thumbnail designers are pretty much useless in 2026.
the final thumbnail this guy made isn't good, but the reality is 99% of thumbnail designers use AI anyway.
thumbnail designers are replaced, but the value of someone who understands youtube packaging and can switch your titles and thumbnails for you is unmatched.
if i were a thumbnail designer in 2026, I would: 1. learn youtube strategy 2. make multiple thumbnails for my clients (and charge the same, it takes 10 minutes with AI) 3. tell my clients what titles to use 4. set up the A/B tests and switch titles and thumbnails constantly to milk the performance of my client videos
designers who can't do this are genuinely cooked.
designers who CAN do this are going to get ahead of all their peers and make a ton of money.
how to write viral youtube hooks in 4 steps (save this).
this is one of the easiest ways to make your youtube videos perform better, instantly.
1. payoff.
your first line repeats the title so the viewer instantly knows they clicked the right video. make it as broad and as extreme as you can get it without lying.
2. social proof.
pick credentials that prove you know what you're talking about. e.g. how much your business makes, how many hours you spent on something, etc.
3. context. this is where you raise what the video is worth. the price you paid, the months it took, the thing nobody has seen before.
4. setup.
name what the viewer walks out with after the video, e.g. "here are the 10 lessons I learned, and how you can apply them yourself".
more viewers retained in the first 30s means more viewers watching your content. this is super high leverage.
i just shared everything i know about growing on youtube in 90 minutes.
here are the biggest takeaways:
1. titles hold 60 to 70% of the click decision, not thumbnails. keep them under 65 characters so they read fast and don't cut off on the homepage, and cut the jargon.
words like "bottleneck", "waterfall" and "entrepreneur "shrink how many people can click. the one exception is a 55+ audience, they click longer titles at higher rates because the extra context helps them.
2. you are not optimizing for ctr and you are not optimizing for retention. you are optimizing for viewer satisfaction.
watch time, rewatches, comments, whether they click a second video...all of it answers one question: did the viewer enjoy this?
3. concept first, execution second. a perfect title, thumbnail and edit on a bad idea gets 1,000 views. find good ideas, and figure out how to make them later.
4. there are two kinds of clicks, intent and emotion. a full course video gets clicked with intent, less reach and a much better viewer. how to make a million dollars in 2026 gets clicked with emotion, far more reach and a worse viewer. decide which one the video is before you write a line of it. all videos fall on a spectrum of these two.
5. almost all of youtube is copying in 2026. top channels copy each other, small channels copy them, and the data on what works is already public. innovate inside guardrails. e.g. we took a format that was working in faceless youtube, twisted it for a dating coach client, and it got over 1M views this month.
6. everything passes through brand. going as viral as possible outside your brand converts nothing. a view on its own is vanity.
the director of the youtube algorithm just revealed exactly how the algorithm works in 2026:
here are my biggest takeaways:
1. nothing gets "pushed". the system activates when a viewer opens the app, looks at what they have watched, what time it is, what device they are on, then pulls candidate videos and ranks them for that one person. it is not looking at your video and hunting for an audience. it is looking at a person and picking videos.
2. the "if my subscribers do not like it the video is dead" belief is wrong. the system learns per audience. it can decide your subscribers are not into this one and non subscribers are, and serve it accordingly. one audience does not get to vote for everyone.
3. non subscribers are in there from the first hour. he said on plenty of channels the majority of the audience in hour one has never watched the channel before.
4. do not turn off notify subscribers. you are removing an entire audience the system would otherwise learn from.
5. no single metric is the important one. and the weighting is not even the same across viewers or devices. time watched might matter more on tv, likes might matter more on mobile because they are easier to hit there. there is no number to game.
6. time spent is not automatically counted as good. they run surveys to separate time from satisfaction, because you can sit through 20 minutes waiting for a payoff that never comes and that is a bad experience, not a good one.
7. youtube is not pushing longer videos. people are watching on tvs and choosing longer videos, so the system recommends more of them. same with the bigger desktop thumbnails. fewer options on screen grew long form, because too much choice makes people pick nothing.
