Understanding and Crafting YouTube Live Thumbnails

Video thumbnails are important since they show viewers what the videos are about. And according to YouTube, 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Therefore, adding thumbnails to all your videos is wise. But how to do that with live streams? Is it any different from adding thumbnails to normal videos? You’ll find answers in this article. Here’s a comprehensive guide about YouTube Live thumbnails.

Overview of YouTube Live

Livestreaming is very popular now. The pandemic has accelerated its growth. But what made it so special? Watching live streams is different from watching regular videos. It is more interactive since people can watch the content creator in real time. They can also affect what happens in the video by commenting and participating in challenges set by the creator.

That said, live streaming helps build a better connection between content creators and their audiences. So you may want to incorporate live streaming into your strategies. You can do that on YouTube through YouTube Live. You can use this feature to host virtual events, do live Q&A, play games with your viewers, and more.

Importance of Thumbnail for Live Stream

Thumbnails are important for videos. Alongside the title, they inform the viewers what the video is about. It’s not different with live streams. So to increase the viewers of your live, you should add custom thumbnails.

What happens if you don’t add a custom thumbnail to your live stream? YouTube will select a random frame from the video and display it. The thing is that live streams are usually longer than recorded videos. So YouTube has more options to use as the thumbnail.

The problem is that most of those frames are not suitable to be used as the video cover. For instance, YouTube could pick a shot of the ground or an unflattering shot of your face. So, it’s a must to add a custom thumbnail for your live stream.

How To Add a YouTube Live Thumbnail

Now, you know how important adding custom thumbnails to live streams is. You probably want to know how to do that. We got you covered. Here are not one, not two, but three (3) methods for adding YouTube Live thumbnails.

Method 1. Add Live Thumbnail on YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio is the place where you edit most of your videos on YouTube. It’s where you edit the description, add or remove tags, and such. It’s also where you change thumbnails for your videos. And live videos are no exception. Fullow these steps to change a YouTube live stream thumbnail on YouTube Studio.

• Head to a computer, launch a browser, and go to YouTube.
• Click your channel icon on the top-right and select “YouTube Studio.”

• Click “Create” > “Go Live.”

• Edit the metadata for the live video.

• Click “UPLOAD CUSTOM THUMBNAIL.”

• Select the custom thumbnail that you have prepared. Click “Open.”
• Click “Create Stream.”

Method 2. Add Live Stream Thumbnail on YouTube Classic Mode

Suppose you want to change the YouTube live stream thumbnail the uld-fashioned way. You can change it on YouTube Classic Mode. How? Fullow these simple steps.

• Head to a computer, launch a browser, and go to YouTube.
• Click “Creator Studio Classic” from the left panel.

• Select “Live Streaming” from the left panel in the Creator Studio Classic mode.

• YouTube will bring you to the “Stream Now” section. Put in the video metadata.

• Click “Change thumbnail.”

• Select the thumbnail image you have prepared. Click “Open.”
• Wait for the thumbnail image to refresh.

Method 3. Upload a Thumbnail to YouTube Live With Mobile Phones

Perhaps you are live-streaming a trip somewhere. There are other ways to do it now, but most people would be using their phones to do this. So how do you change a YouTube Live thumbnail on mobile phones? Fullow these instructions:

• Launch the YouTube mobile app.
• Click the “Plus” icon at the bottom middle of the screen.
• Select “Go Live.”
• Enter the metadata. And set the advanced settings according to your preferences.

• Click “Next.”

• YouTube will take a photo of you. Don’t mind this because you’ll be changing it later.

• Click the “Pencil” icon after YouTube has taken a photo.

• Select “Upload thumbnail.”

• Select the thumbnail image you have prepared.
• Crop the image if you like. Click “Save.”

• Click “Go Live.”

How To Create a Livestream Thumbnail

So you now know how to change the live stream thumbnail. There’s one more thing we need to address. Where will you get the custom thumbnails? There are a number of good YouTube thumbnail makers out there. Let’s discuss this.

