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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: fintastique on April 01, 2009, 05:11

Title: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: fintastique on April 01, 2009, 05:11
SS 38.1%
DT 18.5% 2BME
FT 16.1% BME
BS 7.5%
IS 7.1%
123 5.7%
StockXpert 4.2%
CanStockPhoto 1.9%

Not bad overall disappointed with StockXpert
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: CofkoCof on April 01, 2009, 05:57
IS 33,86 BME, had a very bad month lasth month but it greatly recovered this month (77% up on previous month)
SS 17,60  down 20% on last month
123RF 12,48 16% up, just short of a BME
StockXpert 11,94 up 7%
DT11,88 up 10%
FT 8,95 up 25%
BigStock 3,30 up 300%
Overall 20% up on previous month.

Observations:
- IS was #1 agency for the second time for me (the first time was 2 months ago)
- SS is just going down, I'm not feeding the beast. DL wise I was to 1/4 of DL of my BME, money wise a bit less since my royalties increased
- 123rf is doing really well for me, don't think it was ever at 3rd spot yet though
- don't know why I'm not doing that great at fotolia, they just don't seem to like my images
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: michealo on April 01, 2009, 06:04
IS 100%

BME $ & DLs
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: leaf on April 01, 2009, 06:15
IS 100%

BME $ & DLs


congrats.

And don't forget to cast your votes here

http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?action=pollsvote
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: fotografer on April 01, 2009, 06:23
SS          27%  BME
FT          27%  BME
IS           24%  BME
DT         13%  BME
StockXpert         4%
BS           3%  BME
123         2%  BME without ELs

An absolutely amazing month giving me 1000$ more earnings than my previous BME  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: epantha on April 01, 2009, 06:43
Congratulations fotografer! ;D
I also had my BME with a 41% increase in sales from the previous month.
1st time all agencies did well.

IS  30%  2nd BME
SS   22%  BME
DT   19%  2nd BME
StockXpert   9%  2nd BME
FT   7%
BigStock  7%  BME
123  4%  BME
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: packerguy on April 01, 2009, 06:52
Here is some data from a newbie.  I started contributing to microstock sites in mid-January.  March was the first full month in which I had images on SS and IS.  My portfolios range in size from 52 on IS to 149 on StockXpert. Not suprisingly March was my BME on all sites.

SS     56.78%
DT     11.49%
IS        9.69%
FT       8.42%
StockXpert     4.98%
BigStock     4.86%
123RF  3.79%
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Perry on April 01, 2009, 07:03
What an amazing month! I was not expecting to see any BME's, but I had several! I earned $300 more from "big five" this month than I did my previous BME (This is with a portfolio of about 1200 images)

IS 35% BME
FT 22% BME
SS 19%
DT 18% BME
SX 6%


+some from Crestock, Bigstockphoto, 123rf, Scanstockphoto and such

Very dissapointed with SX, but still it was a bit better than last month.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: fotografer on April 01, 2009, 07:33
I'm really glad to see so many of us doing so well this month.    ;D ;D
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: epantha on April 01, 2009, 08:24
And it is really amazing that people are doing well despite the bad economy. Maybe this is a sign that things are getting better! :D
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Spectre on April 01, 2009, 08:48
Istock: 44%
SS: 19%
SX: 17%
FP: 11%
DS: 7%
123rf: 1%
Cre: 0.3%

I'm seeing a dramatic shift over the last few months.  December and January, Shutterstock was the leader, with December being BME and accounting for 47%.  January was down a little, still the leader but only 33%.  Earnings slowly eroded, but bounced back in March a little to beat Feb, but still below december & january.

Istock during that time had significant jumps. 126% earnings growth from November to December, 73% growth over previous BME (Oct).  January was another BME, although only 29% growth over previous.  However February signaled a big boost again, moving it to the best earning for the month, and 82% earnings growth from January.   March was modest growth, 37%, but given the percentage of earnings that IS is for the last couple months, a significant amount  (that 37% growth was 12% of total monthly earnings).

istock had a 4 month head start over SS, and SS passed istocks total earnings within 3 months from starting there, and was significantly leading (total earnings as of Feb 1st were almost twice Istocks.  In two months, istock took the lead back.  The conspiracy side of me thinks it's because we're coming imminently close to exclusivity eligibility ;)
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Spectre on April 01, 2009, 08:50
And it is really amazing that people are doing well despite the bad economy. Maybe this is a sign that things are getting better! :D

