title Factor

Question Mark

Whether the title ends with or contains a question mark.

Questions in titles create a knowledge gap the viewer wants to close — they literally cannot know the answer without watching. This is one of the highest-correlation title features in political YouTube data, even controlling for the underlying framing-type classification.

Regular Videos

+66%

trend only

Shorts

+25%

trend only

Top 10% Video

+101%

solid pattern

Average Video is the effect on a typical video. Top 10% Video is the effect on the videos that broke out (top decile of views) — so you can see whether a factor helps most videos a little, or pushes the top performers much higher.

When present

The title is or contains a question.

Videos with this factor

“How Many Have to Die?” Jasmine Crockett Confronts GOP Over Iran Jasmine Crockett

349K views

What’s going on with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act? Maggie Goodlander

25K views

Trump wantx to give the richest 0.1% a $300,000/year tax cut. And for the rest of us? Breadcrumbs. Pramila Jayapal

7K views

Asking Republicans: What Does Woke Mean? Mazie Hirono

2K views

Promises made, promises broken again and again and again. When will this Administration lower costs? Marcy Kaptur

1K views

When absent

The title is purely declarative or imperative.

Videos without this factor

Ted Cruz’s hearing on his latest conspiracy theory was textbook projection. Sheldon Whitehouse

174K views

Ossoff on Gabbard at FBI Elections Raid: "Much of the American public are quite reasonably alarmed." Jon Ossoff

10K views

The truth about the cost of the war with Iran. Adam Smith

3K views

Alex Pretti was an American hero, and Stephen Miller is a domestic terrorist. James McGovern

2K views

WE NEED TRANSPARENCY Mike Thompson

1K views