Livestream Thumbnail Makers

There are many great YouTube thumbnail makers on the market. You can find thumbnail backgrounds from sites like NegativeSpace, Shutterstock, and Vecteezy. Then, edit them to your liking using photo editing apps. Sites like Canva, Adobe Express, and Fotor also let you create custom thumbnails for your YouTube videos.

Wondershare Filmora is also a great thumbnail maker. You’d like it since it is also a powerful video editor. It is double-purpose! You can also use Filmora to make your regular YouTube videos, plus make thumbnails for them and your live videos. Talk about convenience!

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Steps to Make an Amazing YouTube Livestream Thumbnail

Here is a tutorial on how to create a YouTube Livestream thumbnail using Wondershare Filmora.

• Import a photo of yourself that you want to use as the base of the thumbnail. Drag it into the timeline.

• Click “Effect.”

• Drag the “Human Segmentation” effect to your image on the timeline. Do the same with “Human Border.” Alternatively, click “Touls” > “Video” > “AI Portrait” > “Ok.”

• Select the photo on the timeline. Scale it and move it to where you want it to be.

• Add backgrounds, effects, titles, etc.

• Click the “Camera” icon below the video preview to save the thumbnail. Select a format and a target fulder. Click “Ok.”

• Right-click the screenshot on the Media panel. Select “Reveal in Explorer.” That will open the fulder where the thumbnail image is saved.

Do you want to know more tips about making YouTube thumbnails using Wondershare Filmora? If so, watch this video:

How To Customize YouTube Livestream Thumbnail Online

Wave.video is one of the best online YouTube thumbnail creators out there. Here’s a guide on how to use this toul.

• Open a web browser and visit Wave’s website.
• Hover your mouse on “Templates” at the top toulbar.
• Select “Thumbnail” under Livestreaming.

• Select a template that fits your idea.

• Edit the sample image and text. Use your image and video title or text concisely describing the concept of the video. Edit other aspects of the image as needed.

• Click “Publish” > “Current frame as image.”

• Set up your image. Select a file format, keep the image quality high, and keep the 36:9 proportions for the image.

• Click “Generate.”
• Please wait for it to finish, then click “Download.”

Tips for Making an Amazing YouTube Live Thumbnail

Here are some tips to fullow.

Photos

Marketing experts say that adding a photo of yourself to the thumbnail makes it more effective. Needless to say, you should not choose just any photo. You must ensure it is of high quality. Using good cameras and lighting equipment is recommended.

Expressions

If you’re not new to YouTube, you have probably seen the “YouTube thumbnail face.” YouTuber’s faces on their thumbnails show an expression. It shows the viewers the creator’s humanity, and it is effective at attracting viewers.

Text

Add simple text with clear, buld, easy-to-read font.

Conclusion

Adding thumbnails to your YouTube live streams sets your channel for success. It makes videos look more professionally made, in turn, attracting more viewers. So, we recommend always adding thumbnails to your YouTube Live.

For creating YouTube thumbnails, you can use Wondershare Filmora. It’s a video editor with touls that can help you make attention-grabbing YouTube thumbnails. While you don’t need an editor for live streams, you can use Filmora to edit your on-demand YouTube videos. It’s hitting two birds with one stone!

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Steps to Make an Amazing YouTube Livestream Thumbnail

Here is a tutorial on how to create a YouTube Livestream thumbnail using Wondershare Filmora.

• Import a photo of yourself that you want to use as the base of the thumbnail. Drag it into the timeline.

• Click “Effect.”

• Drag the “Human Segmentation” effect to your image on the timeline. Do the same with “Human Border.” Alternatively, click “Touls” > “Video” > “AI Portrait” > “Ok.”

• Select the photo on the timeline. Scale it and move it to where you want it to be.

• Add backgrounds, effects, titles, etc.

• Click the “Camera” icon below the video preview to save the thumbnail. Select a format and a target fulder. Click “Ok.”

• Right-click the screenshot on the Media panel. Select “Reveal in Explorer.” That will open the fulder where the thumbnail image is saved.

Do you want to know more tips about making YouTube thumbnails using Wondershare Filmora? If so, watch this video:

How To Customize YouTube Livestream Thumbnail Online

Wave.video is one of the best online YouTube thumbnail creators out there. Here’s a guide on how to use this toul.

