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Author Topic: Anybody participating Pond5 membership program? If so, how's revenue?  (Read 32680 times)

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« Reply #25 on: May 15, 2016, 11:51 »
+4
Membership program is just too bad.
No money for contributors and no money for the agency. They try to drive clients to the   site but I'm afraid they are following a wrong strategy.
I think that the real problem in P5 is the site itself. When I buy clips I find P5 a bit confusing in the search results not nice curated and presented, so I go and choose on SS or IS which I find more clear. I'm afraid they should work on the search algorithm to give a smart experience to the customer better then to try other ways to drive clients like the free footage collection or the membership program.
They are investigating different ways but they are using explosives to open those ways and it's very dangerous for everybody in the industry.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2016, 11:55 by lucagavagna »


« Reply #26 on: May 15, 2016, 13:22 »
+1
I think people who are in the membership program will of course report excellent sales, their files are pushed in the search and when the customer selects membership only they get very targeted traffic to their portfolios, they basically live inside a walled garden inside pond5.  And if they offer super high quality files for 6 dollars, of course the customers will love it.

And if an artists decides to rent out their content, by all means let them do it. But they could have offered their files for 6 dollars or 10 dollars before. So they could easily place 30% of their portfolio at 10 dollars, get paid for every individual sale and enjoy the additional traffic that cheap files bring. They would also have statistics and download numbers.

So if the membership program offered the option to be paid by download, 50% of every 6 dollar sale, wouldn they make a lot more money?

There are people on envato offering files for very low prices and they report income up to 5 times higher than on pond5 with the same portfolio.

So there does seem to be a high volume, low price market also in video.

Every artist has to decide for themselves if this is the right time to offer their high quality files for 6 dollars.

When fotolia opened the Dollar Photo Club, they did it on a different website, so that the normal fotolia business would not be affected immediatly. They also marketed DPC mostly in the US and not in Europe, which was their main Fotolia market. So they tried to work in different worlds with teh same content, testing if an ultracheap site will make them good money.

Again, I am not against renting out content to an agency. It is the combination with all the other abrupt changes that makes it weird and looks like they are just throwing stuff at a wall to see what will stick.

For those who say, we should have diversified sooner and uploaded to more agencies - well, many of us supported pond5 because we considered it a truly artist friendly place, worthy of support. And the best way to support an agency is to supply them with content first.

This is one thing the community can do - reward a good site with our content, deny content to sites that treat us badly.

The old pond5 was unique and a really well run place for people who see themselves as entrepreneurs.

The membership program is not the end of the world. It just takes time until someone else replaces pond5.

And since we all share information which agency is worth uploading to, I am sure in a few months we will know which direction to take and the contributor upload streams...and the business...will flow to a new site that wants us.

Agencies that annoy the contributor community, who are also the buyer community, dont do well.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2016, 13:35 by cobalt »

« Reply #27 on: May 15, 2016, 13:41 »
0
Maybe artists should do their own trial phase - select 30% of their portfolio, place it at 10 dollars or less for three months, see how many downloads they get and if it brings additional traffic.

After that, join the membership program, if they have the option, and see how it compares.

Is renting out better than choosing the files yourself for ultra cheap prices and getting 50% of everything?

« Reply #28 on: May 16, 2016, 03:41 »
0
.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2016, 11:15 by Pablito »

« Reply #29 on: May 16, 2016, 04:41 »
+2
my video sales on p5 have vanished since that membership scheme took off

« Reply #30 on: May 17, 2016, 01:47 »
+1
I think people who are in the membership program will of course report excellent sales, their files are pushed in the search and when the customer selects membership only they get very targeted traffic to their portfolios, they basically live inside a walled garden inside pond5.  And if they offer super high quality files for 6 dollars, of course the customers will love it.

And if an artists decides to rent out their content, by all means let them do it. But they could have offered their files for 6 dollars or 10 dollars before. So they could easily place 30% of their portfolio at 10 dollars, get paid for every individual sale and enjoy the additional traffic that cheap files bring. They would also have statistics and download numbers.

So if the membership program offered the option to be paid by download, 50% of every 6 dollar sale, wouldn they make a lot more money?

There are people on envato offering files for very low prices and they report income up to 5 times higher than on pond5 with the same portfolio.

So there does seem to be a high volume, low price market also in video.

Every artist has to decide for themselves if this is the right time to offer their high quality files for 6 dollars.

When fotolia opened the Dollar Photo Club, they did it on a different website, so that the normal fotolia business would not be affected immediatly. They also marketed DPC mostly in the US and not in Europe, which was their main Fotolia market. So they tried to work in different worlds with teh same content, testing if an ultracheap site will make them good money.

Again, I am not against renting out content to an agency. It is the combination with all the other abrupt changes that makes it weird and looks like they are just throwing stuff at a wall to see what will stick.

For those who say, we should have diversified sooner and uploaded to more agencies - well, many of us supported pond5 because we considered it a truly artist friendly place, worthy of support. And the best way to support an agency is to supply them with content first.

This is one thing the community can do - reward a good site with our content, deny content to sites that treat us badly.

The old pond5 was unique and a really well run place for people who see themselves as entrepreneurs.

