I studied 103 Cristiano Ronaldo thumbnails.

Here’s everything that doesn’t work (so you don’t make those mistakes)🧵 1/ Confusing content

The best YT advice for big & small creators alike is: find formats that work for you, and repeat.

This strategy catapulted Mr. Beast to stardom, and rakes in consistent views for my own clients.

Here’s how YouTube thumbnails really work in 2025

(Forget what the $999 course gurus told you)🧵 1. Fonts

Use ONLY Sans Serif fonts.

Serif fonts are hard to read from a distance.

You want text to be clear and readable, whether your viewer is on a phone or a TV.

The $0 idea machine:
Never run out of YouTube thumbnail ideas

Here’s how I generate 2+ viral thumbnail ideas/week for free🧵 It’s unreasonable to expect Youtube success in 2025 by copying creators like MrBeast or MKBHD.

They get millions of views because they already have a dedicated fanbase.

Not because the algorithm is pushing their videos to new viewers.

You don’t need 20 thumbnail formats. You need 5.

→ The Double Take
→ The Evidence Board
→ The Mini Movie Poster
→ The Bold Statement
→ The 1-Star Shock

Master these🧵 1/ The Double Take

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?
Out of every format on this list, this creates the most curiosity.

𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
- Video essays
- Reviews

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁:
1. Ask: Is there something in my video which subverts commonly-held perceptions? That’s your X

For example, the “this is not a dog” thumbnail is for a video on dog evolution. People usually consider a pug a dog, but dogs evolved from wolves, which most viewers won’t know. That was our X. So, pairing the cute dog picture with “this is not a dog” makes the viewer double-take (and click on the video)

2. Pick a high-contrast background color (red, yellow, green)

3. Place a visual of X at the centre or on the left, on your thumbnail.

4. Place the text “This is not [X]” above the visual or on the right

Remember:
The placement of the visual & text is important, because we read from left to right. Viewers will:
- Read the text
- Look at the visual
- Read the title
- Click on the video

Everyone’s talking about thumbnails, but you won't get it until you read this🧵 1. Fonts

Use ONLY Sans Serif fonts.

Serif fonts are hard to read from a distance.

You want text to be clear and readable, whether your viewer is on a phone or a TV.

Don’t want to buy 1of10, Viewstats, VidIQ or other expensive 3rd-party tools for thumbnail inspiration?

This is how you can consistently find outlier thumbnails + titles, completely free🧵 Setting up this system will take ~30 mins but once it’s in place, it will work on auto mode, saving you a TON of money every month.

These 16 YouTube title formats print in any niche🧵 1/
𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁:
How the Most {Entity/Object} (Achieved desirable outcome)

The key part is adding a descriptive, EXTREME word before the entity. This amplifies curiosity, driving clicks.

I create outlier thumbnails without copying anyone.

This is how you can do the same:🧵 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗯 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗜𝗻 𝟱 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀)

To stop the scroll, your thumbnail needs to punch the viewer in the face — visually.

𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀:

𝟭. 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹
→ Something viewers haven’t seen before.

I created a viral Youtube thumbnail without copying anyone.

This is how you can do the same:🧵 If you’ve been on Youtube Twitter long enough, you’ve heard about the “copying outliers” strategy.

Heck, I’ve been one of its biggest fans!

BUT…

2025 Youtube is different.

Only 0.01% channels hit 1M+ views on their first video.

Ours was one of them.

Here's how you can copy us (MEGA THREAD🧵): Youtube gives all new channels a slight push in the beginning.

Which means that their first video is shown to a large pool of viewers.

If you capitalize on this moment, you set yourself up for long-term success.

This is where the thumbnail+title play a huge role.

I didn't study every Mr Beast Thumbnail

But here's the simple framework all famous performing videos follow

The same framework, which has gotten me millions of views.

🧵 Note: Each channel has a different audience, no certain "trick" or "effect" you apply will boost your views.

The framework simply provides a structure making sure you tailor working thumbnails.

My client racked a million views with this thumbnail

10X more than normal. 💥

Here are some secrets you probably forget while making your thumbnails

A THREAD 🧵 when choosing subject photo make sure at least 1 of them is looking towards the camera

why is that necessary?

Simple. It established instant trust which leads a viewer to click

Simply put, if you trust someone you go to them. This is how we establish trust with a viewer.

Maximize CTR with these 4 simple strategies

Using curiosity in your thumbnails📈

This is one of those thumbnails that you just have to click on.

Why? Curiosity.

I’ll be covering the top 4 ways in this mini thread!

Read below 👇

💜 There are 4 main ways you can build curiosity:

🟣 The Question
🟣 The Wow Factor
🟣The Cliffhanger
🟣The Knowledge

What are they? How can we use them?

I'll answer all of them.

How to make thumbnails the RIGHT way

thumbnail breakdown time! 🎨👨‍🎨

A thread 🧵 1️⃣ Cut out the subject from the background and apply your own background, this will help give a better look to the thumbnail and give us room to play with the background later