Best Free Downloaders: Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free[Online/Win/Mac]

Best Free Downloaders: Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free[Online/Win/Mac]

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

What is a YouTube thumbnail?

A YouTube thumbnail is nothing but the cover image shown on a video file on YouTube. It shows what you are going to talk about in the youtube video. A cool thumbnail will make the viewers want to click your video which in turn will help you to improve the traffic and number of clicks per video. Sometimes you may want to download youtube thumbnail from others. But it is very difficult to download a thumbnail directly from YouTube and many of you might not know that a thumbnail can be downloaded from elsewhere and then added to your content.

Here in this article, we will introduce the best 6 online tools available in the market to download YouTube thumbnail.

• 6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free
• Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free

Knowing the importance of YouTube thumbnails, you might now be wondering where to download the thumbnails for free. Let us have a look at some of the tools that can help you download YouTube thumbnail for free.

1. YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool

The YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool is a simple and free tool that helps you to download a thumbnail in four dimensions for your video, i.e. MQ 320*180, HQ 480*360, SD 640*480, and HD 1920*1080. Whether you are using a Windows or Mac OS, the thumbnail can be easily be downloaded via any browser.

Steps to Download:

• Open any browser and open this youtube thumbnail image tool from Here
• Copy the link from your youtube video
• Paste the URL link of the video in the box and hit on Search
• You will be then displayed different qualities of the thumbnail. Choose one (HD is recommended) and hit the Download button

The selected quality of thumbnail will be downloaded to your storage which can later be used while uploading a video to YouTube.

2. Online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

This online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader tool has a lot of features among which creating thumbnail for a YouTube video is one. This free online tool can easily be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS via any browser. This downloader can generate thumbnails for videos in HD, HQ 1080p, and 4K formats and the thumbnails will be available in SD, HD(720), and Full HD(1080).

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of the youtube video you wish to generate the thumbnail
• Click Here to open this free tool with your browser and paste the link in the box displayed at the top
• As soon as you paste the link, the available qualities of the thumbnail will be displayed just below the box
• Choose your desired quality of the image and hit on the Download button on the image you wish to download

The image will be downloaded and saved to your device instantly. You can now use it as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

3. Thumbnail Save Tool

The Thumbnail Save Tool is also a free online tool which you can access from the browser of your Windows or Mac. It is a very simple tool that can generate thumbnails for HQ, HD, 1080P, and 4K videos instantly. Let us see how the thumbnail can be generated

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL of the video you want to create thumbnail
• Open this Thumbnail Save Tool from Here via your browser
• Paste the copied link in the box above Submit and hit Submit. Then the thumbnail will be generated instantly
• Now, to save the generated image to your device, right-click on the thumbnail and select the Save image as… option

The image will be saved to your device for later use as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

4. YouTube Thumbnail Grabber

The YouTube thumbnail grabber is an online tool that can help you to download a thumbnail from a YouTube video for free. This tool can simply be accessed both by windows and Mac users through any browser. This tool helps you to download a thumbnail in any quality in some simple steps. Let us see how.

Steps to Download:

• Open this youtube thumbnail grabber from Here with any browser. Then Copy the link of the youtube video.
• Paste the link in the box displayed on the page and hit the Get Thumbnails Image tab
• Five different qualities of thumbnails will be generated among which you can choose your desired quality
• Hit the Download button below the image you chose

The thumbnail will be downloaded to your device for later use.

5. Thumbnail Download Tool

This thumbnail download tool allows generating thumbnails from video platforms like Dailymotion, Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube. It is a free online tool that enables you to download the thumbnail of your video in the best quality. The tool can be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS without any issues. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded for YouTube.

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL link of the video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here to open this Thumbnail Download Tool with your browseron any browser of your Windows or iOS.
• Paste the copied link in the box and press the Download button
• Choose the picture size among the results displayed
• Save the picture to your PC

Your thumbnail image is now ready to be used.

6. YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

The YouTube Thumbnail Downloader is an online tool that can help you to create thumbnails for your YouTube videos and blogs. This tool will help you to download full HD 1080*720 images from YouTube for free, irrespective of the operative system you are using. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of any YouTube video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here in your browser and Paste the link in the box
• Hit the Find button. Then different qualities of the image will be displayed
• Select your desired quality and tap on the download icon on the respective image

The image will now be saved to your device

Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

Don’t know how to create a clickable youtube thumbnail? Here we will recommend 5 tips for you!

