The smallest differences matter

Even if you don't see them at first glance

Author

Johnathon Eva
June 23, 2025

Before you scroll - Which one of these was the viral hit? Take your time - and here’s a quick poll to lock in your answer before you see:

Which one of these thumbnails went viral?

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Thumbnail Review

If you were shocked, I’ve got good news - you’re not alone. I showed these thumbnails to friends, family, and a few coworkers, and they thought that the Pluto one would have gone more viral, but upon closer inspection there’s some secrets to why it didn’t

By Uncanny_Dishwasher61

It should be noted that, this video is still above the channel’s average at 4.1k views it is still a 6.8x outlier. Meaning the idea is solid - but even slightly tweaking things can mean virality

Honestly this took me a while - but after a little thought it slowly became more and more clear:

A.) Something even extremely small, but contrasted can make a huge difference

B.) Color is VERY important in thumbnails, but so is brightness. On a smaller screen this color becomes very hard to distinguish, and there’s nothing to highlight the square

C.) I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - The time stamp is a part of the thumbnail. When people see a big topic (space) and a small time, there’s a disillusionment.

D.) The Contrast at the very bottom is an offshoot of B.) but specifically it’s hard to tell where space ends and the square begins.

A.) Even though these elements are small, they’re clear. Bigger isn’t always better in this case. They also all ADD rather than detract from the main point.

B.) Look at the contrast difference. Not only can I tell the difference between Jupiter and space, I can see the difference in the lines of Saturn making it more instantly recognizable. The blue brackets also help to add that contrast.

C.) 16 minutes is more on par with what these viewers would expect when thinking about space exploration.

There is one thing I don’t know → Audience Fit and this is something that can’t go unnoticed. My friends, coworkers, and family are largely the same demographic. But the people that clicked that video aren’t. They like a little more detail. You HAVE to know your audience in order to build the right packaging for them.

If you have questions - email me. I don’t bite… hard.

Creator’s Killing it.

You’re a skeptic. You want more proof that people are succeeding NOW in gaming on YouTube. Alright, twist my arm. Here ya go.

Started in August of 2024 (less than a year)

131k views

41x outlier

49k views

15x outlier

113k views

35x outlier

Key Takeaways

It’s not about Length…: A lot of people think you can’t succeed if your video is too long. Look at those times - all over an hour, two at two hours. The length of your video doesn’t matter, it’s about the content - if it’s good, people will watch. And also with 131k views at two hours, you know the monetization is sick

Find what works: If you have a winning thumbnail design even a little bit of an outlier, keep doing it. Experiment sometimes, but the thumbnail trick is finding something once, and then repeating it until it doesn’t work anymore.

Master the Trifold: So, so, soooo many niches utilize a trifold design in thumbnails, and it seems to pretty universally kill. Try it out and see what kind of results you get with it. Let me know in an email how it went - Just reply

Creator Opportunity

New Minecraft Server with 100,000 people concurrently.

Content Opportunities:

Here’s the thing, whenever something new comes out in conjunction with something old. There are always people taking advantage of the opportunity.

Every time a new Pokemon Rom Hack comes out, it does well on the content side because Pokemon is huge.

Updates for games get a lot of coverage. DLC, new seasons, etc

So with this new Minecraft server you can bet that there will be a huge influx of content within this server. So the time to brainstorm is now for thumbnails, titles etc on how best you can take advantage of this if you’re in the Minecraft niche or adjacent.


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Would you do me a favor? If you know a gamer, or someone who likes to game, and is a bit lost on YouTube would you send them this? Thanks in advance!