It's a known algorithm/click bait trick to put your face in the thumbnail. Videos with the creator's face is visible get more views than videos with just a voice over. It's created problems for non-white and/or "unattractive" creators because people are assholes. If I remember right, VideoGameDunkey Kong (or whatever his name is) is black and he probably got more views because he hid his ethnicity.
Probably a widespread cultural belief among youtoobers that the algo will promote the most extreme facial expressions.
The algorithm was created by an AI that's only exposure to human faces was a VHS copy of The Mask
It's a known algorithm/click bait trick to put your face in the thumbnail. Videos with the creator's face is visible get more views than videos with just a voice over. It's created problems for non-white and/or "unattractive" creators because people are assholes. If I remember right, VideoGameDunkey Kong (or whatever his name is) is black and he probably got more views because he hid his ethnicity.