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Author Topic: Sales collapse at Istock. Are credit sales dead ?  (Read 34295 times)

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« Reply #50 on: November 28, 2015, 16:50 »
+5

I was not an iStock star - I used to refer to myself as part of the iStock middle class. Your sales numbers represent - not criticizing you or your images - a total collapse of what iStock was once able to achieve. I'm aware that without having seen the prior earnings potential, you think people talking about a collapse are just whiners, but you just don't have the basis of comparison that others do.


I agree with Jo Ann.... Istock was once a money printing machine. I arrived very late in the game but after 2 years I was already able to pull a 6 figure yearly income as many diamond contributors at that time. I understand that times have changed and the low prices of competition and some crazy prices increases in a very short time that Istock implemented drove many clients away. Oversuply might be the biggest reason of the drops but somehow the worst pill to swallow is the push to downgrade contributor royalties move after move.

If Istock drops prices to recover market share fine we are all in the puddle but why do exclusives get only a 20% at Getty if their work cannot be sold anywhere else. Why does the new monthly subscriptions sales also trend to this 20%. It I take into account who looses more with this new 1 month subscription the numbers are really disheartening of how well Istock cares for exclusives. 10 images at 2.5$ or 3 $/image lets take 2.80 as middle ground that makes 28$ for those 10 images. My average credit sale brings me 10$ so I go from 100 to 28. That is a 72% drop. Istock goes from 200$ to 99$ (converting from Euros as I cannot see prices in $), that's a 50% drop. And this if the buyer really uses his 10 images because if he doen't (and I bet a good number does not) the drop for the contributor is even more dramatic.

For me it is no longer viable to invest in any productions that costs more than a few hundreds as the time to recoup investment is just to far away. I still upload low budget shootings and some travel images, till how long....? Not much if there is no incentive to do so.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2015, 16:54 by everest »


« Reply #51 on: November 28, 2015, 16:53 »
0
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« Reply #52 on: November 28, 2015, 16:58 »
0
Nov best month this year for me.
Another newbie?

Not newbie. 2000+ images

PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #53 on: November 28, 2015, 17:05 »
+2
To the OP, yes for me subs replaced regular downloads. And that could only lead to earnings going down which, for me, they did. Back in 2012 I topped out at around 30 regular sales a day. Monthly RPI on regular sales alone was excellent.

Fast forward to 2014 with the new subs offering and regular sales had dropped to around 5 a day with around another 5 sub downloads a day. 2014 average monthly earnings were around half of 2012.

The downward trend continued into 2015. Regular sales were 1/3 of 2013. Subscription sales never even came close to making up the gap of lost regular sales. Neither did GI sales. I dropped the crown mid-year.

ShadySue

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« Reply #54 on: November 28, 2015, 17:21 »
+2
Nov best month this year for me.
Another newbie?

Not newbie. 2000+ images

Well, clearly one month will be the BMY, the question is how does it compare with previous years, esp e.g. 2011 - 13, one of which many people report as their best year on iS.

« Reply #55 on: November 28, 2015, 17:24 »
+1
Nov best month this year for me.
Another newbie?

Not newbie. 2000+ images
Since iStock removed QC, anyone can easily have 10000+ images port.  Even newbies.  ;D

So, you say this Nov is already your BMY.    How many sales?  And how many sales in Nov 2014, 2013, 2012, etc?

« Reply #56 on: November 28, 2015, 23:05 »
+3
Credit Sales are not dead, but subs are clearly growing while credits have been decreasing. When it will level off is anyone's guess. Personally my sales are on an upswing now despite being down overall from 2014. Q3 and Q4 are both up from last year.

Chichikov

« Reply #57 on: November 29, 2015, 03:18 »
0

Since iStock removed QC, anyone can easily have 10000+ images port.
Are you speaking about you?  :P
« Last Edit: November 29, 2015, 04:54 by Chichikov »

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #58 on: November 29, 2015, 05:26 »
+5
Here's some rough stats for me as an independent.

October 2015 roughly 300 purchase downloads with about 7000 images online.
October 2011 roughly 500 purchase downloads with 2000 images online

2015 0.04 dls per image as opposed to 0.25 dls per image 2011. i.e. a more than five fold decrease in sales per image.

« Reply #59 on: November 29, 2015, 14:00 »
+6
I don't know that credit sales are dead, but in my case, they are certainly very unhealthy. 

My portfolio is too small to be statistically significant (to anyone other than myself), but my impressions are ... 

1. Subs sales are trending upwards.
2. Credit sales are trending downwards.
3, Revenue is either flat or decreasing (dependent on whether Getty bails out the figures.

Overall,  I believe that subs are cannibalizing credit sales (from an anecdotal survey of image sales), and that the medium term looks uncertain enough to motivate me to look elsewhere for future revenue.

« Reply #60 on: November 29, 2015, 14:35 »
0
I've long since quit iStock and had my meager portfolio removed but am wondering how much having to purchase something called a "credit", which everyone knows can be valued at a hundred different conversion rates, has contributed to the demise of same said credit sales.

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #61 on: November 29, 2015, 15:07 »
+5
I don't know that credit sales are dead, but in my case, they are certainly very unhealthy. 

My portfolio is too small to be statistically significant (to anyone other than myself), but my impressions are ... 

1. Subs sales are trending upwards.
2. Credit sales are trending downwards.
3, Revenue is either flat or decreasing (dependent on whether Getty bails out the figures.

Overall,  I believe that subs are cannibalizing credit sales (from an anecdotal survey of image sales), and that the medium term looks uncertain enough to motivate me to look elsewhere for future revenue.
Pretty much a perfect summary of the situation.

« Reply #62 on: November 29, 2015, 17:46 »
+1
Credit sales are not dead, Credit sales are murdered. Murdered because GI wants to squeeze the lemon even further in detriment of contributors pockets. Greed murdered credit sales in IS.

Corporations exist to make money for shareholders not suppliers or workers - murder implies they're interested / care but it's more like collateral damage...

« Reply #63 on: November 29, 2015, 19:16 »
+4
Credit Sales are not dead, but subs are clearly growing while credits have been decreasing. When it will level off is anyone's guess. Personally my sales are on an upswing now despite being down overall from 2014. Q3 and Q4 are both up from last year.
Not dead yet, but getting closer.  Obviously, with a port as huge and good as yours it will take longer for credit sales to get to a critical level, but eventually they will, if the people in charge of iStock keep things as they are now.

As for subscriptions, they have grown during Q4, but nothing impressive.  iStock is far from reaching the volume needed to make it worth investing time and money in new productions that will be sold mainly/only in subscriptions.

And as for Getty sales...   ::)


 

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