PewDiePie Aims To Quell YouTube Clickbait By Debunking Thumbnail Tactics

PewDiePie, YouTube’s most-subscribed star (and the recent recipient of a rare Diamond Play Button), has been known to comment on various ills facing the platform, including a surge in drama-related content, which he called a petty time suck. In a recent video titled You Won’t Believe This Clickbait, however, PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, jokingly broached another issue that could have negative impacts within the community: clickbait.

Much in the way that many media organizations have been criticized for proliferating snacky premises and pictures over quality content to drive clicks, Kjellberg says the same thing has been happening with YouTube titles and thumbnails for years.

“I have to clickbait just to say relevant. It’s gotten out of control,” he says. “Almost everyone does it. If you don’t do it, you’re not going to get views. I can spend days on a video, and it will get less views than a video that was sh-t out in 10 minutes that has a better title.”

So how does one crack down on such a trend? Kjellberg’s suggestion is simple: by spoiling popular devices employed by creators that emptily serve to amass eyeballs.

These include: thumbnails promising sexual or violent content that never arrives; a question mark in a title — which, according to Kjellberg, means the statement is automatically untrue; makeup or photoshopping used to fake injuries; hyperbolic phrases like ‘cringiest’, ‘extreme’, and ‘I can’t believe’; and ‘Storytime’ video titles that aren’t actually about the storyteller. One creator posted a video titled My Friend Died Because Of Me, Kjellberg notes, that was actually a retelling of the story of Easter.

Watch Kjellberg hilariously debunk additional stereotypes below: