Overcoming the Challenge of Hidden YouTube Shorts Thumbnails

Video thumbnails are important since they encourage people to click and watch the video. But what if your set YouTube Shorts thumbnail is not showing? YouTube will use a random part of the video as the thumbnail. It may be an unflattering or uninteresting shot. Then, your Shorts video is doomed.

That said, it is a problem you want to solve. Here are 7 FAQs about YouTube Shorts thumbnails. They may help you with fixing this issue.

Q1. Can I Customize YouTube Shorts Thumbnails?

Yes, you can. YouTube did allow short-form video creators to upload custom thumbnails for their Shorts. However, they aren’t that optimized. For instance, some people may not see them on the Shorts shelf. Also, if you share a link to the video somewhere else, the old video thumbnail may show instead of the new one.

Adding a custom thumbnail for YouTube Shorts is the same as adding one for long-form videos on the platform. Follow these steps:

• Open the YouTube mobile app. Click the “Plus” icon at the bottom center > “Create Short.” Upload, edit, and post your video.

• Get to your desktop computer or laptop. Open your channel’s YouTube Studio.

• On the left navigation menu, click “Content.”

• Click the “pencil” icon next to the Shorts you just uploaded. This video should be at the top of the list.
• Navigate to the Thumbnail section. Click “Create Thumbnail.”

Q2. Why Are YouTube Shorts Thumbnails Not Showing?

It’s not you who’s the only one with Shorts thumbnails not showing. Many short-form content creators on the platform are also facing this issue. A YouTuber took to Reddit to complain about how he uploaded custom thumbnails for all his videos. The thumbnails are correct in the editor. However, YouTube still displays a random frame as the thumbnail on the Shorts shelf.

“They ALL have randomly selected different parts of each video I have uploaded & somehow generated a new/unknown thumbnail that was neither what I uploaded as the custom option nor 1 of the 3 that YouTube auto populated.”

YouTuber on Reddit

The reason behind this is the difference in the thumbnail size. Regular YouTube video thumbnails are in the ratio of 16:9. Meanwhile, Shorts uses a ratio of 9:16. The thing is that YouTube does not yet allow you to upload 9:16 thumbnails. Thus, the thumbnail for Shorts may show correctly on the video section but not on the Shorts shelf.

Q3. How to Fix YouTube Shorts Thumbnail Problem?

Unfortunately, there is no reliable fix to this problem yet. YouTubers have tried different things in hopes that YouTube will display the correct thumbnail for their Shorts.

Some YouTubers have tried using different images. Others have experimented with changing the aspect ratio of the thumbnail or using Adobe editor for ratios. Clearing histories and cache, using different browsers, resizing, and changing the images’ resolution have also been done. Sadly, these are all failed attempts.

Q4. How To Boost Views When I Have no Control Over YouTube Shorts Thumbnails?

Attracting viewers on Shorts is the same as attracting viewers on the main YouTube. You use interesting thumbnails and video titles. Since thumbnails are out of the options, selecting great video titles has become even more important.

Here are some pointers. Your title should be at most 40 characters. Also, it should be concise and irresistible. And forget about SEO since no one is searching for YouTube Shorts anyway. People consume what they see in their feeds. So instead, the title should be “snappy.” It should intrigue, entertain, or enlighten the viewers. That will net you some views for your Shorts content.

Q5. How To Get More Views on YouTube Shorts?

Forgoing the intro is the way to go. An intro will just prolong the video when people are in Shorts to find bite-sized videos. So jump right into the video content. You can also start the video with a still frame instead. Using hashtags, captions, and text effects are also recommended. And interacting with your audience through comments and pinned comments will keep them coming back to your Shorts channel.

Of course, ensuring that the video quality is high is key to getting more views. For that, you need a good video editor. You can try Wondershare Filmora , a powerful and easy-to-use video editor.

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

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

The best thing is that you don’t need to transfer the video from your phone to your computer and back. Wondershare Filmora is available on mobile. And it’s one of the best tools for enhancing a short-form video.

Short-form video watchers love filters, transitions, and effects. And Filmora gives you access to all of that. It provides you with fun and amazing filters, effects, transitions, and stamps that can add a wow factor to your short-form video.

