So I’ve been doing YouTube now for around 10 years. My channel has really started to show growth over the past couple of years and since COVID where I took a long break (which obviously stunted my growth). I post all long-form aviation content which consists of mainly all of my flights that I take. I film full flights, takeoff, and landings which is the same as other YouTubers similar to mine. I know, it’s a really niche group of viewers. All of my videos are 4K 2160p quality, so the highest quality achievable at least on my iPhone 17 Pro.

Anyways, I just posted a special inaugural flight that I took last week. I’ve posted about it a lot on my social media/Instagram and more so than I usually do. It’s gotten a lot of views and likes on Instagram, more than my typical posts. Because of that, I felt pretty good about the video on YouTube. Well, so far it’s been sort of a flop. Currently at 8 of the last 10 for views. And the thing is, this has happened before with other similar special videos. My full flights always seem to do better than just the takeoff and landings. But this one, not so much. I should also add that I post regularly. Every week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the same time. So I’m very consistent with my upload schedule.

The only thing I could think is the issue is my thumbnail. It’s different than my normal ones, but I put more effort and editing into it than any other one. Even the bright colors to me seem like it would make it pop and stand out. I’m just sort of bummed when I post a video that I think will do really well and ends up being a flop.

Is the Thumbnail the Problem?