Data
What We Learned After Generating 10,000 AI Thumbnails
Color palettes, framing, and copy angles that consistently outperformed the control thumbnails our customers uploaded.
Across 10k generations, four elements correlated with higher CTR: high-contrast subject cutouts, one emotional keyword, strong diagonals, and simplified backgrounds. When all four were present, the variant beat the control 78% of the time.
Colors: “Warm subject + cool background” outperformed “cool subject + warm background” in educational channels, while challenge-style creators saw the opposite. Keep two palettes on standby and match them to the video’s energy.
Faces still matter, but not in the way you think. Medium zoom with clear eye-lines outperformed ultra-close framing by 12%. We now default to “torso up” crops unless the channel brief specifically calls for dramatic close-ups.
Lastly, text. Two words max. Anything longer performed worse unless it was a proper noun (brand, city, celebrity). ThumbMaker now highlights instructions if your copy exceeds 12 characters.
Drop this data into your next batch by using the “Channel Style” field inside projects. We’ll keep learning from the aggregate so your results get sharper every week.