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Author Topic: Video sales  (Read 33238 times)

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« on: March 17, 2016, 17:54 »
+1
Anybody uploads video to Alamy?

I had few sales in 2014, but 2015 was zero and no sales until now.

While I have up to 400 downloads per month at other agency.


« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2016, 18:29 »
+2
Anybody uploads video to Alamy?

I had few sales in 2014, but 2015 was zero and no sales until now.

While I have up to 400 downloads per month at other agency.

You have 400 dl per month elsewhere? In micro stock?

I am on Alamy and zip so far on sales, but been there only a couple of months with 1000 videos.

« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2016, 19:09 »
+2
I've had 2000 videos on Alamy since the beginning. I've sold maybe 2 or 3 that whole time. It may be too late but I wish Alamy would get serious about video. We need another good 50% commission place.

« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2016, 02:26 »
0
At the site they say you should send your footage via hard drive to the UK. Isn't there a ftp upload system for video?

« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2016, 04:26 »
+3
I'm not going to use Alamy for video until they take it as seriously as stills.  Seems far more likely at the moment that they will give up on video rather than give it a real chance.

Now would be a great time to try and get some of the Pond5 buyers.  A lot of us will stop supplying Pond5 if they continue their high rejection policy.  Buyers like new clips, they will look elsewhere, unfortunately, they wont be happy with Alamy at the moment.

« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2016, 05:51 »
0
Well i will give alamy chance to sell my videos. Crossing fingers

« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2016, 07:30 »
+1
Alamy put online my videos on October 2015 and i still waiting for first sale.

« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2016, 08:10 »
+1
That is depressing to read. I was thinking of uploading to Alamy.

Does anyone think they dont have enough content to make it interesting?

Videoblocks seems to be off to a good start and they are a completly new agency. Shouldnt Alamy have more sales than them?

We really need an alternative fair trade site for video.

But if Alamy is not commited, it will not work :(

I am still not sure what to think of the videoblocks business model, but everywhere the vibe is positive and they have growing sales and 10 days inspection times without rejections.


« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2016, 08:21 »
0
Anybody uploads video to Alamy?

I had few sales in 2014, but 2015 was zero and no sales until now.

While I have up to 400 downloads per month at other agency.

Hi Stephan,

is that on envato?

I keep reading things like: I make 500 dollars on pond5 but 2000 on envato.

I have never considered envato because their prices are so low. But pond5 now has the membership program where customers can get videos for 8 dollars or less. Maybe it is the envato market they are going after.


SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2016, 09:05 »
+1
I make $100 to $200 on Pond 5, and $1000 to $1500 Envato! One thing to note on the prices though... they're gradually in the process of rolling out 'author driven pricing' (I.e. you set your own price) across all marketplaces. If it all goes smoothly, then that will happen with video as well, probably some time this year.

I like VideoBlocks... so far, but I wonder if they'll regret the whole 100% thing at some point. I appreciate the idea is to get a whole load of content available to add value to the paid subscription model, but it'll come to the point that they have more content than they know what do with. Plus... reviewers, storage and bandwidth aren't free.   

« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2016, 09:20 »
0
Another voice for envato!

Any chance they will improve their upload system? What they have now looks like a torture tool for stock artists...:)

If they give us free pricing and have that much traffic, they will get tons of people who are now mostly on pond5 coming over to them.

It will bring file dilution, but a site with strong traffic where we can set our prices is what many people are looking for.

They also have a positive forum vibe, I was surprised when I looked around.

The changes at pond5 are an opportunity for a competitor to get in and pick up the people and the content told to go elsewhere.

Eta:

Videoblocks comes in at 100%, which is extremly generous. I dont think the community will hate them if they gradually go down, as their costs increase. 90%, then 80%...anything above 50% is fair trade. Just dont do it in one year...

As long as people see a well run site, excellent sales and good communication with artists, no overnight surprises like on pond5,  people will understand.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2016, 09:32 by cobalt »

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #11 on: April 22, 2016, 11:00 »
+1
Yeah, the upload process is a bit of a pain. I like the ability to create custom preview videos for some motion graphic items though... means I can highlight things I want to highlight, add text covering features*, usage examples, add music to make the clip a bit more engaging etc etc, but there's no real benefit for standard stock videos.

Would be good to have auto-generated previews and the like, but with the ability to override if you want to make custom ones. And you can put together packs on Envato as well, which is a nice feature. Here's an example where I've bundled a bunch of items together and used the custom preview video feature to better highlight the item...

http://videohive.net/item/marble-earth-kit/15352838 

*Although I like the simplicity of some sites where you don't even have to add a description... on such sites there's no way to highlight if your clips is seamlessly looped or contains an alpha channel, apart from adding it as keyword or making it a long and complicated title. 

« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2016, 11:06 »
0
That is very nicely done.

I dont think they should remove the options if people use them, but for normal stock video why not give people an upload system like on Fotolia or SS.

It is very easy to upload a large batch of files.

I really dont see myself going through this system every week.

And it cant be that difficult to implement a simpler system.

« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2016, 14:34 »
0
250,000 video collection at Videohive aka Envato, maximum price of $40, seeing a lot under $10. Quality pretty weak though for the most part, can't really imagine anyone that values their own work contributing there, so that makes sense.

Can anyone tell me, out of curiosity, what is the actual split is between the contributor and Videohive? At first glance it appeared to be straight-forward, but upon further reading, they seem to using intentionally deceptive, unnecessarily complicated methods in the pricing there. After "buyer fees", "author fees" and "handling fees", how much does a contributor make on a $40 sale, for example? On a $5 sale? Thank you!

« Reply #14 on: April 22, 2016, 14:39 »
+1
As a non-exclusive you get about 34-35% on Envato I think.

« Reply #15 on: April 22, 2016, 15:37 »
+2
Thanks for the answer, Blackjack.

Why can't they just be upfront and simplify their pricing and commissions like every other stock company? It just reeks of deceptive intentions.

I suppose that % is not far from Shutterstock and considerably better than iStock. But at only half the price or less of a HD video on Shutterstock, you lose the only forgivable reasoning to allow a company to take that much % of a Contributors work. Content creators would walk away with a starting maximum of $14 off a $40 MAX PRICE sale and $1.50 off a $5 sale, if that percentage is correct. If they set the pricing, wow...

I'll never understand why people upload their work to places like Videohive and iStock. Just support the good, fair companies and let the crappy ones adapt or die. It's simple math. Stop shooting yourselfs in the foot and taking everyone else the industry down with you.

« Reply #16 on: April 22, 2016, 15:50 »
0
Well the pond just got into this nanomarket, they have over 400 000 files in their membership offering, 200k of them videos. Quality much better than on videohive, including many 500 dollar files from very good artists.

They must have a reason why they want to get into the market where the customer pays 8 dollars or less.

I am sure they have crunched the numbers and decided it is worth it for them. They pay a fixed 6 dollars a year per file to the artist, basically renting it for unlimited downloads.

It is an interesting concept, but is it really worth it? And does it not train the customer that the 8 dollar file price for any level of quality is the new normal?

I understand that if they rent thousands of files from you, it will be worth it for some people. Reliable money, is reliable money.

But the customer who signs up for membership will want much more and lots of new content to keep the subscription buyers happy.

On SS I get between 6-20 dollars for a sub sale, it is pretty close to their normal rates.

Again, I am not against the membership project, just surprised that people with really very expensive files have added them.

Especially with all the boasting going on over there how much pride they take in their work and only a 500 dollar price tag makes you a REAL artist...and so on...



ETA: if people can make 10 times more on envato than on pond5, 1000 dollars instead of 100, you cant really ignore that.

Perhaps the artists that are having batches with hundreds of files rejected should try to place them on envato.

« Last Edit: April 22, 2016, 16:31 by cobalt »

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2016, 02:50 »
+2
Envato is 36% for non-exclusive, and 50 to 70% for exclusive. It starts at 50% and goes up 1% every time you sell $3,750 worth of stuff. When the author driven pricing comes in, there will be a fixed fee taken by Envato, plus a percentage. That's so they don't lose 50% of their revenue overnight, if everyone decides to drop their prices by 50% for some reason. So essentially, when the custom pricing comes in... if you drop your prices below current rates, you'll get less than 36% (or 50 to 70%). If you keep them the same, you'll make a bit less,  and if you price them higher, you'll get more than 36% or 50 to 70%.

Rough example (based on a guess at what the fixed fee will be), for a non-exclusive author, and on an $8 video....

If you set the price to $4, you'll get $0.45. That's 11.25%

If you keep it at $8, you'll get 28.12%.

If you set it to $79, you'll get $34.2. That's 43%. (60 to 84% if you're exclusive.)

After Effects templates are their main bread and butter on VideoHive, maybe motion graphics to an extent as well. Hopefully with custom pricing they can attract some higher quality portfolios to improve the offering of footage for buyers. Time will tell!

But yeah, it's not the simplest of equations!

« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2016, 11:05 »
0
Thanks for the breakdown SpaceStockFootage. I suppose you have to be an astrophysicist to figure their methods out.  :o

If they raise the prices up to match Shutterstock but with a better %, hard to argue the validity in the reasoning of contributing there. My work may not be Academy Award worthy, but it's worth more than $8.