8. suggested traffic from unrelated topics is not the algorithm misunderstanding your channel. the watch page sidebar is personalized now, not just related videos. people change the channel. and the number one place people watch videos from channels they subscribe to is that sidebar, not the subscriptions feed.
9. the one actually useful thing in your analytics: open browse features and pull out the subscriptions traffic source on its own. the audience there never changes, so it is the only slice where the algorithm is not a variable. if click through rate drops there, it is your title and thumbnail, not your targeting.
10. even your best videos get around 10% click through rate or less in the subscriptions feed. 90% of the people who deliberately subscribed do not click. that is normal, it is expected, and the system is already built around it.
this channel is a peak example. the content itself is banger. i have several friends who consume this channel and learn a ton every time they watch.
this should be at least 50k view content with how useful and broad the videos are.
clearly though, the videos are unoptimized for youtube and don't get as much reach as they should.
you're not doing yourself a service by only focusing on the quality of your content. more reach with good content = greater impact and more business from youtube.
it's always advantageous, with the same content, to try to go viral (without losing your brand or quality).
one cuts the hook. one cuts the body. they work at the same time.
here's why:
most of our feedback to editors was on hooks.
at the same time, we're making long videos for our clients. this means one changes in the hook -> 60 minute video has to fully re-export to change 10 seconds of it.
so one small note cost us a full day, and would lead to significantly more renderer errors, etc.
now:
the hook editor gets the first 60 seconds only. it's a small file, so exports are fast and i get 3 revisions in an afternoon instead of 3 days.
once the hook is locked, the body editor assembles the rest. it's mostly assembly by then, so it goes to the cheapest competent person.
both tasks fire off one toggle so nobody has to remember to split it.
it doesn't cost more to do this. in fact, it costs me less per week in review time. videos also get done faster.
4 people younger (and more successful) than me that i look up to, and what they taught me:
1. BabyChiefWillDoIt
this kid is 18 years old, making millions living his dream rapping in front of sold out crowds, yet remains humble and owns ALL his own stuff.
he doesn't sell out, and doesn't flex or brag like many of his peers in similar situations.
2. Zach Yadegari
he built an app called cal ai and did millions in revenue before he was out of high school, then got rejected from most of the colleges he applied to.
i dropped out of college, and not one person has asked me about my college applications since lol.
watching him get rejected and keep going is admirable and something i've moved on as well.
3. IShowSpeed
he posts more than anyone i've ever seen and does not care even a little bit about looking dumb on camera.
i now opt to "just post" instead of worrying about what other people think. great lesson for anyone that wants to do something grea.t
4. Chase Fisher
client of mine who runs an 8-figure tiktok shop business and does numbers most people wouldn't believe.
he's given me tactical business advice i wouldn't be able to get in any online course. has honestly been a major contributor to the growth of Viewz in the last 7 months.
how to build a youtube channel that makes you millions:
3 of our clients got 100k subscriber plaques this month. none of them started from zero. every one had the same shape before us: 1 to 2 years of grinding to get to a decent subscriber count, then doubled in under 3 months once we stopped treating videos as one-offs.
one of them added about 100k subs in 28 days.
the change is a few sentences:
every channel gets a mission statement.
if a video idea doesn't fit the sentence, it doesn't get made. even when it would get views...especially when it would get views.
what that produces is a channel where someone lands on one video and every other video is obviously for them too. so they don't watch one and leave. they watch 8.
treat the channel like a series, not a folder of unrelated uploads. sequence them, reference the earlier ones, make the next click obvious.
and the business result matters more than the sub count. a person who watched 8 of your videos in 28 days is the warmest lead you will ever get. they've had 6 hours of you. they get on a call already sold and you spend the call on logistics.
that's how a youtube channel actually grows your business.
Nate Curtiss
thumbnail designers are pretty much useless in 2026.
the final thumbnail this guy made isn't good, but the reality is 99% of thumbnail designers use AI anyway.
thumbnail designers are replaced, but the value of someone who understands youtube packaging and can switch your titles and thumbnails for you is unmatched.
if i were a thumbnail designer in 2026, I would:
1. learn youtube strategy
2. make multiple thumbnails for my clients (and charge the same, it takes 10 minutes with AI)
3. tell my clients what titles to use
4. set up the A/B tests and switch titles and thumbnails constantly to milk the performance of my client videos
designers who can't do this are genuinely cooked.
designers who CAN do this are going to get ahead of all their peers and make a ton of money.
