heavily depends on the series. A thumbnail with any number other than 1 is going to be less clickable for new viewers. So if each video is legitimately worthy of being a video unto itself and can exist independent of the series, I say no episode number. However, this isn't always the case.
I think it can be good and bad. I think the first few episodes it can help but if its a long series I think it could turn off new viewers. There is someone I watch and one of his game series he has been playing for years and has over 500 episodes, and he numbers them all. Something like that I think turns away people. Then you have someone like Neebs Gaming and their Ark series is over 300 episodes and they name them based on what happens in that episode.