Click here

Q6. Do YouTube Shorts Make Money?

Making money from YouTube Shorts was challenging. The platform pays content creators who are doing well through the Creator Fund. However, as Shorts grew, the payout became smaller.

Luckily, that’s going to change. Starting this year, Shorts will be a part of the YouTube Partner Program. This means that you can make money from the ads that people watch on Shorts. According to YouTube, creators will keep 45% of the revenue. It will be distributed based on your share of total Shorts views.

YouTube also adjusted the requirements to qualify for the YPP. They made it easier for Shorts content creators to get into the program.

Q7. How Do You Make YouTube Shorts Play Normal?

You can watch Shorts like normal YouTube videos where you can rewind when you want to. Follow these steps.

On a Desktop Computer

• Open a Shorts video on YouTube.

• Pause the video.

• Click “Library” on the left panel.

• Select the Shorts you just watched. It should be on the top and first on the list.

On a Mobile Phone

• Open the YouTube app. Watch a Shorts video.

• Like the Shorts video.

• Tap “Library”

• Scroll down to find “Liked Videos.” Click on it.

• Select the Shorts video you just watched. It should be at the top of the list.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, custom thumbnails not showing on Shorts does not have a fix yet. So to attract viewers, you must leverage the things in your control. You must title your videos in a way that will make users click the video. Also, adding effects and filters on the video using an editor like Wondershare Filmora can help.

Users can subscribe to Shorts channels. And if they see that your videos are well-edited and high-quality, they’ll be more likely to do so. Once they are subscribed, they will see and watch your videos more often.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

The best thing is that you don’t need to transfer the video from your phone to your computer and back. Wondershare Filmora is available on mobile. And it’s one of the best tools for enhancing a short-form video.

Short-form video watchers love filters, transitions, and effects. And Filmora gives you access to all of that. It provides you with fun and amazing filters, effects, transitions, and stamps that can add a wow factor to your short-form video.

Q6. Do YouTube Shorts Make Money?

Making money from YouTube Shorts was challenging. The platform pays content creators who are doing well through the Creator Fund. However, as Shorts grew, the payout became smaller.

Luckily, that’s going to change. Starting this year, Shorts will be a part of the YouTube Partner Program. This means that you can make money from the ads that people watch on Shorts. According to YouTube, creators will keep 45% of the revenue. It will be distributed based on your share of total Shorts views.

YouTube also adjusted the requirements to qualify for the YPP. They made it easier for Shorts content creators to get into the program.

Q7. How Do You Make YouTube Shorts Play Normal?

You can watch Shorts like normal YouTube videos where you can rewind when you want to. Follow these steps.

On a Desktop Computer

• Open a Shorts video on YouTube.

• Pause the video.

• Click “Library” on the left panel.

• Select the Shorts you just watched. It should be on the top and first on the list.

On a Mobile Phone

• Open the YouTube app. Watch a Shorts video.

• Like the Shorts video.

• Tap “Library”

• Scroll down to find “Liked Videos.” Click on it.

• Select the Shorts video you just watched. It should be at the top of the list.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, custom thumbnails not showing on Shorts does not have a fix yet. So to attract viewers, you must leverage the things in your control. You must title your videos in a way that will make users click the video. Also, adding effects and filters on the video using an editor like Wondershare Filmora can help.

Users can subscribe to Shorts channels. And if they see that your videos are well-edited and high-quality, they’ll be more likely to do so. Once they are subscribed, they will see and watch your videos more often.

Crafting Collabs for YouTube Channel Expansion

How to Make Collab Videos and Grow Your Channel?

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The following post will teach you how to find and contact partners for YouTube collaborations, as well as provide advice for actually making the collab. We also did a post earlier this week about how to get other creators to collab with you,which includes videos from 4 different YouTubers on that subject.

• Choosing A Potential Partner
• How to Contact A Partner
• Types of collab videos
  • Shout outs
  • Guest spots
  • Long-distance collabs
• Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

1. Choosing A Potential Partner

Before you think about how you’re going to approach someone you need to decide who you want to approach.