3 days ago | [YT] | 29
View 3 replies
Nate Curtiss
how to write viral youtube hooks in 4 steps (save this).
this is one of the easiest ways to make your youtube videos perform better, instantly.
1. payoff.
your first line repeats the title so the viewer instantly knows they clicked the right video. make it as broad and as extreme as you can get it without lying.
2. social proof.
pick credentials that prove you know what you're talking about. e.g. how much your business makes, how many hours you spent on something, etc.
3. context. this is where you raise what the video is worth. the price you paid, the months it took, the thing nobody has seen before.
4. setup.
name what the viewer walks out with after the video, e.g. "here are the 10 lessons I learned, and how you can apply them yourself".
more viewers retained in the first 30s means more viewers watching your content. this is super high leverage.
4 days ago | [YT] | 71
View 2 replies
Nate Curtiss
i just shared everything i know about growing on youtube in 90 minutes.
here are the biggest takeaways:
1. titles hold 60 to 70% of the click decision, not thumbnails. keep them under 65 characters so they read fast and don't cut off on the homepage, and cut the jargon.
words like "bottleneck", "waterfall" and "entrepreneur "shrink how many people can click. the one exception is a 55+ audience, they click longer titles at higher rates because the extra context helps them.
2. you are not optimizing for ctr and you are not optimizing for retention. you are optimizing for viewer satisfaction.
watch time, rewatches, comments, whether they click a second video...all of it answers one question: did the viewer enjoy this?
3. concept first, execution second. a perfect title, thumbnail and edit on a bad idea gets 1,000 views. find good ideas, and figure out how to make them later.
4. there are two kinds of clicks, intent and emotion. a full course video gets clicked with intent, less reach and a much better viewer. how to make a million dollars in 2026 gets clicked with emotion, far more reach and a worse viewer. decide which one the video is before you write a line of it. all videos fall on a spectrum of these two.
5. almost all of youtube is copying in 2026. top channels copy each other, small channels copy them, and the data on what works is already public. innovate inside guardrails. e.g. we took a format that was working in faceless youtube, twisted it for a dating coach client, and it got over 1M views this month.
6. everything passes through brand. going as viral as possible outside your brand converts nothing. a view on its own is vanity.
1 week ago | [YT] | 33
View 3 replies
Nate Curtiss
the director of the youtube algorithm just revealed exactly how the algorithm works in 2026:
here are my biggest takeaways:
1. nothing gets "pushed". the system activates when a viewer opens the app, looks at what they have watched, what time it is, what device they are on, then pulls candidate videos and ranks them for that one person. it is not looking at your video and hunting for an audience. it is looking at a person and picking videos.
2. the "if my subscribers do not like it the video is dead" belief is wrong. the system learns per audience. it can decide your subscribers are not into this one and non subscribers are, and serve it accordingly. one audience does not get to vote for everyone.
3. non subscribers are in there from the first hour. he said on plenty of channels the majority of the audience in hour one has never watched the channel before.
4. do not turn off notify subscribers. you are removing an entire audience the system would otherwise learn from.
5. no single metric is the important one. and the weighting is not even the same across viewers or devices. time watched might matter more on tv, likes might matter more on mobile because they are easier to hit there. there is no number to game.
6. time spent is not automatically counted as good. they run surveys to separate time from satisfaction, because you can sit through 20 minutes waiting for a payoff that never comes and that is a bad experience, not a good one.
7. youtube is not pushing longer videos. people are watching on tvs and choosing longer videos, so the system recommends more of them. same with the bigger desktop thumbnails. fewer options on screen grew long form, because too much choice makes people pick nothing.
8. suggested traffic from unrelated topics is not the algorithm misunderstanding your channel. the watch page sidebar is personalized now, not just related videos. people change the channel. and the number one place people watch videos from channels they subscribe to is that sidebar, not the subscriptions feed.
