Should a small channel copy MrBeast thumbnails?

Copy the principle, not the look. One clear subject and one promise that reads on a phone works at any size. The loud faces and huge props only work because his audience already knows him.

What are CTR, AVD and AVP?

CTR is click-through rate (did the thumbnail and title earn the click). AVD is average view duration (how many minutes people watched). AVP is average view percentage (how much of the video they watched).

MrBeast Thumbnail Strategy for Small Channels: What Actually Scales Down

Q: Who should a small channel study instead?

Channels in your niche at your own size, and specifically their outlier videos, the ones that got many times their usual views.

The leaked MrBeast onboarding memo, "How to Succeed in MrBeast Production" (September 2024), says the goal is "the best YouTube videos possible", not the best-produced ones. Every video is judged on three numbers: CTR, AVD and AVP. The short version for a small channel: the framework scales down, the look does not.

Source: screenshot of Tubefilter, Sam Gutelle, 17 Sep 2024.

What does the MrBeast memo actually say about thumbnails?

It treats the thumbnail and title as one unit that wins or loses the click, measured as CTR (click-through rate). The idea and the thumbnail come first; after that, retention is engineered minute by minute and measured as AVD (average view duration) and AVP (average view percentage).

CTR: did the thumbnail and title earn the click?
AVD: once they clicked, how many minutes did they stay?
AVP: what share of the video did they finish?

A thumbnail that wins the click but promises something the video doesn't deliver tanks AVD. That is why the memo puts the idea before the design.

Why don't MrBeast thumbnails work the same on a small channel?

Because his thumbnail is not doing the same job. A mega channel has a huge loyal audience that clicks almost anything, and YouTube already knows who to show the video to. A small channel's thumbnail has to convince strangers on its own.

One r/SmallYoutubers commenter put it plainly:

"If you look at large channels - their thumbnails are not too important to them anymore - they already have loyal audience, and the algorithm already knows who to push their content to (extreme example - would you really care what's on MrBeast's thumbnail?)"

Source: r/SmallYoutubers

Thumbnail: I Built A City To Save Kids From Illegal Labor, MrBeast channel on YouTube. One face, one place, one promise, readable at phone size.

Is copying the MrBeast look a good idea?

No. When everyone copies the same open-mouth face and red arrow, the thumbnails blend together in the feed. Viewers notice:

"Or just simply duplicating MrBeast thumbnails and Photoshopping yourself in instead."

Source: r/youtube

And on chasing mega creators in general:

"MrBeast is a different set of creature😅 not to follow or iShowSpeed or that calibre...since their channels and following are already so massive."

Source: r/NewTubers

What part of the strategy does scale down?

The process scales down; the production budget doesn't. Keep these four:

Idea before design. If you can't say the video's promise in a few words, no thumbnail will save it.
One subject, one promise. One face or object and at most a few words, readable on a phone screen.
Thumbnail and title tell one story together. The title shouldn't repeat the text on the image.
Change one thing per video. MrBeast's own advice to small creators is to "make 100 videos and improve one thing each video." Compare each upload's CTR and AVD to the one before.

Who should a small channel study instead of MrBeast?

Study competitors at your own size, in your own niche. A video that got 20x its channel's normal views on a 10k-subscriber channel tells you far more about what your audience will click than anything on a 300M-subscriber channel. Those videos are called outliers; here is how the outlier score works.

How do I write the hook once the thumbnail earns the click?

The thumbnail only buys the first few seconds. AVD is decided by whether the opening pays off the promise on the thumbnail. A hook template helps you check that before you film.

If your current opening is a slow intro, logo or "hey guys, welcome back", rebuild it first. The free Add opening hook skill on AgentAlley replaces a cold open with a short hook that states the payoff or the problem up front, which is exactly the promise your thumbnail just made.

What should the title say next to the thumbnail?

The memo treats thumbnail and title as one unit, so write them together. A useful rule for a small channel: the image shows the moment, the title states the stakes, and neither repeats the other word for word. If the thumbnail already says "$1 vs $100", the title should add the part the image can't, such as who is testing it and why the result surprised you.

Write five to ten title options before you pick one. Most of them will be weak, and that is the point: the strong one usually shows up after the obvious ones are out of the way. The Copywriting hooks skill on AgentAlley generates opening lines and titles in batches, so you can compare options side by side instead of settling for the first idea.

How do I test a thumbnail on a small channel without fooling myself?

Small channels get small samples, so one video's CTR can swing a lot for reasons that have nothing to do with the thumbnail. A few habits keep the test honest:

Compare against your own baseline. Look at the new upload's CTR and AVD next to the median of your last ten videos, not next to a big creator's numbers.
Change one thing. If you change the face, the text and the colours at once, you won't know which change moved the number.
Wait for enough impressions. The first hours are mostly your existing subscribers, who click for different reasons than strangers do.
Check that AVD held. A thumbnail that lifts CTR but drops average view duration is promising something the video does not deliver. Fix the video or the promise, not just the image.
Keep a log. Write down what you changed and what happened. After ten uploads you will have your own small version of the memo, built on your audience instead of his.

How do I know my thumbnail reads on a phone?

Shrink it before you upload. Most of the feed is seen on a small screen, so open the image on your phone at the size it appears in search results, or zoom your editor out until it is roughly the size of a matchbox. Then ask three questions:

Can you name the subject in one second? If it takes longer, there are too many things in the frame.
Can you read every word without squinting? If not, cut words until you can, or drop the text and let the title carry it.
Does it still stand out next to other thumbnails? Put a screenshot of your niche's search results beside it. If yours blends in with the same colours and the same face, change the background or the angle, not the font.

This check takes a minute and catches most of the problems the memo's CTR number would show you a day later.

Sources

Tubefilter, MrBeast's internal production guide leaked: key points (2024)
Hacker News discussion of the memo: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41549649
Cybernews, MrBeast leaked PDF
MrBeast on the algorithm and "100 videos": Yahoo News