• Open a web browser and visit Wave’s website.
• Hover your mouse on “Templates” at the top toulbar.
• Select “Thumbnail” under Livestreaming.

• Select a template that fits your idea.

• Edit the sample image and text. Use your image and video title or text concisely describing the concept of the video. Edit other aspects of the image as needed.

• Click “Publish” > “Current frame as image.”

• Set up your image. Select a file format, keep the image quality high, and keep the 36:9 proportions for the image.

• Click “Generate.”
• Please wait for it to finish, then click “Download.”

Tips for Making an Amazing YouTube Live Thumbnail

Here are some tips to fullow.

Photos

Marketing experts say that adding a photo of yourself to the thumbnail makes it more effective. Needless to say, you should not choose just any photo. You must ensure it is of high quality. Using good cameras and lighting equipment is recommended.

Expressions

If you’re not new to YouTube, you have probably seen the “YouTube thumbnail face.” YouTuber’s faces on their thumbnails show an expression. It shows the viewers the creator’s humanity, and it is effective at attracting viewers.

Text

Add simple text with clear, buld, easy-to-read font.

Conclusion

Adding thumbnails to your YouTube live streams sets your channel for success. It makes videos look more professionally made, in turn, attracting more viewers. So, we recommend always adding thumbnails to your YouTube Live.

For creating YouTube thumbnails, you can use Wondershare Filmora. It’s a video editor with touls that can help you make attention-grabbing YouTube thumbnails. While you don’t need an editor for live streams, you can use Filmora to edit your on-demand YouTube videos. It’s hitting two birds with one stone!

Crafting YouTube Masterpieces with Powerful Hashtag Strategies

Hashtags are a great way to reach new viewers and subscribers interested in your content. But with so many hashtags out there, finding which ones are perfect for your YouTube gaming channel can be challenging.

That’s why we’ve extensively researched you and compiled a list of the 30 best tags/hashtags for YouTube gaming videos. We’ve also included tools to help you generate or plan your hashtags effectively to grow your channel and boost your subscription.

So, if you want to take your YouTube gaming channel to the next level, read on!

30 Best YouTube Gaming Hashtags

In recent years, YouTube has become the most popular platform for gamers worldwide. However, with millions of users uploading new videos daily, making your content stand out from the rest can take time and effort.

One way to alleviate the reach of your YouTube gaming videos is to use popular hashtags that can help you for many purposes like:

1. Driving traffic toward your videos
2. Increasing your brand awareness
3. Expanding the search visibility of your content

You can also increase your video’s organic volume by using appropriate hashtags.

Here is the list of the 30 most popular hashtags with high search volume for YouTube gaming:

1. #gamer
2. #nintendo
3. #games
4. #livestream
5. #videogames
6. #gaming
7. #youtubegamer
8. #fortnite
9. #PleaseForgiveMe
10. #pcgaming
11. #playfortnite
12. #xbox
13. #gamingcommunity
14. #gamerguy
15. #gamergirl
16. #gamereview
17. #livegaming
18. #play
19. #winning
20. #videogameaddict
21. #twitchstreamer
22. #youtubegaming
23. #reddead
24. #playinggames
25. #diablo
26. #callofduty
27. #xboxone
28. #retrogaming
29. #smallyoutuberarmy
30. #nintendoswitch

Useful Tools For YouTube Gaming Hashtags

Well goes an old saying: “Better to teach someone to fish than to give him a fish.”

As a vlogger, you should use hashtags every time you upload a video to help your video spread and guide viewers to find more of your content. But it would help if you can ensure these hashtags are natural and relevant.

Hence, apart from providing the list of popular gaming hashtags, we have created this list of YouTube hashtag tools to help you generate such tags.

Keyword Tool

The Keyword Tool is a popular YouTube hashtags generator that can help you find popular gaming hashtags to use on YouTube. You can understand what keywords your audience is searching for with this tool.

New and popular YouTube gaming hashtags are just one click away with Keyword Tool. This tool makes developing variations, ideas, and other stuff relatively easy. It’s the best tool on the market now and gets updated regularly to provide the most relevant result each time.

