Author Topic: 2012 Microstock Industry Survey - First Results (Read 17966 times)

leaf · « **on:** February 19, 2013, 08:09 »

The first results are live - you can check them out here
http://blog.microstockgroup.com/2012-microstock-industry-survey/

Veneratio · « **Reply #1 on:** February 19, 2013, 08:24 »

Many thanks for this again Tyler, much appreciated.

Interesting to see some of the figures - average earnings considerably up and full timers up also. I guess all recent occurrences will tend to show through next year and we see an even more dramatic swing toward Shutterstock world dominance!!

leaf · « **Reply #2 on:** February 19, 2013, 08:36 »

Quote from: Veneratio on February 19, 2013, 08:24

Many thanks for this again Tyler, much appreciated.

Interesting to see some of the figures - average earnings considerably up and full timers up also. I guess all recent occurrences will tend to show through next year and we see an even more dramatic swing toward Shutterstock world dominance!!

Yeah, it will be interesting to see how things develop. There have been a number of changes already this year that will affect next years results considerably.

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2013, 08:39 »

Quote from: leaf on February 19, 2013, 08:36

Yeah, it will be interesting to see how things develop. There have been a number of changes already this year that will affect next years results considerably.

Ain't that the truth

cthoman · « **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2013, 10:35 »

Quote from: Veneratio on February 19, 2013, 08:24

Many thanks for this again Tyler, much appreciated.

Interesting to see some of the figures - average earnings considerably up and full timers up also. I guess all recent occurrences will tend to show through next year and we see an even more dramatic swing toward Shutterstock world dominance!!

Yeah, it was kind of scary seeing those results. If it ever hits the fan at SS, there may be rioting and looting in the streets. But, I guess things have a way of evolving quickly in micro. I guess it makes you wonder if we did ever mobilize for real, how quickly change could be enacted?

Anyway, great survey! It's always interesting to see the results.

Sadstock · « **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2013, 14:42 »

Very interesting to me that nearly 50% of the survey respondents did not respond last year. Is that a comment on transitory participation in MSG? In the industry? Or that the respondents have short memories?

gostwyck · « **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2013, 15:20 »

Thanks Tyler for taking the time to do this. It provides an excellent overall perspective of our industry. Cheers!

Smiling Jack · « **Reply #7 on:** February 19, 2013, 18:35 »

Thanks Tyler: For taking the time to do this survey. It is interesting and helpful.
Smiling Jack

KB · « **Reply #8 on:** February 19, 2013, 20:23 »

Quote from: leaf on February 19, 2013, 08:36

Yeah, it will be interesting to see how things develop. There have been a number of changes already this year that will affect next years results considerably.

Thanks, Tyler, for doing this survey every year.

I'd have to say that these results:
Do you feel the future of microstock is positive?
Yes: 65% [69%]
No: 35% [31%]

would surely be noticeably lower just this little bit later. I hope by next year they will be back up to these numbers.

tab62 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 19, 2013, 21:06 »

Great survey Leaf! So you made over 500K last year!

Silken Photography · « **Reply #10 on:** February 20, 2013, 00:01 »

Thanks for doing this, it's really interesting.

nicku · « **Reply #11 on:** February 20, 2013, 00:42 »

Quote from: leaf on February 19, 2013, 08:09

The first results are live - you can check them out here
http://blog.microstockgroup.com/2012-microstock-industry-survey/

i have a question :

What (...) , [...] represents in the survey data??? Which one is the real average number?

''Age:

Average Age: 41.9 [42.7] (40.4)
Oldest: 86 [85] (84)
Youngest: 18 [15] (16)''

tickstock · « **Reply #12 on:** February 20, 2013, 00:51 »

enstoker · « **Reply #13 on:** February 20, 2013, 01:50 »

Great job.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:08 »

157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?

ShadySue · « **Reply #15 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:14 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 20, 2013, 09:08

157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?

Maybe they have 5000 images on iS, which might pull down the average RPI, especially if a lot were uploaded in the past six months and were hit by a brutal best match drowning, but only 25 good sellers on Alamy. Just one possibility.

Sadstock · « **Reply #16 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:29 »

Quote from: ShadySue on February 20, 2013, 09:14

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 20, 2013, 09:08
157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?
Maybe they have 5000 images on iS, which might pull down the average RPI, especially if a lot were uploaded in the past six months and were hit by a brutal best match drowning, but only 25 good sellers on Alamy. Just one possibility.

-------------------
Could also be that if you check exclusive on the survey you can't vote for highest RPI. All 87 who voted would then have been independents.

