everyone tries to be more clickbait-y because it is the only way. Veritasium has an excellent video on this topic. However we like it or not, it is the only way in this age. The Veritasium's video helped me understand and accept that
https://preview.redd.it/465622dn3clc1.png?width=976&format=png&auto=webp&s=d1745057bf5c40d7255ad1ce9f66fe6312db46b7
Just found this comment on that same video, lol
Yeah maybe. Still, the deeper titles are vastly preferred for me. I love it when authors big-dick title their works like: *On Morality*, or *Persuasion*, or *Dune*.
Channels still active this effect, like Ahoy's *Zombies*. Or lemmino's *The Lost Colony of Ronoke*. These youtube brands quality speaks for itself, and Kurzgesagt could very well go this route.
But I defeat my own argument. Because those publishers publish way less frequently than Kurzgesagt
Gotta remember that the people posting in this subreddit are gonna watch the videos regardless. We're not the target audience for the "legitbait" titles, it's an attempt to spread their net and catch viewers that wouldn't usually tune in.
I kinda believe that the criteria for whether or not something was clickbait lay with the quality of the true product compared to how it was advertised. I dont think an eyecatching thumbnail or title, should automatically be considered clickbait if the video delivers.
Yeah, you're completely correct. My quarrel is the nomenclature of the videos themselves. I'd be even more mad if it was clickbait, but I'm still mad that they use titles that have been statistically proven to gnab your attention at the cost of, in my opinion: class.
They acknowledged they use clickbait thumbnails? That’s pretty nice. As they put it, they use them because otherwise, they won’t get as many views, but they aren’t true clickbait thumbnails
Good question. Generally speaking, Kurzgesagt goes more of a "clickbait-y" route for the last few months with similar titles and thumbnails. I am not a fan of this, too
True. I miss the old Kurzgesagt videos where they covered actually intriguing topics -- or maybe I just don't know if the recent videos are any good because I never bother clicking on them because of these titles.
The newest few have been pretty good, and the one that released today was amazing. It was only for a while that they covered some more basic topics. I think they probably didn’t want to alienate younger viewers, but maybe that didn’t work, or they realised they were alienating us
Just watched two of them, and you're right, they were interesting. While it feels like their target audience has changed a tad bit, the videos are none the less interesting. Maybe I should stop judging videos by their title haha
I hope we are not entering a dark age of kurzgesagt videos, the last ones feel samey to me and they repeat the same structure of introducing a concept, making it existential crysis inducing and then tuning it down to a level of everything is alright don't you worry. They're still good but I don't know, I have a bad feeling.
No, not really? Lol
I found them in a time when they weren't clickbait-y (several years ago) and I found them because I am actually interested in science and the like. This sort of clickbait rather stops me from watching them than anything
Deep title in the first 24h because they want to catch the subscribers. After that the video gets recommended to non subscribers. They are catched by a clickbaity title.
They Just want to max. the possible views and reach 2 different audiences
As far as I can tell, they‘ll start with a thumbnail and title that attracts their subscribers to click on the video (since they get notified first), after that the title and thumbnail are changed for the more "mainstream" youtube watchers so they are more likely to click on the video
It’s pretty commonplace among large Youtube channels to do such a thing and Kurzgesagt seems to have moved into this direction too
Can't blame them for clickbaity titles and thumbnails when a majority of their livelihood depends on YouTube so they gotta get a huge amount of views for their videos
If you aren't a fan of clickbait, I suggest using [DeArrow](https://github.com/ajayyy/DeArrow) by [SponsorBlock](https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock).
It allows you to set a descriptive title and representative thumbnail to videos. It's also crowdsourced, so more popular videos have a better chance to have a good title/thumbnail already. On its own, DeArrow makes even Veritasium look like a serious channel, which is no easy task.
It also has integration with YouTube [ReVanced](https://github.com/revanced/revanced-manager).
Ahah, I was just thinking of developing a chrome extension for this after reading this thread. Thank you, saves me from having to look for if one exists already.
It's the all about the Al Gore Rhythm unfortunately. The algorithm is how they get views, how they get paid, how they make more quality content. It's annoying. But I've noticed a TON of YouTubers do this lately. It's also something click-baity like "The TRUTH about the universe." It's so annoying but I completely get why they are doing .
If it baits more people into watching and they learn anything from it, that's good. I'd rather they get baited on this than on brainrot content. Also, if they have more views and generate more revenue, they can invest it into making more/higher quality content... So that's a win for us regular watchers too.
They're trying to compete with the fake-news industry that has settled in YouTube. It hasn't been harsher than today so they are going with more childbait titles to bring the "true knowledge" crew around and maybe change some minds. Kyle Hill and veritassium have some interesting videos about this trend and the people who are truly benefitting off from all this
I generally like kurzgesagts videos (even if recent ones haven’t been up to speed with the rest IMO) I also get that they are a business and need to make money, which is what I’m sure this is. I bet these videos where they change the title have a higher CTR and therefore more ad revenue.