A lot of people automatically want to approach their YouTube hero, and that can be a mistake. Liking your partner’s videos is a must – why would you want to refer your subscribers to someone whose channel you wouldn’t watch yourself? – but it can be really hard to get someone with a significantly bigger channel than yours to work with you.

Will Kitty get to collab with the big dog?

Larger YouTubers get a lot of collab requests, and they are really busy with their own channels. Even if they love your content, it can be hard to justify taking time away from working on their own channel to do videos that won’t help them grow too.

Collaborating with someone your own size means you both stand to gain equally in channel growth. Instead of approaching someone you love that’s huge, try finding someone you like just as much whose sub count is similar to yours.

There are exceptions to this, of course. The team at Mr.Kate managed to work with YouTubers who had millions of subs while they were still under 1 million. They got these high profile collabs because they had something additional to offer that made up for the subscriber gap – they were redesigning the apartments, offices, or studios of the YouTubers they did the collabs with. If you want to work with someone bigger than you, think about what you might be able to offer them in place of new subscribers.

Mr.Kate makes over **MyLifeAsEva **’s bedroom.

Also, try to find someone whose channel has something in common with yours thematically so you know your subscribers will be interested in them. They don’t have to do exactly what you do, but your topics should be related. For example: if you do quirky video game reviews and they do quirky movie reviews, you could team up to review a movie based on a game. That would make sense. But if you quirky video game reviews and they review do very serious ice cream reviews, that’ll make a lot less sense.

A good way to find potentially collab partners is to look at your list of subscribers. You already know everyone there likes your channel!

2. How to contact a partner

Sometimes people leave contact info in their video descriptions, but it might be easier to go to the About tab on their channel page and check for an email address. Look for a field that says for business inquiries, click on view email address, and use the CAPTCHA that appears to prove you aren’t a robot.

Reaching out more casually through Twitter DMs, YouTube comments, or Facebook is good too, but you should use those platforms more to build a relationship that could lead to a collab. If someone had never commented on a video of yours before and then commented once just to ask you to collab it’d be hard to believe they were really interested in your channel.

3. Popular Types of Collab Videos

Gabrielletalks about different types of collabs and how well they work.

In most cases when you do a collab, you’ll each want to have content to post to your own channels (unless you’re doing some type of interview). You don’t want to put a lot of effort into a video that won’t end up being ‘yours’. Here are a few different ways to collaborate:

#1. Shout outs

In this type of collab all you do is mention each other and, usually, use YouTube cards to link to each other’s channels. You make a video that is completely yours, and at some point in it you talk about your partner’s channel and why you like it. To make things fair, you should discuss how long the mentions will be and where in the videos they will happen. It wouldn’t feel good to gush about how great someone is for a full minute near the beginning of your video and have them spend two seconds mentioning you near the end of theirs.

I personally don’t check people out just because someone I like mentions them, so this might not be the best way to go if you’re hoping to bring in new subscribers. It is the easiest kind of collab to do, though.

2. Guest spots

This is my favorite kind of collab to watch, because each YouTuber has sole creative control over the video that goes on their channel. Instead of trying to blend your styles together, you each make videos that reflect your own personal styles.

For your video, you have the other vlogger on as a guest. In the video you do the same kinds of things your fans like watching you do, and you include the other person. If they’re alright with it, it can be fun to draw them a bit outside their comfort zone. If you like to dance on your channel, and they never dance on theirs, ask them to dance with you!

Matthias gets NateWantsToBattle – who does song parodies on his channel – to make balloon animals.

Turnabout is fair play, of course, so be prepared to step a bit outside of your own comfort zone when you appear as a guest in one of their videos.

Alternatively, you could just introduce your guest and then let them take over and then do the same thing in reverse on their channel.

3. Long distance collabs

Lauren is in Toronto and Aja is in LA, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cook together! Also: Lauren’s channel is about food and Aja’s is about healthy living – they aren’t exactly the same, but they’re related enough that the collab makes sense.

Sometimes you really want to work together, but geography just won’t bend to your wills. That doesn’t mean you can’t collab. You can always send each other some footage to cut to and make videos together that way. Or, you can do a Google Hangout or Skype chat and record it.

4. Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

Usually, you have two reasons for wanting to do a collab; having fun with another YouTuber, and growing your channel. The collab exposes you to their subscribers, who will hopefully decide they like you and subscribe to you too. There are ways of increasing the odds of this happening.

Commenting on each other’s videos, and responding to viewer comments, is one of the best. It will help you seem more like a person who is being introduced than a guest star in a video.

Kitty got the collab! They’re friends now – doesn’t that make you want to sub?

What have your experiences with YouTube collaborations been like?

Use Split-Screen Presets to Create Collab Videos in Filmora

Wondershare Filmora features lots of split-screen presets which allows you to put several videos together at the same time.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The following post will teach you how to find and contact partners for YouTube collaborations, as well as provide advice for actually making the collab. We also did a post earlier this week about how to get other creators to collab with you,which includes videos from 4 different YouTubers on that subject.

• Choosing A Potential Partner
• How to Contact A Partner
• Types of collab videos
  • Shout outs
  • Guest spots
  • Long-distance collabs
• Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

1. Choosing A Potential Partner

Before you think about how you’re going to approach someone you need to decide who you want to approach.

A lot of people automatically want to approach their YouTube hero, and that can be a mistake. Liking your partner’s videos is a must – why would you want to refer your subscribers to someone whose channel you wouldn’t watch yourself? – but it can be really hard to get someone with a significantly bigger channel than yours to work with you.

Will Kitty get to collab with the big dog?

Larger YouTubers get a lot of collab requests, and they are really busy with their own channels. Even if they love your content, it can be hard to justify taking time away from working on their own channel to do videos that won’t help them grow too.

Collaborating with someone your own size means you both stand to gain equally in channel growth. Instead of approaching someone you love that’s huge, try finding someone you like just as much whose sub count is similar to yours.

There are exceptions to this, of course. The team at Mr.Kate managed to work with YouTubers who had millions of subs while they were still under 1 million. They got these high profile collabs because they had something additional to offer that made up for the subscriber gap – they were redesigning the apartments, offices, or studios of the YouTubers they did the collabs with. If you want to work with someone bigger than you, think about what you might be able to offer them in place of new subscribers.

Mr.Kate makes over **MyLifeAsEva **’s bedroom.

Also, try to find someone whose channel has something in common with yours thematically so you know your subscribers will be interested in them. They don’t have to do exactly what you do, but your topics should be related. For example: if you do quirky video game reviews and they do quirky movie reviews, you could team up to review a movie based on a game. That would make sense. But if you quirky video game reviews and they review do very serious ice cream reviews, that’ll make a lot less sense.

A good way to find potentially collab partners is to look at your list of subscribers. You already know everyone there likes your channel!

2. How to contact a partner

Sometimes people leave contact info in their video descriptions, but it might be easier to go to the About tab on their channel page and check for an email address. Look for a field that says for business inquiries, click on view email address, and use the CAPTCHA that appears to prove you aren’t a robot.

Reaching out more casually through Twitter DMs, YouTube comments, or Facebook is good too, but you should use those platforms more to build a relationship that could lead to a collab. If someone had never commented on a video of yours before and then commented once just to ask you to collab it’d be hard to believe they were really interested in your channel.

3. Popular Types of Collab Videos

Gabrielletalks about different types of collabs and how well they work.

In most cases when you do a collab, you’ll each want to have content to post to your own channels (unless you’re doing some type of interview). You don’t want to put a lot of effort into a video that won’t end up being ‘yours’. Here are a few different ways to collaborate:

#1. Shout outs

In this type of collab all you do is mention each other and, usually, use YouTube cards to link to each other’s channels. You make a video that is completely yours, and at some point in it you talk about your partner’s channel and why you like it. To make things fair, you should discuss how long the mentions will be and where in the videos they will happen. It wouldn’t feel good to gush about how great someone is for a full minute near the beginning of your video and have them spend two seconds mentioning you near the end of theirs.

I personally don’t check people out just because someone I like mentions them, so this might not be the best way to go if you’re hoping to bring in new subscribers. It is the easiest kind of collab to do, though.

