OpenTube

give me 9 minutes, I’ll make your thumbnails 81% better

Aprilynne Alter

533,441 views

This video is sponsored by 1of10! Try it for just $1 here: https://1of10.com/affiliate/aprilynne1

I've reviewed thousands of thumbnails from hundreds of creators - and recently, I've come to realize that 90% of the time, I give the exact same feedback

So today, I'm walking you through the most common notes I keep giving (because if the creators I work with keep needing to hear them, odds are, you'll find them helpful, too)

LINKS MENTIONED:
90 DAY BREAKTHROUGH: https://90dbt.com/
FREE THUMBNAIL CHEAT SHEET: https://aprilynne.gumroad.com/l/thumb...
FRAMESET: https://frameset.app/
1of10: https://1of10.com/affiliate/aprilynne1

CREDITS:
Co-Editor: Joel Pimentel
Producer: Joel Pimentel

(and a special thank you to ‪@CatianaKeys‬ for submitting her thumbnail for review!)

90 DAY BREAKTHROUGH 📈
Growing on YouTube is hard, so I made 90 Day Breakthrough to help make it a little easier

It's a 12-week, action-oriented accelerator program designed to help you level up your YouTube channel, and it features lessons, live sessions with me & my team, personalized feedback, and more all centered around the exercises and activities that actually drive results

If that sounds like your jam, you can learn more & join the waitlist for the Spring 2027 Cohort here: https://90dbt.com

WATCH NEXT:
The EXACT System to Blow Up on YouTube in 90 Days
The EXACT System to Blow Up on YouTube in ...

COME SAY HI!
Twitter: Twitter: AprilynneAlter
Instagram: Instagram: aprilynnealter

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20 Comments

@AprilynneAlter Creator 1 month ago (edited) Pinned

This video is sponsored by 1of10! Try it for just $1 here: https://1of10.com/affiliate/aprilynne1

It’s SUPER helpful for coming up with ideas, generating shockingly good thumbnail inspiration, finding outliers, and so much more. I genuinely use it on a weekly basis

@NetriftAdventures 1 month ago

This is, without a doubt, the clearest, most comprehensive, most actionable, and most helpful thumbnail video I have ever seen. Seriously, incredible job and thank you for this!!

@RinksideGeneral 1 month ago

I've watched SO many design help tutorials on YouTube and I can't believe I've never heard of the 50% test until now. Thank you so much for this video.

@ngocanhphung 1 month ago

The 50% test is really eye-opening, I've never thought of this before. Thank you very much!

@YerNeighborEli 1 month ago

Feels illegal getting this information broken down so concisely and eloquently like this. Wow 👏

@barrbora 1 month ago

YOU ARE INCREDIBLE!!!! absolutely no BS, straight to the point, no repeats, ACTUALLY helpful advice

@RaphaelaZohra 4 days ago

Every time I think I know almost everything by now about thumbnails, someone like you shows up 😂 - thank you for this video!

@theporterryan 9 hours ago

Billboard inspiration is the latest inspo source I was thinking of. Billboard designers don’t get an extra title to work with - great video!

@BonnitaDoodles 1 month ago

The only issue I find is that A/B testing only works if you get enough views, I don't know what the cut off is. This was VERY useful though and I have def taken some great info away with me

@KelvKnows 5 days ago

I love this. Thank you for sharing. I’d love to learn to make videos like this.

@GardenCareGuru 1 month ago

This is a great video!! I learned quite a bit after watching this! Very well made and straight to the point. Thank you!

@Audiebellpt 2 weeks ago

Thumbnail inspo playlist is genius absolutely will be applying that to my regular viewing

@The_Parent_Code 2 days ago

This is something many creators underestimate: a great video can still fail if the thumbnail doesn’t create immediate curiosity.

What I find especially interesting is how small changes in contrast, focus, emotion, and simplicity can completely change whether someone clicks or scrolls past.

Sometimes the difference between an average video and a breakout video starts before anyone even presses play.

@Thy.Devilcy 1 month ago

Im gonna use this advice thanjyou for reminding me to make good thumbnails

@ThatMarkGilroy 1 month ago

Superb video. Super clear and full of value. Instant sub! 👏🏻

@jaggwedits 1 month ago

Thank you very much
This is the only thumbnail video any YouTuber will ever need

@adhveeek 1 month ago

thank you for the video got to learn so much from it .

@cedthompsonjr 1 month ago

This was a GREAT video Aprilynne! Thank you.

@Mr.PattyCakes 1 month ago

I love that you used Speeed’s TN as the example. Great video 👍

@ScamDefense60 2 weeks ago

This is a really interesting point, especially about thumbnails creating curiosity. But there’s one thing I keep running into with smaller channels: you can optimize the thumbnail, test titles, study outliers and improve the video itself, but none of that matters if YouTube doesn’t give the video enough impressions. I’ve had videos where I genuinely thought the idea was strong and the video was well made, yet they barely got shown to anyone. If you get 20,000 impressions and a 2% CTR, you have data you can work with. If you get 50 impressions, you basically have nothing. That’s why I think distribution is an often overlooked part of the problem. Before you can optimize performance, YouTube has to give the video a chance to perform.