In a tweet published on July 24, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan delivered an announcement many creators had been waiting for: Custom thumbnails can now be added to YouTube Shorts posts.
“Custom thumbnails for Shorts are rolling out to all @YouTube Partner Program creators,” Mohan wrote. “It’s one of the most requested features from @YouTubeCreators and gives you even more control over how your Shorts are presented.”
A longer post reveals that customization is one of several updates YouTube is bringing to Shorts thumbnails. Creators will also be able to choose one of three “suggested thumbnail frames” to use for their video. That change brings Shorts in line with the long-form version of YouTube.
On any YouTube video, long or short, thumbnail design has become crucial. Years of research have delved into the science of thumbnails, and creators have experimented with many different thumbnail faces, with varying results.
With so much attention paid to thumbnails, it was only a matter of time before YouTube expanded its options for Shorts creators. The TikTok-esque format is gobbling up more watch time on TV screens
, where high-quality imagery is particularly important.YouTube already encouraged the production of top-tier thumbnails through an A-B testing feature. Now, the platform is bringing that infrastructure to Shorts. “Together, these tools help creators save time while giving viewers a more visually engaging browsing experience,” reads the blog post.
Outside of the Shorts world, YouTube is also adding a new feature for thumbnails on long-form videos. A new integration will turn the AI-powered Ask Studio into a thumbnail generator. MrBeast’s experience with AI thumbnails is a reminder that many viewers will resist auto-generated imagery, but other creators may see the Ask Studio integration as a time-saving shortcut.
Bottom line: By making Shorts look snazzier, YouTube hopes to catalyze growth across all formats. Its blog has already provided tips for creators who adopt a multiformat strategy, and the new thumbnail tools make that strategy more viable.
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