2. Guest spots

This is my favorite kind of collab to watch, because each YouTuber has sole creative control over the video that goes on their channel. Instead of trying to blend your styles together, you each make videos that reflect your own personal styles.

For your video, you have the other vlogger on as a guest. In the video you do the same kinds of things your fans like watching you do, and you include the other person. If they’re alright with it, it can be fun to draw them a bit outside their comfort zone. If you like to dance on your channel, and they never dance on theirs, ask them to dance with you!

Matthias gets NateWantsToBattle – who does song parodies on his channel – to make balloon animals.

Turnabout is fair play, of course, so be prepared to step a bit outside of your own comfort zone when you appear as a guest in one of their videos.

Alternatively, you could just introduce your guest and then let them take over and then do the same thing in reverse on their channel.

3. Long distance collabs

Lauren is in Toronto and Aja is in LA, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cook together! Also: Lauren’s channel is about food and Aja’s is about healthy living – they aren’t exactly the same, but they’re related enough that the collab makes sense.

Sometimes you really want to work together, but geography just won’t bend to your wills. That doesn’t mean you can’t collab. You can always send each other some footage to cut to and make videos together that way. Or, you can do a Google Hangout or Skype chat and record it.

4. Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

Usually, you have two reasons for wanting to do a collab; having fun with another YouTuber, and growing your channel. The collab exposes you to their subscribers, who will hopefully decide they like you and subscribe to you too. There are ways of increasing the odds of this happening.

Commenting on each other’s videos, and responding to viewer comments, is one of the best. It will help you seem more like a person who is being introduced than a guest star in a video.

Kitty got the collab! They’re friends now – doesn’t that make you want to sub?

What have your experiences with YouTube collaborations been like?

Use Split-Screen Presets to Create Collab Videos in Filmora

Wondershare Filmora features lots of split-screen presets which allows you to put several videos together at the same time.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The following post will teach you how to find and contact partners for YouTube collaborations, as well as provide advice for actually making the collab. We also did a post earlier this week about how to get other creators to collab with you,which includes videos from 4 different YouTubers on that subject.

• Choosing A Potential Partner
• How to Contact A Partner
• Types of collab videos
  • Shout outs
  • Guest spots
  • Long-distance collabs
• Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

1. Choosing A Potential Partner

Before you think about how you’re going to approach someone you need to decide who you want to approach.

A lot of people automatically want to approach their YouTube hero, and that can be a mistake. Liking your partner’s videos is a must – why would you want to refer your subscribers to someone whose channel you wouldn’t watch yourself? – but it can be really hard to get someone with a significantly bigger channel than yours to work with you.

Will Kitty get to collab with the big dog?

Larger YouTubers get a lot of collab requests, and they are really busy with their own channels. Even if they love your content, it can be hard to justify taking time away from working on their own channel to do videos that won’t help them grow too.

Collaborating with someone your own size means you both stand to gain equally in channel growth. Instead of approaching someone you love that’s huge, try finding someone you like just as much whose sub count is similar to yours.

There are exceptions to this, of course. The team at Mr.Kate managed to work with YouTubers who had millions of subs while they were still under 1 million. They got these high profile collabs because they had something additional to offer that made up for the subscriber gap – they were redesigning the apartments, offices, or studios of the YouTubers they did the collabs with. If you want to work with someone bigger than you, think about what you might be able to offer them in place of new subscribers.

Mr.Kate makes over **MyLifeAsEva **’s bedroom.

Also, try to find someone whose channel has something in common with yours thematically so you know your subscribers will be interested in them. They don’t have to do exactly what you do, but your topics should be related. For example: if you do quirky video game reviews and they do quirky movie reviews, you could team up to review a movie based on a game. That would make sense. But if you quirky video game reviews and they review do very serious ice cream reviews, that’ll make a lot less sense.

A good way to find potentially collab partners is to look at your list of subscribers. You already know everyone there likes your channel!

2. How to contact a partner

Sometimes people leave contact info in their video descriptions, but it might be easier to go to the About tab on their channel page and check for an email address. Look for a field that says for business inquiries, click on view email address, and use the CAPTCHA that appears to prove you aren’t a robot.

