Chris Lesinski

Eye Tracking Reveals New YouTube Thumbnail Tricks

Chris — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:58:54 +0000

Mashable and EyeTrackShop did a study of several social media sites and buried in the data are two eye tracking studies on the YouTube homepage.

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.

Filed under: Audience Development, Industry Commentary Tagged: eye tracking, optimization, study, thumbnails, youtube

YouTube’s Secret New Related Videos Design

Chris — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:20:54 +0000

YouTube is occasionally showing users a new, re-designed related videos grid. You won’t see it at the end of every video (YT is probably just testing it), so here’s a peek.

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.

Filed under: Audience Development, Industry Commentary

“Brain Crack” Will Keep You From Being Creative

Chris — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:09:00 +0000

This week, I was at VidCon. The whole conference rearranged my mind, as it does every year — it’s a celebration of all the ways YouTube is changing creativity.

But one thing that really stuck with me was Ze Frank’s short talk about “brain crack,” the addictive habit of keeping “good ideas” in your head rather then executing them. It’s a call-back to one of his old videos. Here’s how he elaborates:

If you don’t want to run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them…

…the bummer is most ideas kind of suck when you do them. And no matter how much you plan you still have to do something for the first time. And you are almost guaranteed the first time you do something it will blow. But somebody who does something bad three times still has three times the experience of that other person who is still dreaming of [actually doing it]. When I get an idea, even a bad one, I try to get it out into the world as fast as possible, because I certainly don’t want to be addicted to brain crack.

To me, brain crack is much more than a fear of “running out of ideas” and therefore, saving them^[*]. It’s much more of what Ze hits in that last part — a fear of doing it wrong. A fear of screwing up. Not just the fear of “Oh God, I have to do this right or they won’t see it for the great idea it is.” It’s more the perfectionist fear of, “Oh God, I have to do this right or they won’t see me for the great person I am.”

And the worst part is that the fear of embarrassment or of just learning from mistakes keeps you from actually being creative — not just being creative in your head — but it keeps you from creating, which is the whole point.

If you’re looking for more, here’s Ze Frank’s video.

^[*]“Running out of ideas” is more like a level-two problem, once you’ve escaped from a little bit of that brain crack. Once you’re executing a lot of projects, you start to feel like THIS ONE might be your last. (It’s not.)

Filed under: Fun

Could Justin Timberlake Bring Back MySpace?

Chris — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:10:49 +0000

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.

Filed under: Industry Commentary, New Media, Press

A Sports Site Setting the Standard for Scalable News

Chris — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:25:36 +0000

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.

Filed under: Industry Commentary

Wired Wish List 2010

Chris — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:42:45 +0000

Snappy watch, right? You should see the write-up.

I whipped up a few of my favorite new products this year for Wired’s 2010 Christmas Wish List. They’re just mini witty reviews. But the one I did for the ultimate garden hose nozzle is quite fun, if I do say so myself:

Pulling back the Nelson’s macho fireman-style grip may be the only way to look totally badass while watering tulips. You’ll cut time with triple the flow of a typical garden-variety nozzle. Commanding up to 250 psi, it can knock bird poop off a second-story window. But don’t get carried away: If the neighbor’s house catches fire, you should probably still call 911.

Filed under: Articles

Good Rule to Live By

Chris — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:49:48 +0000

Today, I got a text from a good old pal. I had sent him a check in the mail and before I sent it, I wrapped it in a sheet of paper — before I did that, I printed an image on the sheet of paper — an inside joke.

He said, “I nearly choked laughing at the picture you wrapped the check in.”

I responded, “Yeah, I figured a blank sheet of paper was a missed opportunity. Haha…”

He responded, “Good rule to live by, I’d say.”

He’s right.

Filed under: Fun

Predict a Hottie’s Digits

Chris — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:43:02 +0000

I’m on today’s Scam School with Brian Brushwood! If you really stalk me a lot, you’ll notice that this is the same exact ruse I wrote up in Wired about a year ago.

Filed under: Writing

Featured on LMU.edu!

Chris — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:45:16 +0000

My alma mater, Loyola Marmount University, featured some of my work in web video on their homepage! Check out that sexy picture! An excerpt:

[Chris Lesinski says] that the whole-person education at LMU made it possible for him to apply his knowledge to every platform — digital or analog. “Whether I’m shooting a video for web or writing for an old-fashioned magazine or newspaper, LMU taught me the storytelling principles that make it all work,” he says.

Awwww… “eduction of the whole person.”

You can read the whole feature at LMU.edu.

Filed under: Press

Audience Development for Revision3

Chris — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:53:10 +0000

I’m doing Audience Development for Revision3! Revision3 is a digital studio in San Francisco that creates roughly 20 original HD programs that you can watch online, on your phone or on a fancy internet TV box thing. I interned there a few years ago.

Audience development includes a lot of cool stuff but it basically means that I’ll be doing what ever it takes to earn more views for Revision3′s shows. I’m just going to work on getting the biggest bang out of my 8-hour days. If, somehow, adding pictures of Jason Derulo to the thumbnails for every episode of every show turns out to have the best ROI, that’s what I’ll do. But things like solid title copywriting, keyword optimization and forging new distribution agreements are likely to have more of an impact on viewership.

Thumbnails are going to make a big difference. But including pictures of Jason Derulo won’t be that important. Including pictures of Justin Bieber will.

Filed under: Jobs