If Alamy wasn't so stubbornly stuck in 1996 and introduced video uploading, they'd sure have a lot of Pond5 contributors eyeballing them right now. Maybe with an improved collection and focus, they'd actually be a player in the game. Missed opportunity, IMO.

Cobalt, not sure where you get your info, but your facts and theories have flaws all over them. Pond5 has 200,000 clips in the membership program, not 400,000. The $500+ contributors' best clips are not generally among them. If you re-read their forum postings correctly, they allowed alternate shots from high end shoots, not their best, all poor sellers. The membership program is totally voluntary, and the clips are offered for sale at normal price to non-membership subscribers. Seems like a smart idea for a contributor with 10,000 clips to allow 1,000 into the program and collect $500 a month on previously non-selling clips. Why Pond5 decided to start spending $1.2 million a year on renting clips for their membership program and how they plan to sustain the program and grow it, I have no idea. But it's unlike other membership programs, and is an interesting experiment.

Being a high quality producer and being part of the Pond5 membership program is not hypocritical, it's a smart business decision that's making them real money. The participation of so many bright, talented contributors kinda shows that. Pricing yourself as low as you do without the benefits of the membership perks is a terrible idea that's killing your income and bringing down the industry with it. I don't know why you're on this mission of proving otherwise, but do yourself a favor and actually read and internalize more of what people are telling you, many of whom have been doing this successfully for a long time.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2016, 11:39 by Daryl Ray »

« Reply #19 on: April 23, 2016, 11:53 »
+1
They have 400 000 files of these, 200 000 are videos.

I wrote 200k, k stands for 1000, sorry if that was confusing.

You just have to look at their membership page to see them advertising 400 000 files...

They are testing the membership program. I do think renting content is an interesting idea.

But the subscription starts at 50 dollars a month, cheaper than one single clip and what is advertised on their website means the customer pays 8 dollars or less.

They are establishing a much lower floor than they ever have and once customers are used to that, why would they want to pay more?

Most files are much more expensive at normal rates.

To keep the membership program going, they will need lots of new content.

I am not against it, I think it is worth exploring.

But the crowd on pond5 seems to idealize the 500 dollar files, why are they so comfortable with a new 8 dollar level?

Wouldnt it make more sense to ask pond5 to focus on high prices instead of encouraging them to go after subs. Very, very cheap subs...

Ill try the me,bership program, if they open it for everyone and we can send them suggestions.

But bringing subs to pond5 will change things quickly, we have seen it on all photo sites when they introduced it.

However, the flood is coming to video anyway, so maybe it is time people get used to the change.

Why are they investing all that money in renting files? Because they are expecting to make a huge profit, why else?

« Reply #20 on: April 23, 2016, 12:13 »
+1
I apologize, my mistake on 400/200,00 figures. Didn't read that far into your post. But honestly, your posts are so long and numerous that I would be here all day if I actually read them in their entirety.

But again, take a second and think about what motivates those more experienced and accomplished than you or I, that are imploring you to raise your prices.

« Reply #21 on: April 23, 2016, 13:47 »
0
Deleted, too many words...too much to read...

Lets get back to envato and if they are worth exploring as an alternative marketplace to pond5.

Maybe I should try to go through their upload process next week and get a few files up, to see for myself.

We need an alternative, a place with enough traffic and free pricing that allows us to work as sellers and where we can focus in peace on production and our own ports. No micromanaging.

Is anybody seeing any interest in taking us? Is there a community liason who might want to connect via msg?

Alamy would have been great, but if it is not to be, that is it.

But somebody out there will want us, video is a new market with great prospects and hardly any files compared to photos.

« Last Edit: April 23, 2016, 14:21 by cobalt »

« Reply #22 on: April 26, 2016, 06:46 »
0
The problem with Envato is the low prices and if everyone uploads their portfolio, sales will be diluted and none of us will make much.  When buyers find all they want for such low prices, all the other sites will be forced to follow.  I don't like the thought of selling 4k for low prices with low sales and lower commission than Pond5.  Motionelements might be an alternative to Pond5, if they don't get their act together after all the recent changes.

« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2016, 11:22 »
+1
Back on topic, we uploaded our video library to Alamy in 2012 and had 2 sales that year at $190 each!

Zip all since then, four years ago!

« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2016, 11:37 »
0
The problem with Envato is the low prices and if everyone uploads their portfolio, sales will be diluted and none of us will make much.

Correct. But it's very likely that they will introduce author pricing soon. Then I will upload.


 

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