TOP 10: Examples of YouTube Thumbnails (2024)

• We’ll show you 10 of the best YouTube Thumbnail examples
• From channels that often do them best
• So you can get inspired.

Essentially, we’ll look at channels that have the best examples of thumbnail styles which you can easily replicate to grow on YouTube as a content creator.

10 Examples: THE BEST YouTube Thumbnails

These channels have the best YouTube thumbnail examples: Peter McKinnon, Casey Neistat, MKBHD, Unbox Therapy, Vox, Tasty, and Yes Theory.

1. Peter McKinnon

• Style: High-contrast, vibrant, and professional photography.
• Ease to replicate: Challenging, requires good photography and editing skills.
• Elements: Bold text overlays, close-up shots, dramatic lighting.

2. Vox

• Style: Educational, colorful, and infographic-like.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, requires good design skills to create engaging, informative visuals.
• Elements: Bold fonts, icons, and data visualizations, often with a central image or theme.

3. Casey Neistat

• Style: Candid, personal, and engaging with a hint of grit.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, requires some videography skills and creativity.
• Elements: Handwritten text, personal snapshots, action shots.

4. carwow

• Style: Clean, focused on cars, with a mix of action and detail shots.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, needs access to cars and good photography skills.
• Elements: High-quality car images, comparison shots, bold and clear text overlays.

5. MKBHD (Marques Brownlee)

• Style: Sleek, modern, and tech-focused with clean lines.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, needs graphic design skills and high-quality tech images.
• Elements: High-quality product shots, minimal text, brand logos.

6. Unbox Therapy

• Style: Bold, curiosity-inducing with a focus on the product.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, centered around products with some creative angles and lighting.
• Elements: Close-up product shots, expressive faces, contrasting backgrounds.

7. Tasty

• Style: Appetizing, close-up food shots with a focus on the dish.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, needs good food presentation and photography skills.
• Elements: High-quality food imagery, minimal text, vibrant colors.

8. The School of Life

• Style: Minimalist, with an educational and philosophical tone.
• Ease to replicate: Easier, relies more on simple, clean design and typography.
• Elements: Simple illustrations, limited color palettes, clear text.

9. Yes Theory

• Style: Adventurous, with a focus on storytelling and emotion.
• Ease to replicate: Challenging, requires good storytelling imagery and engaging content.
• Elements: Action shots, emotional faces, bold adventure text.

10. Dude Perfect

• Style: Energetic, sporty, and action-packed with high contrast.
• Ease to replicate: Moderate, requires access to sports or action settings and dynamic poses.
• Elements: Action and sports shots, group poses, bold and simple text.

Find the right Thumbnail for Each Video

Designed too many potentially-great thumbnails? Not sure which will perform better?

We’ve got your back with ThumbnailTest.

With ThumbnailTest, you’re A/B Testing multiple thumbnails:

1. Upload 2 → 10 thumbnails per video
2. Our system sends each thumbnail to a few users
3. Research & Analysis is being conducted
4. The best-performing image is set for your video

This way, you’ll get the most out of your videos. Even the old ones!

Why not convert more viewers into buyers + subscribers today?

Conclusion

The list could go on forever, but we both know that’s pointless.

We believe 10 channels are enough for you to get the main idea of what thumbnails are and what they need to look like:

1. Simple previews of your video
2. Straight to the point
3. Eye-catchy

That’s the energy your YouTube Thumbnails need to have.

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Thank you for reading this,
Thumbnail Test