EmberMike · « **Reply #17 on:** February 20, 2013, 10:07 »

I'm among the respondents who are dependent on SS for the majority of my income. And while I generally like SS, the company, and the people, I can't help being a little nervous about the idea that I'm so dependent on one company to keep me in business. Any changes at SS that reduce my ability to earn what I'm earning today would put me out of business. It doesn't even matter what the other companies are doing.

I'm starting to feel like I'm involuntarily exclusive to SS. Not that I don't sell elsewhere, but I'm pretty much all-in with SS in terms of whether I stay in business or not. It's not unlike being exclusive with istock. You sink or swim with the company.

I'm optimistic that nothing will change at SS with regards to contributor compensation. I should be hopeful for a raise some day, but realistically I'll be content to at least just keep earning at the same rate I currently earn at.

But I still have an uneasy feeling about being so dependent on one company. And that's why I have to be optimistic about new prospects like StockFresh, Stocksy, etc.

leaf · « **Reply #18 on:** February 20, 2013, 10:21 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 20, 2013, 09:08

157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?

Exclusives are not shown the question of what agency is your best earner or highest RPI.. because we know the answer is iStock. If you were only submitting to Viscoimages they would be your highest RPI.. which is useless data to collect.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 20, 2013, 10:39 »

yep makes sense, thanks for the explanation! thanks to Sue and Sad too

ShadySue · « **Reply #20 on:** February 20, 2013, 10:41 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 20, 2013, 10:39

yep makes sense, thanks for the explanation! thanks to Sue and Sad too

Ha, Leaf and Sad were right. Mine was just a crazy hypothesis!

LesHoward · « **Reply #21 on:** February 20, 2013, 15:08 »

Quote from: leaf on February 20, 2013, 10:21

Quote from: luissantos84 on February 20, 2013, 09:08
157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?

Exclusives are not shown the question of what agency is your best earner or highest RPI.. because we know the answer is iStock. If you were only submitting to Viscoimages they would be your highest RPI.. which is useless data to collect.

There are some independents who only contribute to one agency. It might be better to restrict the question to those who contribute to multiple agencies rather than just ignoring IS exclusives. As you said the data would be useless if the contributor has nothing to compare.

The question also assumes the portfolio sizes are about the same on each of the sites compared.

leaf · « **Reply #22 on:** February 20, 2013, 15:14 »

Quote from: LesHoward on February 20, 2013, 15:08

Quote from: leaf on February 20, 2013, 10:21
Quote from: luissantos84 on February 20, 2013, 09:08
157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?

Exclusives are not shown the question of what agency is your best earner or highest RPI.. because we know the answer is iStock. If you were only submitting to Viscoimages they would be your highest RPI.. which is useless data to collect.

There are some independents who only contribute to one agency. It might be better to restrict the question to those who contribute to multiple agencies rather than just ignoring IS exclusives. As you said the data would be useless if the contributor has nothing to compare.

The question also assumes the portfolio sizes are about the same on each of the sites compared.

You are right - in the future I should allow people to answer which agency they are exclusive to. There are a few Dreamstime and Fotolia exclusives - which would end up giving shutterstock an even bigger piece of the pie for people who are submitting to multiple sites.

In regards to portfolio sizes on various sites - I feel that is a bit of a mute point. I have the RPI question to try and fish out which agencies are actually returning good $$ per image (even if people have small portfolios on that site) - such as iStock - but the overall income takes into account how hard it is to get images online. I'd be making 2x more on iStock if it was easy to get my images online (and I still wanted my images there after recent events).. but instead most of my income comes from Shutterstock where they have good earnings and it's very easy to get images online.

LesHoward · « **Reply #23 on:** February 20, 2013, 15:16 »

An interesting set of questions you might consider for next year are:

1. Which agencies did you contribute to the entire year?
2. Which agencies did you drop during the year?
3. Which agencies did you add during the year?

Mantis · « **Reply #24 on:** February 20, 2013, 15:34 »

Great data Tyler. Very informative.

PixelBytes · « **Reply #25 on:** February 20, 2013, 15:54 »

Lot of work to put all this together. Thanks a lot for doing it Tyler!

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Author Topic: 2012 Microstock Industry Survey - First Results (Read 17966 times)

leaf

Veneratio

leaf

ShadySue

cthoman

Sadstock

gostwyck

Smiling Jack

KB

tab62

Silken Photography

nicku

tickstock

enstoker

luissantos84

ShadySue

Sadstock

EmberMike

leaf

luissantos84

ShadySue

LesHoward

leaf

LesHoward

Mantis

PixelBytes

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