1. Great thumbnail image quality and size

The thumbnail image quality should be good (HD/UHD). It should be bright. No matter what the device (a large TV) the viewers are using, care must be taken to avoid getting blurry thumbnails. The quality and the correct size of the thumbnail will create a positive image of the video in the user’s mind even before viewing the video. The video must be viewed from a variety of devices to test if the quality differs in different devices. Here are some specs for a perfect thumbnail

• The image formats should be in GIF, JPG PNG OR BMP
• The maximum size of the image must be 1280*720 px
• The minimum size 640*360 px
• The aspect ratio 16:9
• The maximum file size 2MB

2. Show a person in the Thumbnail image

A human face will get you closer to your audience. Our brain is wired in a way that a human face will draw its attention more than anything. So the users will naturally would an image with a human delivering the content rather than a robot or just a video of nonliving things. People tend to find a connection with the characters displayed on the thumbnail and hence prompting them to click on the video.

3. Use descriptive text in your thumbnail with branding elements

It is not completely possible to deliver a message through a picture and hence try to use descriptive texts. The texts should be clear enough and must be phrased in a manner that increases the curiosity or appeals to the emotions of the viewers. People tend to click a video just because of curiosity, wanting to know what the content is about. The type of font, color, and size also plays an important role in catching the attention of the audience.

4. Make Color Contrast between the text and background

Complementary colors will make your thumbnail stand out to some extent. Combining a yellow background with a purple foreground or green with red will make it easier to draw the attention of the browsers. Also, the use of analogous colors in the thumbnail makes it more attractive and pleasing to the eye.

Image resource: Pinterest

Analogous colors are the colors that appear next to each other on a color wheel

5. Consistency

Consistency is something most of the people prefer and makes a thing more attractive. A thumbnail video with consistent text font, color tuning, visual effect, etc. will catch the eye of the users as it will stand apart in the whole webpage. Consistency adds to the standards of a video and will make people feel that this video is productive or from an authentic source

Create Your Own YouTube Thumbnail with Filmora for Free

Now that we have learned about how to download YouTube thumbnail for free and the rules you should follows, you may want to create a thumbnail. There are many Youtube thumbnail makers on the market that can help you create a YouTube thumbnail like Canva, PixStudio and more. However, we would like to be different today and recommend Filmora to you.

The benefits of using Filmora to create your YouTube thumbnail is that you don’t need to look for other softwares. You can make a thumbnail while you are editing your video with Filmora easily.

Wondering how can you do it? Here is a video guide for you.

Conclusion

Getting the proper size and quality of a YouTube thumbnail is very important for activities like blogging, designing, etc. Here in this article, we have described how to download YouTube thumbnail from the best free downloaders available online in simple steps. These Thumbnail downloading tools can be accessed from any device with an internet connection and will help you to download the perfect thumbnail image of your choice within minutes. Please leave your feedback about our suggestions in the comment box below.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

What is a YouTube thumbnail?

A YouTube thumbnail is nothing but the cover image shown on a video file on YouTube. It shows what you are going to talk about in the youtube video. A cool thumbnail will make the viewers want to click your video which in turn will help you to improve the traffic and number of clicks per video. Sometimes you may want to download youtube thumbnail from others. But it is very difficult to download a thumbnail directly from YouTube and many of you might not know that a thumbnail can be downloaded from elsewhere and then added to your content.

Here in this article, we will introduce the best 6 online tools available in the market to download YouTube thumbnail.

• 6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free
• Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free

Knowing the importance of YouTube thumbnails, you might now be wondering where to download the thumbnails for free. Let us have a look at some of the tools that can help you download YouTube thumbnail for free.

1. YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool

The YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool is a simple and free tool that helps you to download a thumbnail in four dimensions for your video, i.e. MQ 320*180, HQ 480*360, SD 640*480, and HD 1920*1080. Whether you are using a Windows or Mac OS, the thumbnail can be easily be downloaded via any browser.