I suspect that given the economic issues of late, the subscription model is fading from favor and going into an on demand model.  As advertising budgets are getting slashed, they are cutting out the large per month fees when they can, and opting instead for an as needed single download model.  I've seen a significant 'shift' in earnings from shutterstock to istock, and the theory seems to fit that.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Perry on April 01, 2009, 08:54
My guess is that last few monts many advertising/web etc projects were put to a halt.
But in march everybody realised that the end of the world didn't come after all and started buying images again.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Freezingpictures on April 01, 2009, 09:29
IS 28 %
SS 25%
FT 22%
DT 15% BME
StockXpert 7.8%
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: disorderly on April 01, 2009, 09:45
SS
38%
+44%
BME
iS
18%
+18%
Ftl
11%
-6%
DT
11%
+19%
SX
7%
-18%
BigStock
6%
+101%
BME
123
3%
-19%
Cres
2%
+60%
BME
Can
.4%
-60%

Overall, an increase of 19% over February, which was my previous BME.  I'm uploading to the top seven on my list, having given up on Crestock (close enough to 100% rejections as to not matter) and CanStock (deleting anything that hasn't sold in the past two years).
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: j2k on April 01, 2009, 09:54
shutterstock: 30.1% BME (+101% from February thanks to 3 ELs)
istock: 27.6%
fotolia: 17.5% BME
dreamstime: 9.9% BME
stockxpert: 6.5%
123rf: 3.8% BME
bigstock: 2.8%

Overall a superb month +45% over February and my BME by 30%, Fotolia did exceptionally well this month except for the last week where the sales dried up. Whatever it was I suspect it will be a while before I reach that level there again.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: epixx on April 01, 2009, 09:59
All figures compared to March 2008:

SS 40%, 31% up, BME
IS 21%, 72% up, BME
DT 18%, 21% up, BME
FT 10%, 23% up
BS 4%, 7% down
StockXpert 3%, 42% down
123 2%, 24% down
FP 2%, no sales last year
Scanstock 1%, 50% up

Total: 25% up from March 2008, 12% up from February 2009

Very nice month, and close to total BME. A strong shift towards the bigger agencies, the top four representing 89% of the revenue. Interestingly, more than half of the $$ on SS was PPD and EL. A very positive development in my eyes.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: PixelsAway on April 01, 2009, 10:32
I had my big jump in February, March was a little slower. T
otal earnings went up, but not as much as I would expect.

SS (50%) - the same performance as in February, IS and DT down,
but all my smaller players (StockXpert, FT, BigStock, 123RF) up and with BME.

My detailed March earnings report (http://microstock.pixelsaway.com/microstock-photography-earnings-march-2009/).
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: lisafx on April 01, 2009, 10:50
March was a good month for me.  Only place I saw a sales decline was 123RF.  Everywhere else was up slightly on Feb.  Royalties broke down as follows:

ISP  43%
SS    15%
FOT  15%
DT    12%
StockXpert     7%
BigStock     5%
123     2%
Crestock & Canstock 1% each
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: melastmohican on April 01, 2009, 11:16
My Top 5 stays the same. SS is first as always and FT is fifth. SS was a huge disappointment this month. It was second worst month ever. On the other side DT was huge surprise, it almost beat SS. 123RF and StockXpert are getting stronger, both had best months so far. Overall earning from all sites up 68%.

   Mar       Mar/Feb
SS   34.38%   83.78%
DT   26.71%   702.63%   BME
123RF   16.10%   328.83%   BME
StockXpert   15.32%   238.96%   BME
FT   2.37%   180.63%
IS   1.70%   396.12%
YM   1.62%   
SV   1.25%   500.00%
CanStockPhoto   0.25%   200.00%
FP   0.29%   
Total      168.63%

(http://jurgielewicz.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/mar2009microstock.png)
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: arquiplay77 on April 01, 2009, 11:59
I´m very happy with my results so far, i´m a newbie, just started between mid december and mid january in the top agencies, this month i request my second payout form MY top 3 sites, but havent reach the limit in the others althougt DT and IS are olmost there.
BTW just out of curiosity, do you request payment only the end of each month or whenever you reach a certain limit?

FT:    33,7%
SS:    27,4%
StockXpert:  19%
DT:    9,7%
IS:     8,9%
..
123rf: 1%
BS:     0,3% Just started here a few days ago

cheers
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Kngkyle on April 01, 2009, 12:33
IS 20%
FT 18%
123 17%
SS 13%
DT 12%
StockXpert 8%
CS 7%
BigStock 5%

Overall up 53% over last month mostly due to ELs.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: KB on April 01, 2009, 15:55
I had a very small drop in downloads (1%) and earnings (2%) in March over Feb, continuing a downward move since a huge surge I experienced in January.

The one clear trend was an ever increasing number of sub sales as a percentage of total sales across all sites (except BigStock, which doesn't have sub sales, and SS, which has got to be one of lifes great ironies). (And I don't pay attention to IS's sub sales, since they are relatively reasonable anyway.)

