There’s little debate that thumbnails are critical to a video’s performance and this study punctuates that (especially in terms of subscribers, who get your videos through their homepage). But the study also reveals a little wisdom about what kinds of thumbnails specifically perform the best in a competitive environment. Here’s what you’ll notice:

• All of the top thumbnails contained faces and humans. The most effective ones were close-ups.
• The 3 most effective thumbnails featured women.
• The most effective thumbnail, by far, featured a close up on a woman and what appears to be a bright red heart.
• Most of the top 6 thumbnails had a high-contrast background in either black or white. Two of the top 3 thumbnails were actually completely in high-contrast black-and-white. Black-and-white thumbnails aren’t widely used so this is a really interesting discovery.
• The least effective thumbnails appeared to be pulled from “bootlegged” footage from TV or a movie.
• Thumbnail effectiveness trumps upload order and probably even title in terms of fixation.
• It appears that after a user sees a thumbnail, they read the title of the video.

Another interesting note — people are quite likely to fixate on their own profile icon and the adjacent functions there near the top of the page — comments and inbox. So, don’t count those out as effective ways to reach an audience.

I’ve seen lots of eye-tracking studies on video sites and users BURN the frame where the video is, so end cards like this get a really high click-through-rate. This is valuable real estate. Notice that share functions are much more hidden than before. YouTube is trying to encourage users to engage in longer viewing sessions — focusing them on watching another video rather than sharing, replaying or embedding. But sometimes giving users too many choices like this results in a poorer aggregate CTR, so we’ll see where this goes.

YouTube recently acquired Next New Networks and folded them into a “lab” part of the company focused on improving the platform for creators. This new design looks EERILY similar to the end cards that Next New puts at the end of each of their videos. Something tells me they had a part in this…

The main difference is that Next New’s end card is animated; the videos are playing versus the still thumbnails in YouTube’s design. This might up the CTR. But still — given the new redesign, is it worth creating end cards any more?

Update: Looks like this “end-screen” is here to stay. YouTube just announced it.

This is neat — Harvey interviewed me about Justin Timberlake’s new investment in MySpace. The coolest part is that TMZ Live, our daily live web show, is now being syndicated on Sirius XM. So it’s exciting to think that people were listening to my “punditry” in their cars on the way home from work.

Jump in to about minute 32 for my short bit.

You may have heard that the EIC of Engadget left a little bit ago… And his new project is a collaboration with SB Nation, a sports news site. Tech to sports… Odd transition, right? It’s because he was so blown away by the technology behind how SB Nation publishes news. SB Nation is completely new to me. They’re worth keeping an eye on.

I really think the blog network has taken over as the gold-standard new media company and they’re mastering it at scale — 300 distinct, niche sports sites and 400 paid staff writers. They also have some really cool ways of updating developing stories on the site. Give it a look-see.

I have a secret and for a while, I’ve been embarrassed to admit it. My Facebook profile is missing a piece, my Twitter account has yet to comment and at every mention of New York (a city I’ve never even visited before) I have to bite my tongue to avoid divulging this personal bit.

I watch Gossip Girl. And I like it.

I find myself rationalizing this immature fondness much more than my pretentious coffee hobby, my iPhone ownership or even my brief “Toxic” obsession. But in my Gossip Girl rationalizations, a pattern has emerged: I’m convinced that the show is actually good. So, here I am, sharing a testament to its wisdom.

…Read the full story at Intern Row.

All around, this is weird. I don’t like music videos (in fact, I think they might die some day). I don’t like people who post funny YouTube videos on their blogs. But here I am, spiting both beliefs.

Besides its great entertainment value, this is one music video that’s worth a look because it’s a sign of the times. It’s a music video designed for the ‘net. I’m not saying that this is some insipid marketing scheme. I’m just noting that we’re so immersed in this new media world that a music video concept revolving around post-modern viral video anecdotes makes perfect sense — in fact, it seems ingenious for some reason. The reason is that you’re probably watching it on YouTube in the first place. You’re certainly not watching it on MTV.

And speaking of YouTube, I’d like to plug an interesting and relevant new project called YouTomb. If you’re like me, you’ll quite enjoy the concept.