Steps to Download:

• Open any browser and open this youtube thumbnail image tool from Here
• Copy the link from your youtube video
• Paste the URL link of the video in the box and hit on Search
• You will be then displayed different qualities of the thumbnail. Choose one (HD is recommended) and hit the Download button

The selected quality of thumbnail will be downloaded to your storage which can later be used while uploading a video to YouTube.

2. Online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

This online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader tool has a lot of features among which creating thumbnail for a YouTube video is one. This free online tool can easily be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS via any browser. This downloader can generate thumbnails for videos in HD, HQ 1080p, and 4K formats and the thumbnails will be available in SD, HD(720), and Full HD(1080).

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of the youtube video you wish to generate the thumbnail
• Click Here to open this free tool with your browser and paste the link in the box displayed at the top
• As soon as you paste the link, the available qualities of the thumbnail will be displayed just below the box
• Choose your desired quality of the image and hit on the Download button on the image you wish to download

The image will be downloaded and saved to your device instantly. You can now use it as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

3. Thumbnail Save Tool

The Thumbnail Save Tool is also a free online tool which you can access from the browser of your Windows or Mac. It is a very simple tool that can generate thumbnails for HQ, HD, 1080P, and 4K videos instantly. Let us see how the thumbnail can be generated

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL of the video you want to create thumbnail
• Open this Thumbnail Save Tool from Here via your browser
• Paste the copied link in the box above Submit and hit Submit. Then the thumbnail will be generated instantly
• Now, to save the generated image to your device, right-click on the thumbnail and select the Save image as… option

The image will be saved to your device for later use as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

4. YouTube Thumbnail Grabber

The YouTube thumbnail grabber is an online tool that can help you to download a thumbnail from a YouTube video for free. This tool can simply be accessed both by windows and Mac users through any browser. This tool helps you to download a thumbnail in any quality in some simple steps. Let us see how.

Steps to Download:

• Open this youtube thumbnail grabber from Here with any browser. Then Copy the link of the youtube video.
• Paste the link in the box displayed on the page and hit the Get Thumbnails Image tab
• Five different qualities of thumbnails will be generated among which you can choose your desired quality
• Hit the Download button below the image you chose

The thumbnail will be downloaded to your device for later use.

5. Thumbnail Download Tool

This thumbnail download tool allows generating thumbnails from video platforms like Dailymotion, Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube. It is a free online tool that enables you to download the thumbnail of your video in the best quality. The tool can be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS without any issues. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded for YouTube.

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL link of the video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here to open this Thumbnail Download Tool with your browseron any browser of your Windows or iOS.
• Paste the copied link in the box and press the Download button
• Choose the picture size among the results displayed
• Save the picture to your PC

Your thumbnail image is now ready to be used.

6. YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

The YouTube Thumbnail Downloader is an online tool that can help you to create thumbnails for your YouTube videos and blogs. This tool will help you to download full HD 1080*720 images from YouTube for free, irrespective of the operative system you are using. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of any YouTube video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here in your browser and Paste the link in the box
• Hit the Find button. Then different qualities of the image will be displayed
• Select your desired quality and tap on the download icon on the respective image

The image will now be saved to your device

Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

Don’t know how to create a clickable youtube thumbnail? Here we will recommend 5 tips for you!

1. Great thumbnail image quality and size

The thumbnail image quality should be good (HD/UHD). It should be bright. No matter what the device (a large TV) the viewers are using, care must be taken to avoid getting blurry thumbnails. The quality and the correct size of the thumbnail will create a positive image of the video in the user’s mind even before viewing the video. The video must be viewed from a variety of devices to test if the quality differs in different devices. Here are some specs for a perfect thumbnail

• The image formats should be in GIF, JPG PNG OR BMP
• The maximum size of the image must be 1280*720 px
• The minimum size 640*360 px
• The aspect ratio 16:9
• The maximum file size 2MB

2. Show a person in the Thumbnail image

A human face will get you closer to your audience. Our brain is wired in a way that a human face will draw its attention more than anything. So the users will naturally would an image with a human delivering the content rather than a robot or just a video of nonliving things. People tend to find a connection with the characters displayed on the thumbnail and hence prompting them to click on the video.

