YouTube launches features for creators to control the look of their Shorts thumbnails

Amjad Ali September 3, 2024

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YouTube is launching new features that give creators more control over the aesthetics of their Shorts thumbnails. Creators will now be able to add text, filters, and emojis to their Shorts thumbnails on both iOS and Android devices, as well as choose a thumbnail from a frame in their video post-upload.

To pick a thumbnail, creators can tap the pencil icon in the top left corner of their Short and then scrub to pick a frame. Once a frame has been chosen, they can add text, emojis, and filters by tapping on the respective icons. Finally, they can tap the checkmark in the top right corner to save their changes.

Creators can also now pick a Shorts thumbnail frame and edit it after the Short has been uploaded, which is a feature that was previously unavailable. YouTube always maintained that this feature was not as important, since Shorts thumbnails don’t appear in the Shorts feed, where most views come from. However, they do show up on search results pages, hashtag pages, audio pivot pages, and on the creator’s channel page.

Video on the YouTube Creator Insider channel announcing the new features

This update gives creators more control over the aesthetics of their Shorts content across different areas of YouTube, potentially making their Shorts more visually appealing and discoverable. These are highly requested features, and YouTube is looking for feedback from creators on what additional functionality they would like to see added to Shorts thumbnails in the future.

Looking ahead, the YouTube Shorts team is planning to introduce even more features for Shorts thumbnails in 2025. To inform these upcoming features, they are encouraging creators to provide feedback in the comments section of the video embedded above. Specifically, they are asking creators to detail what functionalities they would like to see added to Shorts thumbnails. This creator feedback will be instrumental in shaping the future direction of Shorts thumbnails and will ultimately help creators to better promote their content on YouTube.

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