Video
Notes
The video talks about the effectiveness of “clickbaity” titles for videos, particularly on YouTube.
- Two types of clickbait:
- type 1- content that tries to get clicks; “legitbait”
- type 2- content that is misrepresented to get clicks; “clicktrap”
- 9 out of 10 Americans are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact
- Someone Gave Some Kids Some Scissors. Here’s What Happened Next.
- type 1 is necessary on YouTube to get more exposure
- discovery on YouTube used to happen on other platforms
- YouTube brought it back onto the platform by recommending videos from channels the user isn’t subscribed to
- Not everyone defines the same boundaries for clickbait, so boundaries are actually fuzzy
- with sufficient viewership, you can swap thumbnails and watch realtime metrics to find the best of a few thumbnail/title combos
- best thumbnails are at the edge of what’s acceptable
Example
Asteroids: Earth’s Biggest Threat
- Changed to “These are the asteroids to worry about”
- went from worst-performing video to the best
- reach is 10x
- new title and thumbnail are still accurate
- includes a curiosity gap