The process of choosing that crucial thumbnail for your YouTube video will soon become much easier. YouTube has begun testing a feature it calls “Test & Compare,” which allows creators to upload up to three thumbnails for a single video and experiment behind the scenes to see which YouTube performs best.YouTube makes thumbnail selection easy
In a video announcement, YouTube says it’s currently testing the feature with “several hundred creators”, but it will be testing the feature with thousands of people in the coming months, with a beta release. The Test & Compare feature is expected to be released next year.
YouTube says this feature, commonly known as A/B testing, is “the most requested feature” by its users. A video’s thumbnail plays a vital role in engaging viewers, which means there’s pressure to make it as engaging as possible. A screenshot of the YouTube feature in development showing how Test & Compare will report each thumbnail’s “watch time” as a percentage after completing an A/B test.Over the years, third-party tools have emerged that allow users to A/B test YouTube thumbnails. For creators, this thumbnail choice is critical to making video reach the masses. Some publishers even conduct polls on which image to choose. The new feature that YouTube will bring will be of great benefit in finding the right option.
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