Two A/B tests for one video: choosing a title and thumbnail

After about ten hours filming and more than thirty editing my car challenge, I wanted to give its title and thumbnail the same care. I ran two A/B tests with different combinations of titles and images.

There’s a separate story about filming and editing the episode. This one is about the different ways I tried presenting the same adventure to a new viewer.

The first test: three ways to describe the challenge

The first round compared three title-and-thumbnail combinations. One explained the task directly: find the most expensive car in three hours. Another led with “a licence or connections”. The third focused on the car we found in Minsk.

The screenshot labels the metric as watch-time share. YouTube’s summary says that all variants performed well. That is how I’m recording the first test’s outcome.

The licence-or-connections option has the largest share in this report, at 36.1%. The report’s conclusion doesn’t single out a clear winner. I’m sharing one specific experiment from my own channel.

Round two: new title-and-image combinations

For the next test I prepared another set. The screenshot shows the options ready for comparison: a direct explanation of the challenge, the conflict between a licence and connections, and a question about who could get into cars with the greatest combined value in three hours.

I wanted to look at the same story through its rules, the rivalry between participants and the result. The second-round screenshot shows the setup; I’m leaving that round’s outcome open here for now.

My two current favourite thumbnails

These are the two I currently favour. The first combines a close-up reaction with a red car. The second shows Lyokha and me, the cars and the prominent three-hour limit.

That is my current preference as the creator. I like how these images capture the mood and make it clear that a car adventure is waiting inside.

Why I kept these tests

I want to remember the whole journey of an episode, from the idea and the shoot to its first encounter with a new viewer. These screenshots record what I actually tried and what result I actually received.

You can watch the finished episode below and decide which title and thumbnail best represent its story.