The membership program is not the end of the world. It just takes time until someone else replaces pond5.

And since we all share information which agency is worth uploading to, I am sure in a few months we will know which direction to take and the contributor upload streams...and the business...will flow to a new site that wants us.

Agencies that annoy the contributor community, who are also the buyer community, dont do well.

What evidence do you have that contributor's files are favoured in the search? I'm in the membership program and experiencing my worst sales at Pond5 in 4 years.

« Reply #31 on: May 17, 2016, 01:49 »
+1
Maybe artists should do their own trial phase - select 30% of their portfolio, place it at 10 dollars or less for three months, see how many downloads they get and if it brings additional traffic.

After that, join the membership program, if they have the option, and see how it compares.

Is renting out better than choosing the files yourself for ultra cheap prices and getting 50% of everything?

I highly recommend any serious artist not to follow that advice unless they want to go bankrupt - of course they don't need me to tell them that!

« Reply #32 on: May 17, 2016, 02:08 »
+4
I'm in the membership program and my regular sales have increased since it started, not just membership clips but others as well.

Lowering prices to try and compete with membership pricing it not a good idea. I have my clips at minimum $79 after increasing them a few times. Increasing pricing did not slow down my sales.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2016, 02:10 by pkphotos »

« Reply #33 on: May 17, 2016, 04:21 »
+1
Maybe artists should do their own trial phase - select 30% of their portfolio, place it at 10 dollars or less for three months, see how many downloads they get and if it brings additional traffic.

After that, join the membership program, if they have the option, and see how it compares.

Is renting out better than choosing the files yourself for ultra cheap prices and getting 50% of everything?

I highly recommend any serious artist not to follow that advice unless they want to go bankrupt - of course they don't need me to tell them that!

Offering your files for 6 dollars in the membership program or offering them for 10 dollars per download yourself?

What is worse?

At least if you do your own trial phase, you will have sales and download data and can compare what brings in more money if you join the membership program.

Joining the membership program without doing your own test, means you are flying completly blind, because pond5 does not give you real time sales data for the 6 dollar files.

Anyone who joins the membership program is supporting a new standard of 6 dollars for high quality files.

« Reply #34 on: May 17, 2016, 04:28 »
+2
@ pokergod

Pond5 allows customers to filter the search for only membership content and also highlights all membership files with a gold star.

The rest of us dont get this privilege.

Since many customers always checkout the artist themselves, you should get a lot more traffic or eyes on your overall portfolio.

If you are not getting any additional sales, then this would make me think that the customers are indeed only interested in the 6 dollar files and ignoring anything else.

Many photo agencies have added a subs plan, and usually this meant that regular credit sales would drop down drastically for everyone.

Looks like it will be the same on pond5, except that the artist is not getting individual downloads and only a very small group of artists are part of the membership program and getting rent money.

« Reply #35 on: May 17, 2016, 04:43 »
+2
Cobalt - you're assuming all of Pond5's customers are now part of the membership program which is simply not the case. I and many others have had multiple regular sales of clips that are also part of membership. And it's not an unlimited download model - once members have used up their allowance they need to shop in the marketplace.

I'm still in two minds about whole thing and agree more data from Pond5 on how many files are being downloaded is very important!

« Reply #36 on: May 17, 2016, 04:51 »
+1
I am not assuming all customers are now membership downloaders. But pond5 is aggressively advertising membership, so they must have people converting. At 50 dollars a month it is an extremly cheap program.

But I dont know if the membership program alone is responsible for the drop in downloads.

Probably the lousy interface is also responsible. If you go to an artist portfolio it is extremly difficult to see what the artist offers. You only see a small number of clips, then you have to "click for more" and get another 5-10 clips.

If someone has thousands of files...what will the customer do?

I would give up and go elsewhere...

Maybe there are more reasons, I dont know what else the new management did.

SquirrelPower

« Reply #37 on: May 17, 2016, 07:24 »
+2
I just went to the home page for the membership plans at both Pond 5 and videoblocks and it looks to me that Videoblocks has a much better deal for the buyer, $149 for a year of unlimited downloads and their clips are updated with thousands of new clips added twice per month?.

If I am reading correctly with Pond 5 you pay $69 or $139/year and get 5 or 10 downloads per month?  Videoblocks is a way better deal for the buyer unless I am missing something.

I can't see the membership program being the reason sales at Pond 5 basically stopped, I could see it if they gave unlimited downloads for $139/year but not 10 a month. 

I also don't see almost all of Pond 5's buyers just running off all of a sudden.  I am starting to get suspicious of sales simply not being reported to the sellers and that would be so easy to do, Volkswagen did the same with emissions readings, simple software tweak to bypass certain things and Pond 5 has disabled all stats reporting since they launched the new website and have no commented on why or when or if stats are coming back.

Looking at both sites now there is no way thousands of buyers went to the pond 5 subscription program, if they wanted value they would go to videoblocks and get unlimited downloads vs 5-10 a month for basically same price.

Whatever it is it's something else I think.