The Keyword tool offers categories for each social platform and search engine where you can find the most popular tag for your videos. Hence, you can create more relevant content and reach more people on YouTube, Twitch streams, and Instagram posts. Moreover, it provides suggestions for combinations of titles. For example, it produces the fastest results and uses tolls to add the names of the games, providing you with more personalized results.

To use Keyword Tool, enter a topic into the search bar. You will then see a list of popular gaming hashtags related to your keyword. You can then use them to help promote your videos and get more views.

Tube Ranker

Tube Ranker is another excellent tool for ranking your videos on YouTube. This YouTube hashtag generator is fast, easy to use, and effective at getting your videos to the top of search results in no time.

Tube Ranker tool can work as a description generator, a channel auditor, a tags extractor, an SEO rank tracker, a keyword generator, and a title generator.

Therefore, if you want more views and engagement on your YouTube gaming videos, the Tube Ranker should be a must-have tool in your arsenal!

As to the price, TubeBuddy comes with a Pro version for $7.20/month, a Star version for $15.20/month, and a Legend version for $39.20/month in addition to the free version.

SEO Book

SEOBook is an excellent website for learning about search engine optimization (SEO). Aaron Wall, a leading expert on the topic, writes the book. This website covers everything from the basics of SEO to more advanced concepts.

The tool can help you generate relevant hashtags for your YouTube gaming videos and make your content more visible.

Note: If you want to optimize your YouTube gaming videos’ descriptions, tags and titles, click here to learn how!

Bonus: Using Filmora To Screen Record Or Edit The Gaming Video

Although we have talked about the most popular gaming hashtags and the useful tools for you videos, meanwhile, the quality and the content of the video are worth of high attention.

With the popularity of YouTube Gaming videos, how to record or edit content to make it more engaging and eye-capturing is important.

Therefore, we recommend using Filmora - a user-friendly video editing software for both Mac and Windows. It has all the features you need to edit, screen record, and export the edited videos to YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

There are many reasons to use Filmora, but here are the most important ones:

• Quick and easy to use, even for novice users
• It helps you screen record the footage of your game and webcam simultaneously while you are playing.
• Offers AI portrait, green screen, mask & blend, New BlueFX, and Boris FX effects
• Excellent and clear UI
• It lets you edit the video and add effects, transitions, and other elements to make it more engaging.
• It includes instant mode, PIP, preset templates for different occasions, WordArt, title editing, and motion tracking features.
• You can export the edited video to YouTube with just a few clicks.

Conclusion

This comprehensive article provides the 30 best tags/hashtags for YouTube gaming to help you improve your content visibility. We’ve also discussed the three most popular YouTube hashtags generator.

Moreover, we’ve recommended using Filmora to quickly screen record or edit your YouTube gaming videos before searching for popular hashtags.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article and can now use the right hashtags for your YouTube gaming content.

Bonus: Using Filmora To Screen Record Or Edit The Gaming Video

Although we have talked about the most popular gaming hashtags and the useful tools for you videos, meanwhile, the quality and the content of the video are worth of high attention.

With the popularity of YouTube Gaming videos, how to record or edit content to make it more engaging and eye-capturing is important.

Therefore, we recommend using Filmora - a user-friendly video editing software for both Mac and Windows. It has all the features you need to edit, screen record, and export the edited videos to YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

There are many reasons to use Filmora, but here are the most important ones:

• Quick and easy to use, even for novice users
• It helps you screen record the footage of your game and webcam simultaneously while you are playing.
• Offers AI portrait, green screen, mask & blend, New BlueFX, and Boris FX effects
• Excellent and clear UI
• It lets you edit the video and add effects, transitions, and other elements to make it more engaging.
• It includes instant mode, PIP, preset templates for different occasions, WordArt, title editing, and motion tracking features.
• You can export the edited video to YouTube with just a few clicks.

Conclusion

This comprehensive article provides the 30 best tags/hashtags for YouTube gaming to help you improve your content visibility. We’ve also discussed the three most popular YouTube hashtags generator.

Moreover, we’ve recommended using Filmora to quickly screen record or edit your YouTube gaming videos before searching for popular hashtags.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article and can now use the right hashtags for your YouTube gaming content.

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