3. Use descriptive text in your thumbnail with branding elements

It is not completely possible to deliver a message through a picture and hence try to use descriptive texts. The texts should be clear enough and must be phrased in a manner that increases the curiosity or appeals to the emotions of the viewers. People tend to click a video just because of curiosity, wanting to know what the content is about. The type of font, color, and size also plays an important role in catching the attention of the audience.

4. Make Color Contrast between the text and background

Complementary colors will make your thumbnail stand out to some extent. Combining a yellow background with a purple foreground or green with red will make it easier to draw the attention of the browsers. Also, the use of analogous colors in the thumbnail makes it more attractive and pleasing to the eye.

Image resource: Pinterest

Analogous colors are the colors that appear next to each other on a color wheel

5. Consistency

Consistency is something most of the people prefer and makes a thing more attractive. A thumbnail video with consistent text font, color tuning, visual effect, etc. will catch the eye of the users as it will stand apart in the whole webpage. Consistency adds to the standards of a video and will make people feel that this video is productive or from an authentic source

Create Your Own YouTube Thumbnail with Filmora for Free

Now that we have learned about how to download YouTube thumbnail for free and the rules you should follows, you may want to create a thumbnail. There are many Youtube thumbnail makers on the market that can help you create a YouTube thumbnail like Canva, PixStudio and more. However, we would like to be different today and recommend Filmora to you.

The benefits of using Filmora to create your YouTube thumbnail is that you don’t need to look for other softwares. You can make a thumbnail while you are editing your video with Filmora easily.

Wondering how can you do it? Here is a video guide for you.

Conclusion

Getting the proper size and quality of a YouTube thumbnail is very important for activities like blogging, designing, etc. Here in this article, we have described how to download YouTube thumbnail from the best free downloaders available online in simple steps. These Thumbnail downloading tools can be accessed from any device with an internet connection and will help you to download the perfect thumbnail image of your choice within minutes. Please leave your feedback about our suggestions in the comment box below.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

What is a YouTube thumbnail?

A YouTube thumbnail is nothing but the cover image shown on a video file on YouTube. It shows what you are going to talk about in the youtube video. A cool thumbnail will make the viewers want to click your video which in turn will help you to improve the traffic and number of clicks per video. Sometimes you may want to download youtube thumbnail from others. But it is very difficult to download a thumbnail directly from YouTube and many of you might not know that a thumbnail can be downloaded from elsewhere and then added to your content.

Here in this article, we will introduce the best 6 online tools available in the market to download YouTube thumbnail.

• 6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free
• Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free

Knowing the importance of YouTube thumbnails, you might now be wondering where to download the thumbnails for free. Let us have a look at some of the tools that can help you download YouTube thumbnail for free.

1. YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool

The YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool is a simple and free tool that helps you to download a thumbnail in four dimensions for your video, i.e. MQ 320*180, HQ 480*360, SD 640*480, and HD 1920*1080. Whether you are using a Windows or Mac OS, the thumbnail can be easily be downloaded via any browser.

Steps to Download:

• Open any browser and open this youtube thumbnail image tool from Here
• Copy the link from your youtube video
• Paste the URL link of the video in the box and hit on Search
• You will be then displayed different qualities of the thumbnail. Choose one (HD is recommended) and hit the Download button

The selected quality of thumbnail will be downloaded to your storage which can later be used while uploading a video to YouTube.

2. Online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

This online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader tool has a lot of features among which creating thumbnail for a YouTube video is one. This free online tool can easily be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS via any browser. This downloader can generate thumbnails for videos in HD, HQ 1080p, and 4K formats and the thumbnails will be available in SD, HD(720), and Full HD(1080).