IS 33% (32% Feb)
SS 23% (24% Feb)
FT 12% (10% Feb) BME
DT 12% (16% Feb)
StockXpert 9% (11% Feb)
BigStock 6% (4% Feb) BME
123 4% (3% Feb)
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: bcnewell on April 01, 2009, 21:38
FT   30% BME
IS   18%
SS   17%
P5   14%
DT   9% - lousy lately
StockXpert   4% - even worse
123   4%
Print Bus. Cards   2%
BigStock   1.5%
SV   0.5%


Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: araminta on April 02, 2009, 03:18
March was a good month for me.  Only place I saw a sales decline was 123RF.  Everywhere else was up slightly on Feb.  Royalties broke down as follows:

ISP  43%
SS    15%
FOT  15%
DT    12%
StockXpert     7%
BigStock     5%
123     2%
Crestock & Canstock 1% each

Interesting... almost exactly the same for me:

ISP 43%
SS 18%
FOT 15%
DT 12%
StockXpert 8%
BigStock 2%
123 2%


StockXpert is very disappointing while ISP is very strong: I suspect that Getty is now pushing IS one way or another and let StockXpert die slowly.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Peter on April 02, 2009, 03:24
BME

(http://i42.tinypic.com/2r60176.png)
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: gostwyck on April 02, 2009, 05:19
Here's mine for last month which was a second consecutive BME __ March 2008 figures in brackets.

ISP   37.3%  (36.6)
SS    27.9%  (29.1)
FOT  14.9%  (10.9)
DT    12.4%  (13.5)
StockXpert    5.1%  (6.2)
BigStock    2.3%  (3)

Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: null on April 02, 2009, 06:50
(http://cjoint.com/data/eenNqehzAh_earnmar.jpg)

BigStock overtaking Istock - the hare and the turtle.
SS king of the game - sprinter.
DT steady and increasing - marathon runner.
FT better than thought
"New" or renewed sites: CanStockPhoto, MP and CC dead, ZYM keeps going - the Duracell rabbit.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on April 02, 2009, 07:35
I never understand the point of these percentage threads since you can have different numbers for different amounts of time at different agencies.  You don't know the amount of royalties, the number of images added per month or anything.  I can't see how these stats are any use at all.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: null on April 02, 2009, 07:59
I never understand the point of these percentage threads since you can have different numbers for different amounts of time at different agencies.  You don't know the amount of royalties, the number of images added per month or anything.  I can't see how these stats are any use at all.

One should assume that the poster uploads the same images at all the sites around the same time,
That the ports are approximately the same,
That the port is > 500.

Your statistical noise and bias will be reduced then, but never eliminated. The use might be to pay more attention (type of images, postprocessing) to sites that underperform in comparison to the graphs of others, without neglecting the site that makes most income.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: gostwyck on April 02, 2009, 13:37
I never understand the point of these percentage threads since you can have different numbers for different amounts of time at different agencies.  You don't know the amount of royalties, the number of images added per month or anything.  I can't see how these stats are any use at all.

True enough they are not particularly reliable indicators on an individual basis, especially from those with small portfolios or few sales. However collectively they do at least give some indication as to how the total market is being shared out between agencies and which agencies may or may not be worth bothering with.

I'd assume that even exclusive contributors like yourself would find them useful for monitoring IS's overall market share?
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: sharply_done on April 02, 2009, 18:06
I never understand the point of these percentage threads since you can have different numbers for different amounts of time at different agencies.  You don't know the amount of royalties, the number of images added per month or anything.  I can't see how these stats are any use at all.

Yep, a total waste of time, even when portfolio size and dollar amounts are included.
I challenge everyone who contributed to this thread to describe how they've been able put this information to effective/valuable use.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: gostwyck on April 02, 2009, 19:30
Yep, a total waste of time, even when portfolio size and dollar amounts are included.
I challenge everyone who contributed to this thread to describe how they've been able put this information to effective/valuable use.


Challenge accepted. I use them to confirm whether or not I should upload to various agencies and general monitoring of the overall market as it affects others comparative to my own results. I'm also interested in how newbies find things too as an indication of current ease-of-entry and therefore potential future competition. It's all good as it happens.

If you do this for a living how could you not find this information interesting and useful even if you have to apply your own weighting to the various responses? If not why bother with such forums at all if you just want to live in your own bubble?

If you and Sean are not interested in such information then I challenge you to explain why you bothered to waste your valuable time clicking on the thread in the first place?
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: RacePhoto on April 02, 2009, 22:37
And it is really amazing that people are doing well despite the bad economy. Maybe this is a sign that things are getting better! :D

But be assured that for the rest of the month we'll be reading how horrible things are, how sales are down, how the search algorithms are screwing us, rejections are exploding, and how site forums are censoring us.  ::) Then at the end of the month we'll read how good things were for some people, and it's back to the whining and complaining for another four weeks.  ;D

Makes it hard to take the constant complaining seriously when people are reporting BME and climbing sales.

ps March my sales were up and so were my rejections. Some sites I saw my photos head to the last pages because they show the most sold or most viewed first. Tough nuts, everyone gets the same deal, I don't care.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Peter on April 03, 2009, 02:06
you can have BME, but not be happy with sales, because you expecte more, regarding work you put in to it...


Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: sharpshot on April 03, 2009, 02:18
And it is really amazing that people are doing well despite the bad economy. Maybe this is a sign that things are getting better! :D

But be assured that for the rest of the month we'll be reading how horrible things are, how sales are down, how the search algorithms are screwing us, rejections are exploding, and how site forums are censoring us.  ::) Then at the end of the month we'll read how good things were for some people, and it's back to the whining and complaining for another four weeks.  ;D

Makes it hard to take the constant complaining seriously when people are reporting BME and climbing sales.

ps March my sales were up and so were my rejections. Some sites I saw my photos head to the last pages because they show the most sold or most viewed first. Tough nuts, everyone gets the same deal, I don't care.

I am sure the complaining will increase going in to the summer, as that is a low point in the sales cycle.  Some people don't seem to factor that in at all.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Smithore on April 03, 2009, 04:22
march 2009: BME

SS:        32,6%
IS:        16,5%
DT:       13% BME
123RF:    6,6% BME
FT:       13% BME
BigStock:       4%
StockXpert:     13,1% BME
others  :  0,6%



Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: araminta on April 03, 2009, 13:22
I challenge everyone who contributed to this thread to describe how they've been able put this information to effective/valuable use.
As soon as IS accounts for >60% for three or more consecutive months, I may consider becoming exclusive  :)

Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on April 03, 2009, 13:32
I challenge everyone who contributed to this thread to describe how they've been able put this information to effective/valuable use.
As soon as IS accounts for >60% for three or more consecutive months, I may consider becoming exclusive  :)

Just remove 80% of your images from the other sites, and viola!  (See what I mean about these stats not meaning anything?)
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on April 03, 2009, 13:33
If you and Sean are not interested in such information then I challenge you to explain why you bothered to waste your valuable time clicking on the thread in the first place?

I don't normally read these, because I don't see what purpose they serve, so I thought I'd stick my head in to try and figure out what purpose they serve.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: eppic on April 03, 2009, 13:53
Perhaps percentages coupled with images portfolio size is more helpful:


Istock: 58% (far and away BME)  143 active images
SS: 18%  464 images
StockXpert: 13% 593 images
DT: 9% 385 images
BigStock 1% 90 images
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: sharply_done on April 03, 2009, 14:11
Perhaps percentages coupled with images portfolio size is more helpful:
...

Even if you included the total amount earned I still couldn't figure out a quantitative way to use this information to increase my sales.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: sharply_done on April 03, 2009, 14:20
Challenge accepted. I use them to confirm whether or not I should upload to various agencies and general monitoring of the overall market...

Sorry, but that hasn't convinced me - I'm looking for an answer that uses the data quantitatively, not qualitatively.
Sound decisions are based on analyzing data, not glancing at it to form a gut feeling.
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: lisafx on April 03, 2009, 14:42
I am not sure how many people actually use this information, by itself, to make decisions, but I find it helpful to keep an eye on basic trends.  Usually a picture does emerge. 

Certainly I have been told by a number of newbies that they consider % data from these threads in deciding if they should upload to additional sites and which ones. 

I have also been e-mailed for this information by many istock members over the years.  Apparently they consider the % breakdown of sales from multiple sites helpful in deciding whether to go exclusive or stay exclusive.

FWIW nearly everyone who e-mailed asking for my breakdown has opted to go exclusive on istock or stay exclusive.  I am assuming because in my case istock is such a large % of my income that they figure it isn't worth uploading to 7 or more additional sites to increase their income by 10-20%. 

Whatever the reasons are, these threads are certainly popular enough to justify continued participation in them. 

And of course I do notice that nearly everyone participates in the monthly reporting threads at istock.  In fact, Sean, haven't you started a number of them?   
Title: Re: March 2009 earnings breakdown
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on April 03, 2009, 15:08
Sure, because those actually tell you something.  You're discussing performance at one location, with the idea that generally portfolio size increases or remains the same.  You can relate one month to the next.

Just taking your total from all stores and telling what percentage came from where doesn't really say anything.

For example

IS  30%
SS  30%
DT  40%

means nothing.

IS  30% (100 images, 20 new uploads, 20 downloads, 25% last month)
SS  30% (1000 images, 200 new uploads, 200 downloads, 35% last month)
DT  40% (500 images, 100 new uploads, 140 downloads, 40% last month)

might be useful to notice that with fewer images online, and a small number of sales, IS does pretty well.  Or that DT pays better than SS.  Or that IS seems to be getting more sales this month (although a shifting of percents may not indicate that, really).