Thumbnail Automation

Eye-catching thumbnails. Generated for every single clip.

Longwave creates a custom thumbnail for each clip - choosing a mood-matched background, overlaying a CTR-optimized title, and rendering it ready for YouTube and X. No Canva, no Photoshop, no time wasted.

See Thumbnail Examples
Thumbnail generated: TRUMP TARIFF SHOCK

Professional thumbnails in under a minute

The AI reads your clip, picks the right emotion, chooses a template, and renders a thumbnail that would make any designer jealous.

Mood: shock

Toepassingsvoorbeelden

Thumbnails that work for every niche

📰

News & commentary

Shock and urgency backgrounds make breaking content impossible to scroll past.

🎓

Education

Authority-style templates position your clips as expert, trustworthy content.

🎙️

Podcasts

Curiosity hooks paired with bold titles pull listeners from scroll into watch.

💼

Business

Clean, professional templates elevate B2B content on YouTube Shorts.

🏋️

Fitness & coaching

High-energy templates match motivational clips that drive saves and shares.

🎭

Entertainment

Question and listicle moods match formats that consistently outperform on Shorts.

🔬

Science & tech

Curiosity-driven templates make deep-dive content compelling at thumbnail glance.

🏠

Lifestyle

Warm, clean templates suit home, cooking, and travel content perfectly.

Wat je krijgt

What makes Longwave thumbnails different

Mood-matched backgrounds

Six mood categories - urgency, curiosity, authority, shock, question, listicle - are matched to each clip's emotional tone. The right background doubles CTR.

AI-generated thumb titles

A separate AI prompt generates a 3 - 6 word ALL-CAPS title optimized for thumbnail readability - deliberately different from the video title, designed to tease and intrigue.

Impact font with bold outline

White Impact text with a 10px black stroke is readable on any background at any screen size - the same technique used by every top-performing Shorts creator.

Platform-specific dimensions

YouTube Shorts thumbnails are 1080×1920. X thumbnails are also generated at the correct aspect ratio. Both are rendered and uploaded automatically.

Custom template library

Upload your own branded background templates in the Thumbnail Designer. Your brand, your colors, your style - AI handles the text overlay.

Zero designer required

The full pipeline - mood detection, template selection, title overlay, upload to YouTube - runs automatically for every clip you generate.

Hoe het werkt

From clip to published thumbnail

01

Mood & title detection

The AI analyzes the clip's transcript to assign a hook_type (one of 6 moods) and generate a thumb_title - 3 - 6 words in ALL CAPS designed to maximise curiosity and CTR.

hook_type: curiosity | thumb_title: WHY EXPERTS WERE WRONG
02

Template selection & render

A background template tagged with the matching mood is chosen from your library. The thumb_title is overlaid in Impact font at the vertical center of the frame. The final PNG is saved locally on the worker.

Thumbnail rendered: 1080×1920
03

Upload to platform

For YouTube: the thumbnail is uploaded via the YouTube Data API after the video is published. For X: the thumbnail is burned in as a 1-second first frame (X has no custom thumbnail API).

Thumbnail live on YouTube

Flexibele werkwijze

Auto thumbnails or your own brand templates

Full automation with default templates, or upload your own designs and let AI handle the text.

Fully Automated

Auto Mode

Thumbnails are generated and published for every clip without any action from you.

  1. 1AI detects mood and generates thumb title for each clip
  2. 2Matching background template is selected from the library
  3. 3Thumbnail is rendered with Impact font title overlay
  4. 4Uploaded to YouTube automatically after video publish
Your Brand Templates

Custom Mode

Upload your own branded backgrounds and control how the AI styles titles on them.

  1. 1Upload background templates in the Thumbnail Designer (tag each by mood)
  2. 2Configure font size, position, and color to match your brand identity
  3. 3Preview AI-generated titles on your templates before processing
  4. 4Approve the look - all future clips use your branded templates automatically

Waarom Longwave?

Longwave versus Opus Clip

Bij prijsstelling op basis van gebruik betaal je $0,20 per gepubliceerde Short - meer niet. Geen abonnementen, geen limieten, geen verrassingen.

Functie
Langgolf
Opus Clip
Prijsmodel
Vergoeding per gepubliceerde Short ($0,20)
Maandelijks abonnement ($19 - $199/maand)
Clips per $1
5 clips per dollar
0,25 - 2 clips per dollar
Maandelijks maximum
Geen - je betaalt alleen voor wat er daadwerkelijk wordt gepubliceerd
Maximumlimiet op basis van het abonnementsniveau
Automatisch publiceren op X
Ja - volledige X/Twitter-pijplijn
Niet ondersteund
Automatisch opladen
Configureerbare aanvulling van het saldo
Nee
Geplande publicatie
Primetime-tijdvakken per platform
Alleen handleiding
Monitoring van afspeellijsten
Elke nieuwe upload automatisch verwerken
Handmatige activering
Aangepaste overlays
Ontwerper van complete huisstijlen
Alleen sjablonen op lagere niveaus
Toegang tot de API
Ja - programmatische generatie van fragmenten
Alleen voor bedrijven

Veelgestelde vragen

Heb je vragen?

Great content deserves great thumbnails.

Stop publishing clips with autogenerated screenshots. Every Short deserves a thumbnail that makes people stop and click.

$0,20 per gepubliceerde Short · Geen abonnement · Op elk moment opzegbaar