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of the youtube video you wish to generate the thumbnail
• Click Here to open this free tool with your browser and paste the link in the box displayed at the top
• As soon as you paste the link, the available qualities of the thumbnail will be displayed just below the box
• Choose your desired quality of the image and hit on the Download button on the image you wish to download

The image will be downloaded and saved to your device instantly. You can now use it as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

3. Thumbnail Save Tool

The Thumbnail Save Tool is also a free online tool which you can access from the browser of your Windows or Mac. It is a very simple tool that can generate thumbnails for HQ, HD, 1080P, and 4K videos instantly. Let us see how the thumbnail can be generated

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL of the video you want to create thumbnail
• Open this Thumbnail Save Tool from Here via your browser
• Paste the copied link in the box above Submit and hit Submit. Then the thumbnail will be generated instantly
• Now, to save the generated image to your device, right-click on the thumbnail and select the Save image as… option

The image will be saved to your device for later use as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

4. YouTube Thumbnail Grabber

The YouTube thumbnail grabber is an online tool that can help you to download a thumbnail from a YouTube video for free. This tool can simply be accessed both by windows and Mac users through any browser. This tool helps you to download a thumbnail in any quality in some simple steps. Let us see how.

Steps to Download:

• Open this youtube thumbnail grabber from Here with any browser. Then Copy the link of the youtube video.
• Paste the link in the box displayed on the page and hit the Get Thumbnails Image tab
• Five different qualities of thumbnails will be generated among which you can choose your desired quality
• Hit the Download button below the image you chose

The thumbnail will be downloaded to your device for later use.

5. Thumbnail Download Tool

This thumbnail download tool allows generating thumbnails from video platforms like Dailymotion, Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube. It is a free online tool that enables you to download the thumbnail of your video in the best quality. The tool can be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS without any issues. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded for YouTube.

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL link of the video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here to open this Thumbnail Download Tool with your browseron any browser of your Windows or iOS.
• Paste the copied link in the box and press the Download button
• Choose the picture size among the results displayed
• Save the picture to your PC

Your thumbnail image is now ready to be used.

6. YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

The YouTube Thumbnail Downloader is an online tool that can help you to create thumbnails for your YouTube videos and blogs. This tool will help you to download full HD 1080*720 images from YouTube for free, irrespective of the operative system you are using. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of any YouTube video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here in your browser and Paste the link in the box
• Hit the Find button. Then different qualities of the image will be displayed
• Select your desired quality and tap on the download icon on the respective image

The image will now be saved to your device

Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

Don’t know how to create a clickable youtube thumbnail? Here we will recommend 5 tips for you!

1. Great thumbnail image quality and size

The thumbnail image quality should be good (HD/UHD). It should be bright. No matter what the device (a large TV) the viewers are using, care must be taken to avoid getting blurry thumbnails. The quality and the correct size of the thumbnail will create a positive image of the video in the user’s mind even before viewing the video. The video must be viewed from a variety of devices to test if the quality differs in different devices. Here are some specs for a perfect thumbnail

• The image formats should be in GIF, JPG PNG OR BMP
• The maximum size of the image must be 1280*720 px
• The minimum size 640*360 px
• The aspect ratio 16:9
• The maximum file size 2MB

2. Show a person in the Thumbnail image

A human face will get you closer to your audience. Our brain is wired in a way that a human face will draw its attention more than anything. So the users will naturally would an image with a human delivering the content rather than a robot or just a video of nonliving things. People tend to find a connection with the characters displayed on the thumbnail and hence prompting them to click on the video.

3. Use descriptive text in your thumbnail with branding elements

It is not completely possible to deliver a message through a picture and hence try to use descriptive texts. The texts should be clear enough and must be phrased in a manner that increases the curiosity or appeals to the emotions of the viewers. People tend to click a video just because of curiosity, wanting to know what the content is about. The type of font, color, and size also plays an important role in catching the attention of the audience.

4. Make Color Contrast between the text and background

Complementary colors will make your thumbnail stand out to some extent. Combining a yellow background with a purple foreground or green with red will make it easier to draw the attention of the browsers. Also, the use of analogous colors in the thumbnail makes it more attractive and pleasing to the eye.

Image resource: Pinterest

Analogous colors are the colors that appear next to each other on a color wheel

5. Consistency

Consistency is something most of the people prefer and makes a thing more attractive. A thumbnail video with consistent text font, color tuning, visual effect, etc. will catch the eye of the users as it will stand apart in the whole webpage. Consistency adds to the standards of a video and will make people feel that this video is productive or from an authentic source

Create Your Own YouTube Thumbnail with Filmora for Free

Now that we have learned about how to download YouTube thumbnail for free and the rules you should follows, you may want to create a thumbnail. There are many Youtube thumbnail makers on the market that can help you create a YouTube thumbnail like Canva, PixStudio and more. However, we would like to be different today and recommend Filmora to you.

