Ken Abroad

🔴AI THUMBNAIL UPDATE🔴

Thanks a lot to everyone who commented on my previous community post regarding the use of AI thumbnails here on the channel. I read every single comment and have been thinking a lot about it in the past days.

I agree with many of you who said that my channel is all about showing my authentic and raw travel experiences and having highly edited AI thumbnails would contradict that. I agree that the thumbnails should represent the authentic style of my videos.

To be honest I was never a huge fan of using highly edited/AI thumbnails. But from a creator’s perspective I also know how important thumbnails are for getting views and reaching new viewers. And based on my experiences and the A/B tests I’ve done (YouTube lets us A/B test different thumbnails), the more edited thumbnails often perform better.

But your comments made me think about it again and I now decided to go back to the style that I used in the past two years with a real photo of me in the thumbnail that is not highly edited or photoshopped. It just represents my videos better and even if I lose out on a few more views, I am okay with that. It feels better to have thumbnails that reflect my video style, without adding unnecessary drama. It is also better for the long-run of this channel I believe.

As a creator who wants to grow it is always important to experiment and try new things. I have done this constantly over the years. I tested for example different video formats, different intro style, different titles, different video lengths, and also different thumbnail styles before. I will also keep experimenting with new things in the future. The new thumbnails in the past weeks were a test. Not every test will be a success, but that is okay. That’s how you learn and improve.

One argument I would still like to address though is the "using AI thumbnails is lazy" one. I think some people imagine that creating these AI thumbnails is as simple as typing "Hey chatgpt, create a Fiji thumbnail for me” and that’s it. But it is actually quite the opposite.

Creating these thumbnails takes a lot more work than using a screenshot from the video. You have to develop the concept first, try several different prompts and AI tools, make adjustments (AI never gets it right on the first try😅), then edit the image and put everything together, then adding me etc. It’s a much longer process. So, it was definitely not a "being lazy" decision. It was simply an attempt to improve the thumbnails and reach new people.

Anyway, thank you very much for your feedback. I really appreciate it and I value every one of you who takes the time to watch my videos and share your thoughts.

At the end of the day, I simply want to create authentic travel videos from cool places around the world that you enjoy watching. I think I went a bit too far with the recent thumbnails, so I am going back to the style that has worked well for this channel over the past years.

Next video will be up on Friday. It will be from Samoa. See you in the comments there 🙏

Ken

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 2,151

Ken Abroad

🔴AI THUMBNAIL STATEMENT🔴

I have noticed the negative comments under my recent videos regarding my use of AI in my thumbnails. I hear you and I appreciate your honest feedback and I would like to explain why I used AI and also ask you, my community, something about it.

First of all, a thumbnail has one job and that is to make people click on a video. As a content creator, I always try to improve and reach new people with my videos. And if you want to improve, you have to try out new things. That's what I have been doing with my recent thumbnails. From my experience as a creator, I believe these edited thumbnails are more eye-catching and have a better chance of getting new viewers to click on my videos.

But at the same time, I also understand where many of you are coming from. A lot of you have been watching my videos for years and I know that you appreciate the natural and authentic side of my videos.

I always try to show my real and authentic experiences of being a tourist in different places around the world. And I think many of you therefore also want my thumbnails to look natural and authentic, because that's what my videos are all about.

So now I'm in a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, I believe the edited/AI thumbnails are better at reaching new people but on the other hand, the more natural thumbnails represent my videos better and are what some of my regular viewers prefer.

What I would really like to understand is why some of you feel so strongly against AI/edited thumbnails. For example, there are other travel creators that I watch who use AI thumbnails and personally, it has never bothered me. So I'm genuinely trying to understand your perspective.

Having an AI thumbnail doesn't mean that my videos are suddenly AI or fake. They are still my real travel experiences, just like they have always been. And at the end of the day, I hope it's the actual video that matters most.

I am really curious about your feedback here, I am genuinely trying to get a better understanding of your opinions on this. I want to keep growing this channel and reach new people, but I also don't want to ignore the people who have been here for years.

I will give this some thoughts and see how I can approach thumbnails differently in my upcoming videos.

Thank you for being part of my journeys and for caring enough to share your honest thoughts. I really appreciate you🙏

Ken

3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,680

Ken Abroad

My 2nd video from Sydney is already out now instead of Friday 🙏🇦🇺

1 month ago | [YT] | 1,416

Ken Abroad

New vlog is online now 🙏 We are kicking off the new series with my arrival in Sydney. Enjoy the first episode of the Oceania series 😊

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/f-6mi7i-Cls?si=1cnhz...

1 month ago | [YT] | 1,595

Ken Abroad

This Friday, a new series drops here on the channel🌏We are heading to a part of the world we’ve never explored before in my videos✈️

Over the next few weeks, we will visit 5 different countries, some of them are super remote 🏝️

The first video drops this Friday, and the journey continues all through October. Can you guess where we will go? 💪

1 month ago | [YT] | 1,377

Ken Abroad

Today, 7 years ago, I posted my first ever video here on YouTube.

Back in August 2019, I was doing an exchange semester in Bangkok and started filming some vlogs just for fun. I mainly wanted to have something I could look back on one day and remember that time of my life.

I had absolutely no idea where this would lead.

I never expected people from all over the world to watch these videos. I never expected this channel to grow to almost 700,000 subscribers. And I definitely never imagined that one day I would be able to make a living from traveling, creating videos and building an entire business around something that started as a hobby.

Seven years later, I'm still here, still traveling, still filming and still excited every time I get to explore somewhere new and share it with you.

But none of this would have happened without you.

Whether you've been watching since those early Bangkok videos or you only found the channel recently: Thank you for watching, commenting, sharing the videos and allowing me to keep doing this.

Sometimes I look back at that first video and wonder what Ken from back then would think if I told him where this little travel vlog would eventually take him.

What a crazy 7 years it has been. Thank you for being part of this journey ❤️

And we're not done yet. 🌍

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2 months ago | [YT] | 3,010

Ken Abroad

I made it to Toronto, Canada. My first time in Canada. You can watch my arrival video here: https://youtu.be/W8NpNsEFNwo

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,203

Ken Abroad

USA trip is over - USA Q&A 🇺🇸

I will do a Q&A about my time in the USA on my 2nd channel "Ken Abroad Life". Let me know all the questions you have about my time and my experiences there down below ⬇️

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,094

Ken Abroad

There is no video here this week but I just released a video from Cedar Point, Ohio on my 2nd channel. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/uzYKzXdfbdo?si=xVV4t...

New video here on the main channel will be out next Friday (from a new country)🙏

2 months ago | [YT] | 999

Ken Abroad

Rural USA vlog 🇺🇸

Many of you asked me to leave the big cities in the USA and travel into rural USA to really experience the country. So I did rent a car and started a road trip. It was a trip full of surprises and also some challenges 😅

You can check out my vlog about it here: https://youtu.be/TVX9Cf5q5Lk

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,492