Research

Factor Dictionary

Every content choice we track and its effect on organic video views, derived from our regression model across 26,790 videos. Click any factor for detailed analysis, examples, and recommendations.

Title

How you write and structure your video title — the single most important factor in whether someone clicks.

Percentage in Title

+112%

Whether the title contains a percentage (e.g. '40%', '80 percent'). A data point rendered as a number carries more autho...

Significant

Ellipsis in Title

+109%

Whether the title contains an ellipsis (...) — three dots suggesting more to come, unfinished thoughts, or dramatic paus...

Significant

Title Framing Style

12 values

How the video title structures its hook to draw viewers in. This is classified by an LLM from the title text alone and c...

Regular Shorts

Emotional Hook

7 values

The primary emotion the title is designed to trigger in the viewer. Classified by an LLM analyzing the title's word choi...

Regular

Starts With Number

-51%

Whether the title begins with a digit — almost always signaling a listicle or countable claim (e.g. '5 Reasons...', '10 ...

Regular

Curiosity Gap

3 values

Whether the title creates an information gap — a feeling that the viewer is missing something they need to know. Measure...

Regular Shorts

Hyphen Separator

-43%

Whether the title uses a hyphen or en dash (' - ' or ' – ') as a structural separator. Distinct from em dash usage — thi...

Regular

Mentions Trump

+38%

Whether the title mentions Trump by name. Trump is the highest-search-volume political figure in the United States, and ...

Regular Shorts

Brackets

+109%

Whether the title includes square brackets — usually wrapping a label like [BREAKING], [WATCH], [LIVE], or [UPDATE].

Regular

Viewer Promise

5 values

What the title implicitly promises the viewer will get from watching. Every click is an exchange — the viewer gives thei...

Regular Shorts

Media Appearance Framing

+54%

Whether the title frames the video as a clip from a media appearance — mentioning CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, or other outlets...

Shorts

Response Framing

+42%

Whether the title frames the video as a response to something — using phrases like 'responds to,' 'reacts to,' 'fires ba...

Colon Format

+37%

Whether the title uses a colon, usually in a 'Topic: Hook' structure. This format establishes context before delivering ...

Platform Nativeness

3 values

Whether the title feels like it was written for YouTube viewers or for a press release. Native titles sound like a creat...

Regular Shorts

Urgency Words

+28%

Whether the title contains words that create time pressure — 'breaking,' 'just,' 'now,' 'urgent,' 'emergency,' 'just in,...

Superlatives

+26%

Whether the title uses superlative language — 'best,' 'worst,' 'most,' 'biggest,' 'first,' 'largest.' Superlatives frame...

Second-Person Language

+25%

Whether the title uses second-person pronouns — 'you,' 'your,' 'you're.' Second-person language directly addresses the v...

Direct Quote in Title

+23%

Whether the title contains a direct quote attributed to a specific person. Different from simply having quotation marks ...

Flag Emoji

-22%

Whether the title contains a U.S. flag emoji (🇺🇸). This is a specific patriotic visual signal distinct from other emoji ...

Contains a Number

-22%

Whether the title contains any number — a dollar amount, a statistic, a list count, or a year. Numbers add specificity a...

Strong Language

+22%

Whether the title uses forceful, intense language — words that convey conviction, urgency, or power. Not profanity, but ...

Shorts

Starts with Formal Title

-22%

Whether the title begins with the politician's formal title — 'Rep.,' 'Sen.,' 'Congressman,' 'Governor.' This is a hallm...

Complete Sentence Title

+22%

Whether the title is a grammatically complete sentence with a subject and verb, rather than a phrase or fragment. Comple...

Exclamation Mark

-21%

Whether the title contains an exclamation mark. Exclamation marks add emphasis and emotional intensity to a title, signa...

Institutional Verbs

-17%

Whether the title uses verbs typical of government communications — 'announces,' 'discusses,' 'delivers,' 'introduces,' ...

Press Release Style

+14%

Whether the title reads like a press release headline — formal, institutional, written for journalists and political ins...

Confrontation Verbs

-12%

Whether the title uses verbs that signal conflict and confrontation — words like 'demands,' 'fires back,' 'slams,' 'call...

Shorts

Question Framing (How/Why/What)

+12%

Whether the title uses 'how,' 'why,' or 'what' question words to frame the content. This positions the video as answerin...

Implied Narrative

8 values

The underlying story structure the title sets up. Every title implicitly casts the politician in a role — hero, watchdog...

Moral Judgment

-6%

Whether the title makes an explicit moral judgment — framing something as right or wrong, just or unjust, using the lang...

Subject Referenced

4 values

Who or what is the main subject of the title. Titles can center the politician themselves, their opponent, a policy issu...

First-Person Language

+4%

Whether the title uses first-person pronouns like 'I,' 'we,' 'my,' or 'our.' First-person framing makes the title feel p...

Title Specificity

3 values

How concrete and detailed the title is versus how vague and abstract. A specific title gives the viewer enough detail to...

Starts with Name

Whether the title begins with the politician's own name. Similar to starting with a formal title, this centers the polit...

Short and Punchy Title

Whether the title is very short — under six words. Short titles create impact through brevity and often work as bold dec...

Dash Separator

Whether the title uses a dash character (hyphen, en dash, or em dash) as a separator between parts of the title. (Deprec...

Thumbnail

The visual that appears alongside your title in search results and recommendations.

Thumbnail Contrast

3 values

The visual contrast level of the thumbnail — how much the colors, brightness, and elements pop against each other. Measu...

Shorts

Thumbnail Visual Style

6 values

The overall visual composition approach of the thumbnail. Classified by AI analysis of the thumbnail image to identify w...

Custom Thumbnail

-5%

Whether the thumbnail was deliberately designed rather than being an auto-generated frame grab from the video. Custom th...

Thumbnail Clickbait Level

4 values

How aggressively the thumbnail uses clickbait tactics — exaggerated expressions, dramatic arrows, shocking text overlays...

Thumbnail Emotion

7 values

The dominant emotion displayed in the thumbnail, usually through the facial expression of the person shown. Classified b...

Face in Thumbnail

Whether the thumbnail shows a human face. Our AI analysis detects whether a face is present and visible in the thumbnail...

Shorts

Text on Thumbnail

Whether the thumbnail has text overlaid on the image. This could be a few bold words reinforcing the hook, a quote, a la...

Delivery

How the speaker comes across — tone, energy, and authenticity.

Speaker Tone

6 values

The overall emotional tone of the speaker throughout the video, analyzed from the transcript text. Captures how the poli...

Regular Shorts

Scripted Delivery

Whether the speaker's delivery is tightly scripted — reading from a teleprompter, prepared remarks, or a written script ...

Shorts

Production

Technical production choices that affect perceived quality and accessibility.

Burned-In Captions

Whether the video has subtitles or captions burned directly into the video image (hardcoded), as opposed to relying on Y...

Text Overlays

Whether the video uses on-screen text overlays beyond just captions — lower thirds, pull quotes, labels, or graphics wit...

Production Tier

5 values

How polished the video's production looks overall, identified by Gemini's analysis of the actual video frames. Captures ...

Format

Video format and structure decisions.

YouTube Short

+706%

Whether the video is a YouTube Short — a vertical video under 60 seconds. Shorts are distributed through a completely se...

Significant

Video Duration

+78%

How long the video is. We log-transform this because views don't scale linearly with length — a 10-minute video isn't tw...

Regular