Reaching out more casually through Twitter DMs, YouTube comments, or Facebook is good too, but you should use those platforms more to build a relationship that could lead to a collab. If someone had never commented on a video of yours before and then commented once just to ask you to collab it’d be hard to believe they were really interested in your channel.

3. Popular Types of Collab Videos

Gabrielletalks about different types of collabs and how well they work.

In most cases when you do a collab, you’ll each want to have content to post to your own channels (unless you’re doing some type of interview). You don’t want to put a lot of effort into a video that won’t end up being ‘yours’. Here are a few different ways to collaborate:

#1. Shout outs

In this type of collab all you do is mention each other and, usually, use YouTube cards to link to each other’s channels. You make a video that is completely yours, and at some point in it you talk about your partner’s channel and why you like it. To make things fair, you should discuss how long the mentions will be and where in the videos they will happen. It wouldn’t feel good to gush about how great someone is for a full minute near the beginning of your video and have them spend two seconds mentioning you near the end of theirs.

I personally don’t check people out just because someone I like mentions them, so this might not be the best way to go if you’re hoping to bring in new subscribers. It is the easiest kind of collab to do, though.

2. Guest spots

This is my favorite kind of collab to watch, because each YouTuber has sole creative control over the video that goes on their channel. Instead of trying to blend your styles together, you each make videos that reflect your own personal styles.

For your video, you have the other vlogger on as a guest. In the video you do the same kinds of things your fans like watching you do, and you include the other person. If they’re alright with it, it can be fun to draw them a bit outside their comfort zone. If you like to dance on your channel, and they never dance on theirs, ask them to dance with you!

Matthias gets NateWantsToBattle – who does song parodies on his channel – to make balloon animals.

Turnabout is fair play, of course, so be prepared to step a bit outside of your own comfort zone when you appear as a guest in one of their videos.

Alternatively, you could just introduce your guest and then let them take over and then do the same thing in reverse on their channel.

3. Long distance collabs

Lauren is in Toronto and Aja is in LA, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cook together! Also: Lauren’s channel is about food and Aja’s is about healthy living – they aren’t exactly the same, but they’re related enough that the collab makes sense.

Sometimes you really want to work together, but geography just won’t bend to your wills. That doesn’t mean you can’t collab. You can always send each other some footage to cut to and make videos together that way. Or, you can do a Google Hangout or Skype chat and record it.

4. Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

Usually, you have two reasons for wanting to do a collab; having fun with another YouTuber, and growing your channel. The collab exposes you to their subscribers, who will hopefully decide they like you and subscribe to you too. There are ways of increasing the odds of this happening.

Commenting on each other’s videos, and responding to viewer comments, is one of the best. It will help you seem more like a person who is being introduced than a guest star in a video.

Kitty got the collab! They’re friends now – doesn’t that make you want to sub?

What have your experiences with YouTube collaborations been like?

Use Split-Screen Presets to Create Collab Videos in Filmora

Wondershare Filmora features lots of split-screen presets which allows you to put several videos together at the same time.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The following post will teach you how to find and contact partners for YouTube collaborations, as well as provide advice for actually making the collab. We also did a post earlier this week about how to get other creators to collab with you,which includes videos from 4 different YouTubers on that subject.

• Choosing A Potential Partner
• How to Contact A Partner
• Types of collab videos
  • Shout outs
  • Guest spots
  • Long-distance collabs
• Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

1. Choosing A Potential Partner

Before you think about how you’re going to approach someone you need to decide who you want to approach.

A lot of people automatically want to approach their YouTube hero, and that can be a mistake. Liking your partner’s videos is a must – why would you want to refer your subscribers to someone whose channel you wouldn’t watch yourself? – but it can be really hard to get someone with a significantly bigger channel than yours to work with you.

Will Kitty get to collab with the big dog?

Larger YouTubers get a lot of collab requests, and they are really busy with their own channels. Even if they love your content, it can be hard to justify taking time away from working on their own channel to do videos that won’t help them grow too.

