Why Netflix make the best thumbnails on the internet?

Importance of thumbnails

Netflix has a dedicated team for optimising thumbnails.

They realised if they don't capture a member’s attention within 90 seconds...

They’d likely lose interest and move on to another activity.

Netflix's research found

• Thumbnails were the biggest influence on users watching content

• It made up 82% of their focus while browsing Netflix

• They spent 1.8 secs on each thumbnail

• They look at the thumbnail first and then decide to look at additional details

Testing

After realising their importance, Netflix started testing different thumbnails.

They were surprised by the drastic impact optimising thumbnails had.

Using better thumbnails significantly increased streaming hours and engagement.

Here's how they did it:

1.Emotion

Emotion is very effective at getting across a lot of information and increasing engagement.

They found that expressive faces (which humans are hardwired to respond to) compel people to click.

•Expressive faces are very effective

2.Demographic

Movies have a massive potential audience.

And Netflix found that the most effective thumbnail varies for different users (gender, region etc)

They now consider how different thumbnails will perform for different audience groups.

•Design for your target audience

3.Recognisable Characters

Netflix found that using visible, recognisable characters resulted in more engagement.

Using polarising characters resulted in even more engagement.

•Use recognisable faces and tension

4.Simplicity

Netflix found that when thumbnails included more than 3 people, engagement dramatically dropped.

They thought more characters would increase performance but realised it becomes too complex at small sizes.

•Less is more in thumbnails