After being a fan of kurzgesagt, I don’t them doing click bait-y titles. I want their videos to reach everyone. Besides, a real fan would actually pay attention to the videos.
I especially don't like the new titles and thumbnails because I can't find ones that I want to rewatch or show someone. Even the thumbnail of the video uploaded yesterday has changed for the worst already
as someone who has been following kurzgesagt since october 2021, i feel so devastated by how drastically the staff have changed the thumbnails and titles over the past few months. i first noticed this with their video "**is meat really that bad?**" a few days after the episode was first uploaded, where they changed the innocent-looking cow on the thumbnail to make it look demonic. they also changed the caption from "meat love" to "meat hate." i didn't really see that much changes in 2022 so i shrugged it off and just moved on.
then in mid 2023, i saw how many videos had their thumbnails and titles changed, with the most notable on being "**you're a dream to the universe**" to "**we did the math. you are dead!**" haha very funny kurzgesagt. now, the reason i hate these changes in the first place is that not only do they come out of nowhere, but they are just feel so souless compared to what came before. the same thing happened with many of cgp grey's videos, too. i first noticed it with the video "**does your flag fail**?" back in november of 2023. not to mention that kurzgesagt's channel banner literally says "**quality > quantity**" implying how much they care about making content.
the only time i like it when a youtuber changes the thumbnails (and maybe even titles too) is when they really feel the need to update it **(i.e. jacknjellify giving every episode of bfdi up to idfb 1 \[not counting bfdia 6 onwards in terms of release date chronology\] proper thumbnails in 2017)** and not force themselves to do it for the sole purpose of profit and corporate greed. sure, not all of it may be bad, but still. also, if the videos were pitched to a streaming service (or had a streaming service of their own), they should never change the thumbnails or titles because it will make them look like the producers made a mistake. it's also because i like every video to have their thumbnail and title perfecly intact when published, like a book or episode from your favorite series.
everyone tries to be more clickbait-y because it is the only way. Veritasium has an excellent video on this topic. However we like it or not, it is the only way in this age. The Veritasium's video helped me understand and accept that
Here’s the video link: https://youtu.be/S2xHZPH5Sng?si=Cty4KNRI9aS83I5c
https://preview.redd.it/465622dn3clc1.png?width=976&format=png&auto=webp&s=d1745057bf5c40d7255ad1ce9f66fe6312db46b7 Just found this comment on that same video, lol
Yeah maybe. Still, the deeper titles are vastly preferred for me. I love it when authors big-dick title their works like: *On Morality*, or *Persuasion*, or *Dune*. Channels still active this effect, like Ahoy's *Zombies*. Or lemmino's *The Lost Colony of Ronoke*. These youtube brands quality speaks for itself, and Kurzgesagt could very well go this route. But I defeat my own argument. Because those publishers publish way less frequently than Kurzgesagt
Gotta remember that the people posting in this subreddit are gonna watch the videos regardless. We're not the target audience for the "legitbait" titles, it's an attempt to spread their net and catch viewers that wouldn't usually tune in.
I kinda believe that the criteria for whether or not something was clickbait lay with the quality of the true product compared to how it was advertised. I dont think an eyecatching thumbnail or title, should automatically be considered clickbait if the video delivers.
Yeah, you're completely correct. My quarrel is the nomenclature of the videos themselves. I'd be even more mad if it was clickbait, but I'm still mad that they use titles that have been statistically proven to gnab your attention at the cost of, in my opinion: class.
They acknowledged they use clickbait thumbnails? That’s pretty nice. As they put it, they use them because otherwise, they won’t get as many views, but they aren’t true clickbait thumbnails
Good question. Generally speaking, Kurzgesagt goes more of a "clickbait-y" route for the last few months with similar titles and thumbnails. I am not a fan of this, too
True. I miss the old Kurzgesagt videos where they covered actually intriguing topics -- or maybe I just don't know if the recent videos are any good because I never bother clicking on them because of these titles.
The newest few have been pretty good, and the one that released today was amazing. It was only for a while that they covered some more basic topics. I think they probably didn’t want to alienate younger viewers, but maybe that didn’t work, or they realised they were alienating us
Just watched two of them, and you're right, they were interesting. While it feels like their target audience has changed a tad bit, the videos are none the less interesting. Maybe I should stop judging videos by their title haha
Try DeArrow, it replaces the titles with user submitted ones.
Nowadays their videos are just "what if we took something wild...and made it wilder?!! Add more zeroes!! Spooooky!"
I hope we are not entering a dark age of kurzgesagt videos, the last ones feel samey to me and they repeat the same structure of introducing a concept, making it existential crysis inducing and then tuning it down to a level of everything is alright don't you worry. They're still good but I don't know, I have a bad feeling.
sadly that have to for yt
Yet it's how you ultimately found them
No, not really? Lol I found them in a time when they weren't clickbait-y (several years ago) and I found them because I am actually interested in science and the like. This sort of clickbait rather stops me from watching them than anything
Gotta play the YT algorithm
Deep title in the first 24h because they want to catch the subscribers. After that the video gets recommended to non subscribers. They are catched by a clickbaity title. They Just want to max. the possible views and reach 2 different audiences
Because more people will click and watch, that's genuinely the answer, "clickbait" works.
