Aprilynne Alter built a channel teaching YouTube packaging: titles, thumbnails, the psychology of the click. We ran two of her own thumbnails through Thumbly Score to see how the teacher scores.
Colin & Samir are the thinking creator's creators: restrained, editorial, no MrBeast theatrics. We ran two of their thumbnails through Thumbly Score to see whether good taste actually wins, or just feels nice.
MKBHD's brand is clean product photography and almost no clickbait. We ran his Humane AI Pin thumbnail and a near-textless iPhone 17 shot through Thumbly Score to see where minimalism wins, and where it leaves emotion on the table.
MrBeast spends millions getting thumbnails right. We scored two of his biggest ones with Thumbly, applied the fixes it suggested, and re-scored. Here's what held up, what we'd change, and what you can steal.