The benefits of using Filmora to create your YouTube thumbnail is that you don’t need to look for other softwares. You can make a thumbnail while you are editing your video with Filmora easily.

Wondering how can you do it? Here is a video guide for you.

Conclusion

Getting the proper size and quality of a YouTube thumbnail is very important for activities like blogging, designing, etc. Here in this article, we have described how to download YouTube thumbnail from the best free downloaders available online in simple steps. These Thumbnail downloading tools can be accessed from any device with an internet connection and will help you to download the perfect thumbnail image of your choice within minutes. Please leave your feedback about our suggestions in the comment box below.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

What is a YouTube thumbnail?

A YouTube thumbnail is nothing but the cover image shown on a video file on YouTube. It shows what you are going to talk about in the youtube video. A cool thumbnail will make the viewers want to click your video which in turn will help you to improve the traffic and number of clicks per video. Sometimes you may want to download youtube thumbnail from others. But it is very difficult to download a thumbnail directly from YouTube and many of you might not know that a thumbnail can be downloaded from elsewhere and then added to your content.

Here in this article, we will introduce the best 6 online tools available in the market to download YouTube thumbnail.

• 6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free
• Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

6 Online Tools to Download YouTube Thumbnail for Free

Knowing the importance of YouTube thumbnails, you might now be wondering where to download the thumbnails for free. Let us have a look at some of the tools that can help you download YouTube thumbnail for free.

1. YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool

The YouTube Thumbnail Image Tool is a simple and free tool that helps you to download a thumbnail in four dimensions for your video, i.e. MQ 320*180, HQ 480*360, SD 640*480, and HD 1920*1080. Whether you are using a Windows or Mac OS, the thumbnail can be easily be downloaded via any browser.

Steps to Download:

• Open any browser and open this youtube thumbnail image tool from Here
• Copy the link from your youtube video
• Paste the URL link of the video in the box and hit on Search
• You will be then displayed different qualities of the thumbnail. Choose one (HD is recommended) and hit the Download button

The selected quality of thumbnail will be downloaded to your storage which can later be used while uploading a video to YouTube.

2. Online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

This online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader tool has a lot of features among which creating thumbnail for a YouTube video is one. This free online tool can easily be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS via any browser. This downloader can generate thumbnails for videos in HD, HQ 1080p, and 4K formats and the thumbnails will be available in SD, HD(720), and Full HD(1080).

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of the youtube video you wish to generate the thumbnail
• Click Here to open this free tool with your browser and paste the link in the box displayed at the top
• As soon as you paste the link, the available qualities of the thumbnail will be displayed just below the box
• Choose your desired quality of the image and hit on the Download button on the image you wish to download

The image will be downloaded and saved to your device instantly. You can now use it as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

3. Thumbnail Save Tool

The Thumbnail Save Tool is also a free online tool which you can access from the browser of your Windows or Mac. It is a very simple tool that can generate thumbnails for HQ, HD, 1080P, and 4K videos instantly. Let us see how the thumbnail can be generated

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL of the video you want to create thumbnail
• Open this Thumbnail Save Tool from Here via your browser
• Paste the copied link in the box above Submit and hit Submit. Then the thumbnail will be generated instantly
• Now, to save the generated image to your device, right-click on the thumbnail and select the Save image as… option

The image will be saved to your device for later use as a thumbnail for your YouTube video.

4. YouTube Thumbnail Grabber

The YouTube thumbnail grabber is an online tool that can help you to download a thumbnail from a YouTube video for free. This tool can simply be accessed both by windows and Mac users through any browser. This tool helps you to download a thumbnail in any quality in some simple steps. Let us see how.

Steps to Download:

• Open this youtube thumbnail grabber from Here with any browser. Then Copy the link of the youtube video.
• Paste the link in the box displayed on the page and hit the Get Thumbnails Image tab
• Five different qualities of thumbnails will be generated among which you can choose your desired quality
• Hit the Download button below the image you chose

The thumbnail will be downloaded to your device for later use.

