Before you click on a YouTube video, you'll see a thumbnail that communicates a message. Right-wing forces also take advantage of this.

More scope with strong emotions Photo: Screenshot: taz/youtube

Thumbnails are a preview of what viewers can expect from a video. At the same time, small rectangular preview images should spark enough interest for people to click on them.

The preview does not follow any fixed logic. Some of the thumbnails already have a lot of text in the preview image, others just have an eye-catching header, usually without words, or even just a meaningful image. The Tagesschau channel, for example, has mostly preview images in its iconic blue color, plus a simple title. In contrast, the American television channel Fox News has no headlines in its thumbnails, only a talking image and the logo in the lower left image. Many channels, especially those with professional agencies in the background, develop a consistent look and feel once they reach a certain size and reach.

The video behind the thumbnail can last several minutes, hours, or even a few seconds, but the first impression is created by the small preview image. The associations that emerge are also used by populist and radical forces.

This framing through thumbnails can also be seen in the German media landscape, mainly on YouTube. “AfD TV”, the official channel of the anti-democratic party, is a prime example of this. The structure of the preview images follows a clear structure: an AfD politician is presented in the thumbnail, together with a concise, mostly aggressive and hostile quote from a speech.

The colors white, red and the typical light blue of the festival predominate. For the most part, the quote only lasts a few words; certain words are underlined or highlighted. “New record debts”, “Climate ideology”, “Corona lies”, “Ukrainians return home”, “Bundestag Scholz”, “Wasteful traffic lights”, “Homeless at traffic lights”, “Remigration” – the The content , if you want to call it that, it's highlighted in color and highlighted in red.

Fight for attention

Alice Weidel's controversial speech at the end of January, in which she accused the government of hating Germany, is also presented with a striking thumbnail. “This government hates Germany,” reads the previous photo, along with a photo of the politician at the lectern. The word “hate” is oversized and takes over the image.

In the almost unmanageable mass of YouTube videos that are uploaded every day, thumbnails have to stand out even more so that the audience pays attention to the video. Preview images convey a first impression and therefore also an expectation before viewing them.

“With a thumbnail you can create a frame, that is, a frame or an interpretive perspective that guides the reception of the video,” confirms communication scientist Julia Metag. The professor of communication sciences at the University of Münster deals with political communication and knows the suggestive power of image previews.

“So if I create a certain first impression with the thumbnail, it can influence how the video is received and ranked,” says Metag. He draws particular attention to the cult of personality practiced by the AfD. Because: “In the thumbnails of right-wing YouTube channels, people are usually in the foreground.” Although party websites often focus on people, in their thumbnails AfD politicians in particular present themselves as fighters.

playing with fear

“Brandner ruins the Phoenix round,” says one thumbnail. In another, Martin Reichardt states: “It is no longer even allowed to show our flag.” Communication scientist Metag also recognizes the first protest message in the preview images: “In general, the thumbnails already show that YouTube is used here as a type of alternative media. In several texts, the miniatures mention a protest against the supposed majority opinions or the bourgeois hegemonic discourse.”

According to the communicator, the videos are seen as a corrective that aims to reveal a supposed truth and influence public discourse. Repeated references to the coronavirus are repeated on AfD TV. Politician Kay-Uwe Ziegler claims: “It was not Corona that made children sick, but their politics”, while Martin Sichert says: “We have exposed their lies about Corona.” There are no revelations or proof of the AfD's theses.

Metag emphasizes that a crucial part of the communication strategy of right-wing thumbnails is to generate fear and outrage. Strong emotions can generate more attention and therefore reach. Ultimately, these are the big drivers of clicks on YouTube: fear, disgust, indignation, and anger. With headlines like “Record new debts: traffic lights bypass the Basic Law again”, the AfD hits exactly this emotional keyboard.

Metag clearly sees populism in this. What he especially draws attention to is that the trailer images repeatedly create a contrast between citizens and elites. “This narrative, the people against the elites, is often addressed in the miniatures. “In some miniatures you can also find a characteristic of conspiracy theories, that is, that the elite has a secret plan that the actors have discovered,” says Metag.

The desire for division

Especially with the far-right milieu. Compact You can see how strongly the miniatures propagate a social divide. In a video from December last year, the title of a thumbnail reads: “The people suffer, traffic lights build palaces!”, along with a caricature of Habeck in a French aristocratic suit. An image of Cologne Cathedral in flames, along with a screaming imam in the foreground, is equally extreme. Compact Make it clear on the thumbnails what narrative they are using and what enemy they are targeting.

Metag sees many parallels in right-wing thumbnail design and communication. The preview images of right-wing channels essentially point to social division and want to address their viewers with this fear. What bothers people (traffic light politics, climate protection, refugees, religion) seems almost irrelevant. The main thing is that the preview consolidates existing opinions and radicalizes them even more.

But the focus on hate and panic is systematic. Preview images are an integral part of the right-wing media strategy. The populist presentation is ultimately a visual version of the sensationalist headline, a pictorial version of the despised clickbait headlines. This allows the right to politicize even a cadre for its own purposes.