SquirrelPower

« Reply #38 on: May 17, 2016, 07:29 »
0
I think people who are in the membership program will of course report excellent sales, their files are pushed in the search and when the customer selects membership only they get very targeted traffic to their portfolios, they basically live inside a walled garden inside pond5.   

One problem with one point there, many Pond 5 artists who are in the membership have also reported their sales drop by 75% vs increasing.   Everyone is down there including those in membership.  That free promotion by having their membership files being pushed to the front (if it even happens) hasn't helped, you would think it would but no.

Starting to strongly suspect the worst case scenario that sales are happening but not being passed on to the seller.

« Reply #39 on: May 17, 2016, 13:43 »
0
Well you can always ask people to do test buys or ask clients to tell you when they downloaded your content (if you know them well)

If sales are underreported, it should be very easy to see this.

« Reply #40 on: May 17, 2016, 13:59 »
+2
I occasionally buy my own clips for work/clients, and I have never seen an unreported sale this way.

I've also bought other's clips and told them, and I've never heard back saying their clip never appeared in a sales report.

« Reply #41 on: May 17, 2016, 16:21 »
+2
It is the second time that I read that once the customer runs out of the 5 or 10 cips from the membership, he has to buy them from the marketplace.
How wrong and naif is this idea? He can of course get a second membership.
A monthly download for 5 clips cost as much as purchasing a simple clip!
The only people who are still experiencing sales in the pond are artist who contributed, and apparently not all of them. This is because they get pushed up on the search, but also because not all customers have yet become aware of the crazy dumping of the membership area.
Give it a month and all sales outside the membership zone will disappear.
Give it 3 months and SS and FT will have to lower their prices to $9 per clip to survive.
Give it 5 months and p5 will be finally dead and buried

stockVid

« Reply #42 on: May 17, 2016, 16:41 »
+4
It is the second time that I read that once the customer runs out of the 5 or 10 cips from the membership, he has to buy them from the marketplace.
How wrong and naif is this idea? He can of course get a second membership.
A monthly download for 5 clips cost as much as purchasing a simple clip!
The only people who are still experiencing sales in the pond are artist who contributed, and apparently not all of them. This is because they get pushed up on the search, but also because not all customers have yet become aware of the crazy dumping of the membership area.
Give it a month and all sales outside the membership zone will disappear.
Give it 3 months and SS and FT will have to lower their prices to $9 per clip to survive.
Give it 5 months and p5 will be finally dead and buried

I disagree.

SS and FT will not have to lower their prices to survive. They are big boys compared to P5 and they can last for many years.

Stock video is still in it's early days. There's still plenty of $s to be made. Just find your niche and do quality work.

« Reply #43 on: May 18, 2016, 00:42 »
+1
It is the second time that I read that once the customer runs out of the 5 or 10 cips from the membership, he has to buy them from the marketplace.
How wrong and naif is this idea? He can of course get a second membership.
A monthly download for 5 clips cost as much as purchasing a simple clip!
The only people who are still experiencing sales in the pond are artist who contributed, and apparently not all of them. This is because they get pushed up on the search, but also because not all customers have yet become aware of the crazy dumping of the membership area.
Give it a month and all sales outside the membership zone will disappear.
Give it 3 months and SS and FT will have to lower their prices to $9 per clip to survive.
Give it 5 months and p5 will be finally dead and buried

This not true.. The membership collection is really small with many missing areas. The strange thing is the disappear of buyers.. I have 2000 clips where more than half of my collection is unique (specific to Middle east), there is no competition for me, despite that my sales dropped 60-70% since February.. my clips still at the top in the search results with no membership competition.. I wonder what's really wrong with P5 those days

« Reply #44 on: May 18, 2016, 02:29 »
+1
It is the second time that I read that once the customer runs out of the 5 or 10 cips from the membership, he has to buy them from the marketplace.
How wrong and naif is this idea? He can of course get a second membership.
A monthly download for 5 clips cost as much as purchasing a simple clip!
The only people who are still experiencing sales in the pond are artist who contributed, and apparently not all of them. This is because they get pushed up on the search, but also because not all customers have yet become aware of the crazy dumping of the membership area.
Give it a month and all sales outside the membership zone will disappear.
Give it 3 months and SS and FT will have to lower their prices to $9 per clip to survive.
Give it 5 months and p5 will be finally dead and buried

This not true.. The membership collection is really small with many missing areas. The strange thing is the disappear of buyers.. I have 2000 clips where more than half of my collection is unique (specific to Middle east), there is no competition for me, despite that my sales dropped 60-70% since February.. my clips still at the top in the search results with no membership competition.. I wonder what's really wrong with P5 those days

Feel free to ask ex CEO who is now now Executive Chairman P5.  8)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1183369148381829&set=pb.100001262668016.-2207520000.1463556295.&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1183376485047762&set=pcb.1183378451714232&type=3&theater
« Last Edit: May 18, 2016, 02:35 by KnowYourOnions »

« Reply #45 on: May 18, 2016, 03:10 »
+1
Music sales at P5 are normal (which means very good) so those buyers are still there. I'm a top seller in music with sales every day so I immediately notice drops.

However, no action regarding video/photos in a while...
« Last Edit: May 18, 2016, 04:14 by increasingdifficulty »


 

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