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How to test YouTube thumbnails and find the winners

Published on 29.05.2025 by Tracey Chizoba Fletcher

To truly comprehend the algorithm and be a full-blown star on YouTube, a person must always test and compare thumbnails to find the winners. The winners are the titles that make waves, which people are willing to share and be engaged with merely by looking at. To fully understand what a good thumbnail is and what makes it good, as well as to go through the process of picking and deciding to settle on a thumbnail, is very important and can only be done by having vast knowledge and determination to create. In this guide, we will fully break down how to test and compare thumbnails on YouTube to find the actual winner.

 

Test & compare thumbnails

There are other ways to achieve YouTube success; YouTube services seem to be a popular option, which people use in combination with testing and comparing thumbnails on their videos. YouTube services might be easy and cheap to acquire, but they are just perfect with YouTube's test & compare feature. You must first sign in to your YouTube Studio to test and compare your thumbnails. If you haven't added the video you want to test thumbnails, you must press create and then upload the videos on which you wish to test the features. Afterwards, from the left menu, select content and click on the videos above. Under the "thumbnail", press on the test & Compare. You can upload up to 3 unique thumbnails to test them in the YouTube algorithm. Click done, and the test will start when you publish your video on the YouTube platform. If you wish to stop, you must manually select one of the thumbnails at any point by using the "Stop & Set" button. Test results will be given to you in 2 weeks. You choose a winner, but the YouTube platform provides details akin to each thumbnail, such as "Watch Time percentage". 

 

Eligibility requirements

Eligibility-wise, things get tricky. First, you can't use this feature on anything beyond the computer platform of YouTube Studio. You also need to enable advanced features to be eligible. You need to test thumbnails on public-form videos or primarily on podcast episodes. Premiere videos can also be eligible once the premiere ends and the video finally converts to a fully fledged long-form video. Lastly, this ability is unavailable on videos made for kids, mature audience-oriented, or private videos.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why haven't I received a "winner" test result?

It's normal not to see the "winner" test result. When running such an experiment, getting other test results like "Preferred" or none is prevalent. There might be reasons for such absence of the apparent "winner. Firstly, there is a minimal difference in thumbnails; if your thumbnails all seem very akin to one another, there will be minimal to no difference between them regarding view-ability and the community's engagement. If your video has not been doing so great, that can also signal why you have not received the data yet, as not having enough impressions can be a great foundation of the absence. If your video had received a higher number of views, then it would have been more likely that a "winner" would have been declared.