The Power of the Thumbnail and CPR

One of the things that really bugs the SHIT out of me is the fact that at most video sharing sites you can’t pick the exact frame of video that you want to use for the key frame of your thumbnail. (The little picture that represents what your video is about) Sure a lot of the sites allow you to choose from several thumbnails but what the hell is that? To get more views of your video you need to have the most compelling thumbnail that you can have. Could you imagine making a feature film and then when it came time to make the movie poster you were only allowed to choose from a handful of frames that were randomly selected by a computer? The thing that really ticks me off more is that the previous version of upload software at one of my favorite video sharing sites, Revver used to have an option to select the exact frame of your video that you wanted but for some reason they have now changed that with the new “update” to their site. Don’t get me wrong, I love Revver and all the money they put into my Paypal account but you would think that these sites would realize the power of the thumbnail. If the thumbnail is interesting people click on it. If there is a pre-roll ad they watch it and the video sharing site gets paid. If the video sucks the viewer bails but the ad was watched and the video sharing site gets paid. On the other hand, if the random thumbnail sucks the video doesn’t get played, the ad doesn’t get played and video sharing site loses revenue. Thumbnails need CPR.