9. the one actually useful thing in your analytics: open browse features and pull out the subscriptions traffic source on its own. the audience there never changes, so it is the only slice where the algorithm is not a variable. if click through rate drops there, it is your title and thumbnail, not your targeting.
10. even your best videos get around 10% click through rate or less in the subscriptions feed. 90% of the people who deliberately subscribed do not click. that is normal, it is expected, and the system is already built around it.
which of these is most interesting to you?
1 week ago | [YT] | 73
View 3 replies
Nate Curtiss
good content doesn't go viral on youtube.
this channel is a peak example. the content itself is banger. i have several friends who consume this channel and learn a ton every time they watch.
this should be at least 50k view content with how useful and broad the videos are.
clearly though, the videos are unoptimized for youtube and don't get as much reach as they should.
you're not doing yourself a service by only focusing on the quality of your content. more reach with good content = greater impact and more business from youtube.
it's always advantageous, with the same content, to try to go viral (without losing your brand or quality).
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 74
View 8 replies
Nate Curtiss
new youtube update 🚨
youtube has changed the “impressions” metric in youtube studio to “thumbnail impressions”
nice way to clarify “impressions” are only on the youtube platform.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 54
View 4 replies
Nate Curtiss
i split my editor into two people.
one cuts the hook. one cuts the body. they work at the same time.
here's why:
most of our feedback to editors was on hooks.
at the same time, we're making long videos for our clients. this means one changes in the hook -> 60 minute video has to fully re-export to change 10 seconds of it.
so one small note cost us a full day, and would lead to significantly more renderer errors, etc.
now:
the hook editor gets the first 60 seconds only. it's a small file, so exports are fast and i get 3 revisions in an afternoon instead of 3 days.
once the hook is locked, the body editor assembles the rest. it's mostly assembly by then, so it goes to the cheapest competent person.
both tasks fire off one toggle so nobody has to remember to split it.
it doesn't cost more to do this. in fact, it costs me less per week in review time. videos also get done faster.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 57
View 4 replies
Nate Curtiss
4 people younger (and more successful) than me that i look up to, and what they taught me:
1. BabyChiefWillDoIt
this kid is 18 years old, making millions living his dream rapping in front of sold out crowds, yet remains humble and owns ALL his own stuff.
he doesn't sell out, and doesn't flex or brag like many of his peers in similar situations.
2. Zach Yadegari
he built an app called cal ai and did millions in revenue before he was out of high school, then got rejected from most of the colleges he applied to.
i dropped out of college, and not one person has asked me about my college applications since lol.
watching him get rejected and keep going is admirable and something i've moved on as well.
3. IShowSpeed
he posts more than anyone i've ever seen and does not care even a little bit about looking dumb on camera.
i now opt to "just post" instead of worrying about what other people think. great lesson for anyone that wants to do something grea.t
4. Chase Fisher
client of mine who runs an 8-figure tiktok shop business and does numbers most people wouldn't believe.
he's given me tactical business advice i wouldn't be able to get in any online course. has honestly been a major contributor to the growth of Viewz in the last 7 months.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 42
View 1 reply
Nate Curtiss
how to build a youtube channel that makes you millions:
3 of our clients got 100k subscriber plaques this month. none of them started from zero. every one had the same shape before us: 1 to 2 years of grinding to get to a decent subscriber count, then doubled in under 3 months once we stopped treating videos as one-offs.
one of them added about 100k subs in 28 days.
the change is a few sentences:
every channel gets a mission statement.
if a video idea doesn't fit the sentence, it doesn't get made. even when it would get views...especially when it would get views.
what that produces is a channel where someone lands on one video and every other video is obviously for them too. so they don't watch one and leave. they watch 8.
treat the channel like a series, not a folder of unrelated uploads. sequence them, reference the earlier ones, make the next click obvious.
and the business result matters more than the sub count. a person who watched 8 of your videos in 28 days is the warmest lead you will ever get. they've had 6 hours of you. they get on a call already sold and you spend the call on logistics.
that's how a youtube channel actually grows your business.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 112
View 6 replies
Nate Curtiss
btw the most secret youtube strategies are here.
4 weeks ago | [YT] | 44
View 0 replies
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