A surprising new trend is emerging in online video: briefly displaying the underarms at the beginning of a clip can significantly boost viewer retention. While seemingly counterintuitive, data suggests this tactic is gaining traction among content creators, with some seeing a dramatic increase in views.
For the same creator, videos starting with an arm raised, briefly showing the underarm, garnered 2.1 million views, compared to just 12,000 views for videos with a more relaxed posture. This difference highlights the potential impact of this unexpected strategy. The phenomenon is prompting discussion about how subtle visual cues can capture and hold audience attention in the age of endless scrolling.
Ventral Display as a Retention Strategy
The underlying psychology appears to be rooted in how the brain processes visual information during habitual infinite scrolling. In the first two seconds of a video, anything that breaks the pattern and grabs attention can dramatically increase retention rates, leading to wider distribution by algorithms. Here’s particularly relevant as platforms prioritize content that keeps users engaged.
Videos that begin by showing the underarms demonstrate a higher retention rate and increased potential for virality compared to those with the same content. This isn’t necessarily due to any inherent interest in underarms, but rather two interconnected psychological factors. First, the visual cue disrupts the expected pattern. Viewers have become accustomed to neutral starting positions, so a change immediately registers. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the display signals openness, and vulnerability.
Our brains tend to respond positively to postures that indicate openness or vulnerability, making someone with arms raised and underarms visible more attention-grabbing than the same person in a closed-off, defensive posture. This is known in psychology as ventral display.
From an evolutionary perspective, we instinctively protect vulnerable areas of our bodies when we perceive a threat. The image of crossed arms as a form of body language is a well-known example, signaling fear, insecurity, and a lack of confidence, prompting a similar reaction in others.
Conversely, deliberately exposing these areas conveys the opposite, fostering trust and capturing attention that the brain finds difficult to resist. This display of vulnerability effectively acts as a soft bait, increasing video retention even without any obvious intention to provoke a response.
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