Collaborating with someone your own size means you both stand to gain equally in channel growth. Instead of approaching someone you love that’s huge, try finding someone you like just as much whose sub count is similar to yours.

There are exceptions to this, of course. The team at Mr.Kate managed to work with YouTubers who had millions of subs while they were still under 1 million. They got these high profile collabs because they had something additional to offer that made up for the subscriber gap – they were redesigning the apartments, offices, or studios of the YouTubers they did the collabs with. If you want to work with someone bigger than you, think about what you might be able to offer them in place of new subscribers.

Mr.Kate makes over **MyLifeAsEva **’s bedroom.

Also, try to find someone whose channel has something in common with yours thematically so you know your subscribers will be interested in them. They don’t have to do exactly what you do, but your topics should be related. For example: if you do quirky video game reviews and they do quirky movie reviews, you could team up to review a movie based on a game. That would make sense. But if you quirky video game reviews and they review do very serious ice cream reviews, that’ll make a lot less sense.

A good way to find potentially collab partners is to look at your list of subscribers. You already know everyone there likes your channel!

2. How to contact a partner

Sometimes people leave contact info in their video descriptions, but it might be easier to go to the About tab on their channel page and check for an email address. Look for a field that says for business inquiries, click on view email address, and use the CAPTCHA that appears to prove you aren’t a robot.

Reaching out more casually through Twitter DMs, YouTube comments, or Facebook is good too, but you should use those platforms more to build a relationship that could lead to a collab. If someone had never commented on a video of yours before and then commented once just to ask you to collab it’d be hard to believe they were really interested in your channel.

3. Popular Types of Collab Videos

Gabrielletalks about different types of collabs and how well they work.

In most cases when you do a collab, you’ll each want to have content to post to your own channels (unless you’re doing some type of interview). You don’t want to put a lot of effort into a video that won’t end up being ‘yours’. Here are a few different ways to collaborate:

#1. Shout outs

In this type of collab all you do is mention each other and, usually, use YouTube cards to link to each other’s channels. You make a video that is completely yours, and at some point in it you talk about your partner’s channel and why you like it. To make things fair, you should discuss how long the mentions will be and where in the videos they will happen. It wouldn’t feel good to gush about how great someone is for a full minute near the beginning of your video and have them spend two seconds mentioning you near the end of theirs.

I personally don’t check people out just because someone I like mentions them, so this might not be the best way to go if you’re hoping to bring in new subscribers. It is the easiest kind of collab to do, though.

2. Guest spots

This is my favorite kind of collab to watch, because each YouTuber has sole creative control over the video that goes on their channel. Instead of trying to blend your styles together, you each make videos that reflect your own personal styles.

For your video, you have the other vlogger on as a guest. In the video you do the same kinds of things your fans like watching you do, and you include the other person. If they’re alright with it, it can be fun to draw them a bit outside their comfort zone. If you like to dance on your channel, and they never dance on theirs, ask them to dance with you!

Matthias gets NateWantsToBattle – who does song parodies on his channel – to make balloon animals.

Turnabout is fair play, of course, so be prepared to step a bit outside of your own comfort zone when you appear as a guest in one of their videos.

Alternatively, you could just introduce your guest and then let them take over and then do the same thing in reverse on their channel.

3. Long distance collabs

Lauren is in Toronto and Aja is in LA, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cook together! Also: Lauren’s channel is about food and Aja’s is about healthy living – they aren’t exactly the same, but they’re related enough that the collab makes sense.

Sometimes you really want to work together, but geography just won’t bend to your wills. That doesn’t mean you can’t collab. You can always send each other some footage to cut to and make videos together that way. Or, you can do a Google Hangout or Skype chat and record it.

4. Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

Usually, you have two reasons for wanting to do a collab; having fun with another YouTuber, and growing your channel. The collab exposes you to their subscribers, who will hopefully decide they like you and subscribe to you too. There are ways of increasing the odds of this happening.

Commenting on each other’s videos, and responding to viewer comments, is one of the best. It will help you seem more like a person who is being introduced than a guest star in a video.

Kitty got the collab! They’re friends now – doesn’t that make you want to sub?

What have your experiences with YouTube collaborations been like?

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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