You may be doing it wrong, no sarcasm nor insult intended. You shouldn't be sitting down and racking your brain to generate one from scratch. You build up a set of functional templates, then poke over the templates for which one happens to fit this video best. It's one step up from the classic Mad Libs game [1], except you can tweak the stock phrases a little bit, too. I fully expect that all the biggest YouTubers either have, or have had, a literal list of title templates to use. You can of course build your list up in about 15 minutes of doomscrolling YouTube. (Possibly without being logged in.)
The clickbait is the result of an evolutionary process. You can't beat it de novo, you can only harness it.
It's one of the reasons it's so infuriating to some of us. "I Clicked This Link And You Won't Believe What Happened Next!" + Shocked Face is so easy it's almost insulting.
Not the GP, but I didn't click and rather decided to check the comments for a summary. Thankfully someone usually adds that for clickbait title articles.
Clicking on the headline on HN is still clicking on the headline.
It's a mystery, people are tortured by mysteries. "How the Contents of this Tiny Green Box Completely Changed My Priorities!"
There were one or more homeless teen spare-changers that loitered around Pioneer Square in Portland, OR in the 90s who would tell people riddles, and charge them for the answers.
They explained in a video why they do it… Most creators are explicit in why they do it. If they didn’t - their channel wouldn’t reach as far as it did otherwise.
Oh, I completely understand why they did it. And why they have the thumbnails of a person looking shocked at whatever the subject matter is.
But I hate it. The change is a tangible downgrade that cheapens the channels who do it. I'm glad for them that they have a larger reach, but I'm no longer a part of that reach because I can't stomach the chintzy thumbnails and titles designed to appeal to first-graders. I voted with my feet on that change.
same here. i straight up ignore these videos, no matter who posted it.
if you have to have an arrow pointed to something in your thumbnail. or have to make a shocking face, you do not value me or my time.
there are many other videos to watch. i have ignored many that follow this rather dumb trend. and i still can get to the bottom of my watch later, guys.
It's more like not reading a book because it has a flashy cover.
Sex sells but I won't buy a book about physics that has a woman in a bikini on the cover. It's about the signals you send as an author.
As you pointed out above, presentation matters. Quite a bit. The tricky bit is that "matters" works in both directions. And the only method I have - that any of us has - when it comes to discouraging clickbait... is not to click.
Choosing to use what agency I have available to me is hardly childish.