I've had a few comments coming through recently about the style of my thumbnails and the formatting of my titles, with the general comment being "you're clickbaiting".

Quick thread to explain my position.

In 2020, viewer discovery of content is driven massively by titles and thumbnails, more than ever before. YouTube has increased the size of thumbnails across the site and given more room to titles so more of the characters can be seen.

I have to adapt to those changes.

My titles share the same style as other clickbait titles being used elsewhere. But, importantly, my titles ARE representative of content I make & therefore are NOT clickbait.

Using capitals = grab attention. YT allows more title characters to be seen, so I'm adapting to that.

My thumbnails may be saturated & follow a pattern, but the style/pattern allows returning viewers to recognise my video instantly & I stand out from others in search results.

Bright colours, heavy editing & over-saturation is me adapting to larger thumbnail space now on YouTube.

"You just want more views so you can make more money": yes, well done.

My channel is a business. I need to make money & grow to keep the business successful. I have to pay employees, I have business costs to cover.

I can't just sit still w/ my channel. It has to grow & adapt.

I'd love it if I didn't have to do the Algorithm Dance w/ titles & thumbnails; it'd save me a HUGE amount of time and effort.

But I have to, to keep up w/ viewer habits & YouTube platform changes. And the effort I'm putting in is working.

So, in summary:

- I have to stay current & adapt w/ YouTube changes
- Having a consistent, attractive thumbnail style brings in more viewers
- Attractive titles bring in more viewers
- I have a business to run & I want it to keep growing

Hope you understand all that