WHY YOU SHOULD BE A/B TESTING ON YOUTUBE
I have been working in the YouTube space for over ten years now. Throughout that time, I have seen YouTube change and adopt new technologies to help creators succeed on the site. In 2023, YouTube introduced the ability to A/B test thumbnails and in 2025 they extended that ability to include titles. This small innovation has helped YouTuber’s across the platform learn more about their audience which in turn has gained them more watch time and revenue. If you’re a current content creator or thinking about becoming one, then I am here to convince you that you should be utilizing A/B testing on all your content moving forward.
IT ALL STARTS WITH USER RESEARCH
These days it’s a lot harder to become a successful YouTuber as the platform has become oversaturated with content. Almost 70k creators have over 1 million subscribers. We’re talking about endless options of content for different audience members to consume. This is why it is vital to know exactly what your audience wants and figure out what niche your content falls in. One way a creator can help determine what audience they’re trying to reach is through user experience research.
“User research is about understanding how people think, behave, and feel in order to design the best interaction experience.” (Baxter et al., 2015, p.98)
There are many methods when it comes to user experience research, but one that YouTube makes quick and easy for its creators, and the one we will be focusing on here, is A/B testing.
WHAT IS A/B TESTING?
A/B testing is a way to compare designs next to each other to see which one will produce better results. The multiple designs that you choose could have big or small differences. Maybe one thumbnail has multiple people in it while the other only has one and you want to see which performs better. Next, it is important to decide what measurements matter to determine the “better” design. YouTube will look at the watch time metrics as well as clickability to determine which thumbnail and title perform better. In A/B testing outside of YouTube, designers will put each design in front of at least ten users to determine which version reaches the desired outcome. As content creators, YouTube does that part for you.
HOW IT WORKS ON YOUTUBE
Within the editing tool of a YouTube video, creators are presented with an A/B testing button located under their current title.
After selecting the A/B testing option, creators are able to upload up to three different versions of thumbnails and titles.
Once uploaded, over the course of two weeks YouTube will run a test and determine which version received the most clicks and highest watch time. Those results will be presented with a clear winner.
WHY A/B TESTING IS IMPORTANT
Be honest, how many times have you clicked on a YouTube video just because of the thumbnail? Thumbnails are often the first thing a user will see when opening YouTube so it’s important to hook them quickly and get them to click on your content. Afterall, it’s impossible to get views if no one is interested in clicking on your video in the first place. A/B testing allows you to try out multiple options easily without ever having to physically gather users for your research.
Personally, I use A/B testing often at work. The results have been eye-opening. On the Avatar channel for example, we tested different thumbnails for the Braving the Elements podcast and discovered thumbnails with multiple people on them outperform thumbnails that feature only one person. This might seem like such a small detail, but when measuring watch time on multiple videos, it was clear that by simply adding another person in the thumbnail we were seeing better performance stats.
Across YouTube, multiple examples showcase how important A/B testing is. If we look at one of Ali Abdaal’s videos, we will see a dramatic increase in views when A/B testing took place. The picture below shows where the A/B testing occurs and how much the views went up.
IT’S EASY AND EFFECTIVE
Hopefully by now I have proven to you how important A/B testing can be on YouTube. Not only could it bring in more views, but it also allows you to understand what clicks for your audience. Maybe you’ll notice an increase in views when you add your branding. Or maybe the views will drop when you include a quote on your thumbnail. Perhaps certain titles need better keywords or popular names to succeed. All of these scenarios can best tested. The best part? YouTube makes it incredibly easy. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start A/B testing!