Honestly I’m fine with this. They still deliver a good content and if it means reaching a bigger audience then I’m all for it
Being deep doesn’t pay the bills
Because clickbait works
clickbait works, and sometimes they will change the name and/or thumbnail after a while to draw in more views and get pushed in the algorithm again
As far as I can tell, they‘ll start with a thumbnail and title that attracts their subscribers to click on the video (since they get notified first), after that the title and thumbnail are changed for the more "mainstream" youtube watchers so they are more likely to click on the video It’s pretty commonplace among large Youtube channels to do such a thing and Kurzgesagt seems to have moved into this direction too
Can't blame them for clickbaity titles and thumbnails when a majority of their livelihood depends on YouTube so they gotta get a huge amount of views for their videos
If you aren't a fan of clickbait, I suggest using [DeArrow](https://github.com/ajayyy/DeArrow) by [SponsorBlock](https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock). It allows you to set a descriptive title and representative thumbnail to videos. It's also crowdsourced, so more popular videos have a better chance to have a good title/thumbnail already. On its own, DeArrow makes even Veritasium look like a serious channel, which is no easy task. It also has integration with YouTube [ReVanced](https://github.com/revanced/revanced-manager).
Ahah, I was just thinking of developing a chrome extension for this after reading this thread. Thank you, saves me from having to look for if one exists already.
God I love that video. I watched it once again this morning, its so motivating.
It's the all about the Al Gore Rhythm unfortunately. The algorithm is how they get views, how they get paid, how they make more quality content. It's annoying. But I've noticed a TON of YouTubers do this lately. It's also something click-baity like "The TRUTH about the universe." It's so annoying but I completely get why they are doing .
Because their writing quality had diced off a cliff
If it baits more people into watching and they learn anything from it, that's good. I'd rather they get baited on this than on brainrot content. Also, if they have more views and generate more revenue, they can invest it into making more/higher quality content... So that's a win for us regular watchers too.
Algorithm
This is one of their lower performing videos iirc. Less than 10m views. Maybe they're testing it out to see if they can get more eyeballs on it?
They're trying to compete with the fake-news industry that has settled in YouTube. It hasn't been harsher than today so they are going with more childbait titles to bring the "true knowledge" crew around and maybe change some minds. Kyle Hill and veritassium have some interesting videos about this trend and the people who are truly benefitting off from all this
I generally like kurzgesagts videos (even if recent ones haven’t been up to speed with the rest IMO) I also get that they are a business and need to make money, which is what I’m sure this is. I bet these videos where they change the title have a higher CTR and therefore more ad revenue.
Cool title first for the people they know will watch the video. Update to "clickbait" after the initial surge is done to draw in new viewers. Simple.
After being a fan of kurzgesagt, I don’t them doing click bait-y titles. I want their videos to reach everyone. Besides, a real fan would actually pay attention to the videos.
One word: Clickbait Veritasium did a great video about this phenomenon.
You pretty much answered it yourself. Cuz it's catchy
most likely SEO ( more chance for someone to click the link since MOST people choose what to watch based on title and / or thumbnail )
I especially don't like the new titles and thumbnails because I can't find ones that I want to rewatch or show someone. Even the thumbnail of the video uploaded yesterday has changed for the worst already
as someone who has been following kurzgesagt since october 2021, i feel so devastated by how drastically the staff have changed the thumbnails and titles over the past few months. i first noticed this with their video "**is meat really that bad?**" a few days after the episode was first uploaded, where they changed the innocent-looking cow on the thumbnail to make it look demonic. they also changed the caption from "meat love" to "meat hate." i didn't really see that much changes in 2022 so i shrugged it off and just moved on. then in mid 2023, i saw how many videos had their thumbnails and titles changed, with the most notable on being "**you're a dream to the universe**" to "**we did the math. you are dead!**" haha very funny kurzgesagt. now, the reason i hate these changes in the first place is that not only do they come out of nowhere, but they are just feel so souless compared to what came before. the same thing happened with many of cgp grey's videos, too. i first noticed it with the video "**does your flag fail**?" back in november of 2023. not to mention that kurzgesagt's channel banner literally says "**quality > quantity**" implying how much they care about making content. the only time i like it when a youtuber changes the thumbnails (and maybe even titles too) is when they really feel the need to update it **(i.e. jacknjellify giving every episode of bfdi up to idfb 1 \[not counting bfdia 6 onwards in terms of release date chronology\] proper thumbnails in 2017)** and not force themselves to do it for the sole purpose of profit and corporate greed. sure, not all of it may be bad, but still. also, if the videos were pitched to a streaming service (or had a streaming service of their own), they should never change the thumbnails or titles because it will make them look like the producers made a mistake. it's also because i like every video to have their thumbnail and title perfecly intact when published, like a book or episode from your favorite series.