5. Thumbnail Download Tool

This thumbnail download tool allows generating thumbnails from video platforms like Dailymotion, Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube. It is a free online tool that enables you to download the thumbnail of your video in the best quality. The tool can be accessed both on Windows and Mac OS without any issues. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded for YouTube.

Steps to Download:

• Copy the URL link of the video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here to open this Thumbnail Download Tool with your browseron any browser of your Windows or iOS.
• Paste the copied link in the box and press the Download button
• Choose the picture size among the results displayed
• Save the picture to your PC

Your thumbnail image is now ready to be used.

6. YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

The YouTube Thumbnail Downloader is an online tool that can help you to create thumbnails for your YouTube videos and blogs. This tool will help you to download full HD 1080*720 images from YouTube for free, irrespective of the operative system you are using. Let us see how the thumbnail can be downloaded

Steps to Download:

• Copy the link of any YouTube video you wish to generate a thumbnail
• Click Here in your browser and Paste the link in the box
• Hit the Find button. Then different qualities of the image will be displayed
• Select your desired quality and tap on the download icon on the respective image

The image will now be saved to your device

Bonus Tips to Create a Clickable YouTube Thumbnail

Don’t know how to create a clickable youtube thumbnail? Here we will recommend 5 tips for you!

1. Great thumbnail image quality and size

The thumbnail image quality should be good (HD/UHD). It should be bright. No matter what the device (a large TV) the viewers are using, care must be taken to avoid getting blurry thumbnails. The quality and the correct size of the thumbnail will create a positive image of the video in the user’s mind even before viewing the video. The video must be viewed from a variety of devices to test if the quality differs in different devices. Here are some specs for a perfect thumbnail

• The image formats should be in GIF, JPG PNG OR BMP
• The maximum size of the image must be 1280*720 px
• The minimum size 640*360 px
• The aspect ratio 16:9
• The maximum file size 2MB

2. Show a person in the Thumbnail image

A human face will get you closer to your audience. Our brain is wired in a way that a human face will draw its attention more than anything. So the users will naturally would an image with a human delivering the content rather than a robot or just a video of nonliving things. People tend to find a connection with the characters displayed on the thumbnail and hence prompting them to click on the video.

3. Use descriptive text in your thumbnail with branding elements

It is not completely possible to deliver a message through a picture and hence try to use descriptive texts. The texts should be clear enough and must be phrased in a manner that increases the curiosity or appeals to the emotions of the viewers. People tend to click a video just because of curiosity, wanting to know what the content is about. The type of font, color, and size also plays an important role in catching the attention of the audience.

4. Make Color Contrast between the text and background

Complementary colors will make your thumbnail stand out to some extent. Combining a yellow background with a purple foreground or green with red will make it easier to draw the attention of the browsers. Also, the use of analogous colors in the thumbnail makes it more attractive and pleasing to the eye.

Image resource: Pinterest

Analogous colors are the colors that appear next to each other on a color wheel

5. Consistency

Consistency is something most of the people prefer and makes a thing more attractive. A thumbnail video with consistent text font, color tuning, visual effect, etc. will catch the eye of the users as it will stand apart in the whole webpage. Consistency adds to the standards of a video and will make people feel that this video is productive or from an authentic source

Create Your Own YouTube Thumbnail with Filmora for Free

Now that we have learned about how to download YouTube thumbnail for free and the rules you should follows, you may want to create a thumbnail. There are many Youtube thumbnail makers on the market that can help you create a YouTube thumbnail like Canva, PixStudio and more. However, we would like to be different today and recommend Filmora to you.

The benefits of using Filmora to create your YouTube thumbnail is that you don’t need to look for other softwares. You can make a thumbnail while you are editing your video with Filmora easily.

Wondering how can you do it? Here is a video guide for you.

Conclusion

Getting the proper size and quality of a YouTube thumbnail is very important for activities like blogging, designing, etc. Here in this article, we have described how to download YouTube thumbnail from the best free downloaders available online in simple steps. These Thumbnail downloading tools can be accessed from any device with an internet connection and will help you to download the perfect thumbnail image of your choice within minutes. Please leave your feedback about our suggestions in the comment box below.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Securing Viewer Return with These Effective Strategies for Higher Retention Rates

6 Ways To Increase Audience Retention on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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