I use youtube on a fire tv stick often enough. I do care about clickbait. Clickbait does cause me to not watch particular channels. clickbait did not make me stop I mostly just don’t watch it but its impossible to completely avoid. no clickbait is not the only problem, there is the often mocked video that does not get to the point until way deep in. I have not seen good clickbait. I do not see clickbait as necessary but stuff like that rears up in all sorts of media (movies were all the good scenes are in the trailer)

Between the clickbait, YouTube “enhancements”, exploding AI slop videos and the atrocious search facility, the platform is rapidly becoming completely unusable for finding relevant information when you’re looking for answers.

As an entertainment platform it’s forcing creators to make long form content and making viewers sit through more and more low quality content.

It’s evolving, but I’m pretty sure it’s heading towards extinction, rather than greatness.

The bigger problem is spammy shit, stealing content. But Google doesn’t care. So the entire issue is moot.

And click bait is an opinion. There is no way to perfectly filter it. That is Masnick’s Law.

TL;dr: Don’t try to gaslight me and we’re good.

Good ‘Meh’ clickbait
Title: She hates him!
Video: She says she "hates "him, but is clearly being ironic.

Bad clickbait
Title: She hates him!
Video: She says she didn’t like that one thing he said, but it doesn’t change how she feels about him as a person.

Bad clickbait
Title: She hates him!
Video: Editor stitches together unrelated events to make it look like she said she hates him.

Neigsendoig (my producer) and I absolutely use the stones out of YouTube through Invidious, so we know a thing or two about clickbait (as we’re both content creators, while I’m virtual in this context). Speaking of, clickbait to be clickbait (meaning, clickbait elements without any sort of valuable video) is completely sloppy, and AI loves that. After all, the YouTube algorithm clearly does something as an AI with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, megalomania, and a ton of other human mental health issues.

Clickbait titles without actual video behind it is a bad move, as I tend to watch more relationship YouTubers vs. idea YouTubers [that’s an idea from Olli (Mumbo Jumbo) by the way]. Neigsendoig and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum, as I narrate for an idea YouTube channel.

That said, to your question on clickbait making one stop seeing a creator… for both Neigsendoig and I, it 100% does depending on the context, and the dualistic type I described earlier. While not the major problem, clickbait is certainly a huge problem on the platform. Now, I guess you want color in your thumbnails, though you might want more blue (I’m thinking house decoration here, as blue draws people in a lot) in your thumbnail. Neigsendoig has been known to do that in GIMP (libre Photoshop), and he’s used quite a bit of yellow on blue.

For the case of good in clickbait, it depends on if the content is valuable for building out your life, or building out some ideas you want to make reality (Jack Spirko-style moment), which is what both Sendo (Neigsendoig) and I tend to do.

As for clickbait being necessary… I don’t think so at all in terms of evil. That said, if you know how to do it right, you can make pleasing thumbnails without all the slop of it.

Thanks for all the responses!! Some of them really made me open my mind about some things and now I know which is the best way to aboard the theme and do not talk of it as if it were cancer or something like that. Thank you again! I hope upload the video both in spanish and english, with no AI, obviuosly.

I’m not a fan of it, but if I’m remembering correctly, only up to about 2% of views come from the subscriptions page.

This means a channel has to attract a lot of folks from other areas, and this requires somehow grabbing people. YouTube has tools for A/B testing thumbnails and titles. Channels that have tried clickbait vs normal thumbnails have found normal just doesn’t generate clicks.

So unless YouTube revenue makes up a small enough percent of a channel’s income, the channel is basically forced into using it. Even if they find it just as distasteful as we do.

Source: I think this is something Tom Scott went into at some point. The information is likely a few years out of date, but I wouldn’t expect that it’s changed radically.

I’m honestly more baffled and annoyed at how low usage of subscriptions is, than I am at clickbait. It makes it seem like this problem stems more from an audience desire to be spoonfed by an inscrutable algorithm than from anything to do with clickbait itself, or choices freely made by channels.

If the clickbait is done well or the topic of the video is genuinely compelling, then I probably don’t mind - but when it’s really generic, it’s a total turn-off for me. Some things instantly disqualify a video, like obviously AI-generated thumbnails or when they include hot girls just for clicks. I’ve seen how the view counts on those “cabin life” channels spike the moment they add a girl in yoga pants to the thumbnail, so I can’t really blame them - but because it’s so transparently manipulative, I just want no part of it.

Another thing that really irritates me is when I see that same generic “shocked face” in every thumbnail, and when I check their channel, it’s literally the same three photos recycled across dozens of videos.

I have huge respect for YouTubers who don’t play those games at all. Some good examples are Foresty Forest, Andrew Camarata, Matthias Wandel, and post10.

I watch a ton of youtube. Mostly longform content 20 minutes or longer.

Clickbait has such a wide definition that I feel like setting clear definition would be important for your work.

We live in an attention economy where there is way more content for us to consume then we ever could so the point of descion is crucial and thumbnail and title do a lot of heavy lifting. I only dislike it and think it is a problem when it lies, or the video itself is lacking in substance.

In I a lot of gaming videos the thumbnail and or title is something along the lines of “How hard is it to beat X?” And they don’t answer the question directly, but more they play through it and you answer for yourself by watching them. Some point count this as clickbait, but I’m personally ok with it.

Youtube video titles that have been really bugging me lately (as they have become increasingly common) are the weirdly negative ones. Like, “THIS is why you suck at >insert your hobby here<”. It’s annoying because the video could raise a good point, but fuck, dont frame it by negging me. If I’m searching for videos on that topic, I want help, not put-downs.

Yes, I use Youtube almost daily.
I try to avoid clickbait, on those that are too obvious I hit the not interested button.
I’m not sure if I stopped watching some people but one thing I started to do is open clickbaity videos in a new tab so if the video was bad I can go to the previous tab and hit the “do not recommend this channel” option.
No.
No.
No.
I don’t see it as an evil per se, mostly as a lazy resource. I see it like an easy joke, it can be funny but if not delivered properly it will fall flat.

Do you use youtube mainly?

For watching short video, yes. Not as social media.

Do you care about clickbait?

I fucking hate it.

Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?

Yes. I’ve seen useful, thoughtful channels turn into life-wasting mouth noise in order to chase clicks.

Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform?

Not yet.

Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems?

I think that monetisation ahead of any other concern is the major problem, and clickbait is just one symptom of it.

Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?

No.

Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?

No.

I have many thoughts. Number 3 will surprise you!

I think removing the dislike button has really damaged the platform. That is a decision only done for financial reasons… because once you don’t know that others don’t like the content, then you might stay longer.

What should have been done instead is adding more vote abilities instead, like “vote misleading”, “vote bad quality”, “vote ragebait” etc.

I think it’s like SEO. Moreso the platform’s fault vs the creator trying to get by