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Author Topic: Sept 2014 Microstock Earnings Breakdown  (Read 10656 times)

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stock-will-eat-itself

« Reply #25 on: October 01, 2014, 17:44 »
+2
Compared to previous September:

2013: DL -35%  $ -38%

2012: DL -43%  $ -43%

2011: DL -71%  $ -62%

2010: DL -85%  $ -72%

2009: DL -87%  $ -54%

2008: DL -92%  $ -57%

iStock Exclusive. Standard downloads.

Even if you included Getty sales (presuming around 20-30% of your port goes to Getty) I would say you now are at parity to indy earnings.

iS are at a pivotal moment now, they need to turn this around with some urgency before they make SS a runaway train that will eat into not just iS but Getty as well.

If they are not careful Yuri will be the only exclusive they have left.


« Reply #26 on: October 01, 2014, 18:15 »
+10
Compared to previous September:

2013: DL -35%  $ -38%

2012: DL -43%  $ -43%

2011: DL -71%  $ -62%

2010: DL -85%  $ -72%

2009: DL -87%  $ -54%

2008: DL -92%  $ -57%

iStock Exclusive. Standard downloads.

Even if you included Getty sales (presuming around 20-30% of your port goes to Getty) I would say you now are at parity to indy earnings.

iS are at a pivotal moment now, they need to turn this around with some urgency before they make SS a runaway train that will eat into not just iS but Getty as well.

If they are not careful Yuri will be the only exclusive they have left.

IS can't "turn this around". No chance whatsoever. With their latest move all they've achieved is to alienate most of their blog-post buyers. This is the internet age and to win you absolutely have to have momentum and be leading from the front.

All Istock appear to be doing is to try and turn themselves into a piss-poor version of SS. No vision there at all.

SS is run by a full-on, highly-skilled entrepreneur, with his own money at stake. In contrast IS is being run by various staff managers who get drafted in and then sacked or moved on every 18 months or so.

It is utterly laughable that Istock, from the position they have put themselves in, could even tread water from this point let alone actually grow the business. Almost every USP they once had has been abandoned in favour of trying, very badly, to copy SS. It isn't going to work.

There is one potential thing that they could do to right the ship ... and that is to restore the original canister-based royalty rates. That, more than anything else, would actually help their bottom-line. Unfortunately TPTB are not bright enough to understand that and how vital the relationship with the contributor actually was to the success of their business. It was the RC debacle that destroyed IS and it is only the restoration of the original royalty structure that will help them.

KB

« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2014, 19:03 »
0
Compared to previous September:

2013: DL -35%  $ -38%

iStock Exclusive. Standard downloads.
For me, my DLs were down 46% and $s down 47% compared to Sep 2013.

Just brutal.


« Reply #28 on: October 02, 2014, 00:30 »
0
I am not a professional by any mean and I have just moved back to microstock. I started in 2008 but haven't uploaded anything since. The market is very different now and as we all know saturated in certain areas. Still with portfolios around 150-250 photos I did better than what I expected.

Fotolia is the big surprise for me. First place by a big margin. SS second. IS, DT, 123RF down at the bottom. Can't make any comparisons as this is my first month back at it, but still feels good to have a few sales. :)

« Reply #29 on: October 02, 2014, 00:58 »
+1
Shutterstock gave me 58% of my income this month - it's starting to be a scary majority.. but nice they are doing so well.

Earnings overall are pretty flat, higher than last year but so is the size of the port.  RPI is quite a bit lower than it has been in the past, but I haven't uploaded much in the last 6 months so I have only myself to blame for that. :(

« Reply #30 on: October 02, 2014, 03:55 »
+1
Compared to previous September:

2013: DL -35%  $ -38%
2012: DL -43%  $ -43%
2011: DL -71%  $ -62%
2010: DL -85%  $ -72%
2009: DL -87%  $ -54%
2008: DL -92%  $ -57%

iStock Exclusive. Standard downloads.

Interesting... if I do a similar calculation, I get:

2013:   $ -31%
2012:   $ -28%
2011:   $ -47%
2010:   $ -29%
2009:   $ +16%
2008:   $ +86%

base iStock sales only + ELs, as I don't separate those out;  but, if I include PP, GI etc. for the previous month in each case, as those are paid a month in arrears, I get:

2013: $    -7%
2012: $ +11%
2011: $  -19%
2010: $  +11%
2009: $  +83%
2008: $  +197%

Not sure what that tells us, other than what we already know, i.e. that Getty are trying to shift sales from iStock to their other outlets, but there it is.

If only they could add the other sales without losing the existing ones, I'd be a lot happier...

« Reply #31 on: October 02, 2014, 09:26 »
+4
There is one potential thing that they could do to right the ship ... and that is to restore the original canister-based royalty rates. That, more than anything else, would actually help their bottom-line. Unfortunately TPTB are not bright enough to understand that and how vital the relationship with the contributor actually was to the success of their business. It was the RC debacle that destroyed IS and it is only the restoration of the original royalty structure that will help them.

Well said!  The RC change wasn't the only problem but it certainly soured contributors.  Admitting that was a bad idea and restoring to the way it was would help a lot from the contributor side.  SS so far hasn't messed with their levels and it seems to be pretty sustainable there.

« Reply #32 on: October 02, 2014, 09:47 »
0
I had a very solid month, especially at Shutterstock.

« Reply #33 on: October 02, 2014, 15:43 »
0
SS - average to good
DT - average to poor
FT - very good, pushed SS for a while
123 - poor
IS - who knows until PP comes in
AM - single sale making them #2 for the month and producing an overall BME

« Reply #34 on: October 02, 2014, 15:54 »
+14
SS - King Kong
FT - Mighty Joe Young
IS - Tarzan
BS - Cheetah the Chimpanzee
DT - Baboon
123RF - Monkey puppet with cymbals

« Reply #35 on: October 02, 2014, 22:44 »
0
SS - King Kong
FT - Mighty Joe Young
IS - Tarzan
BS - Cheetah the Chimpanzee
DT - Baboon
123RF - Monkey puppet with cymbals

All time best report ever!  ;D

« Reply #36 on: October 03, 2014, 12:34 »
+1
From my peak, I'd say about 1/6, from a more normal average, probably about 1/4.  As I've said before, a lot of that came from the Agency collection sales, which wouldn't be there now.  Add that to all the recent drops I read of though, I'm guessing I'm doing about 1/2 of what I'd currently make if still exclusive.  Who knows.

nice 2 hear u r getting back there, SLP.
it's reading things like this from SLP that makes me feel how IS eff-up bigtime. how could u screw it up when ur agency was doing so well?
like most businesses that went under, greed kills the golden goose.

« Reply #37 on: October 03, 2014, 18:58 »
0
SS: +265% over Sept 2013 (2nd BME there, BMY)
DT: Same as Sept 2013 nearly to the dollar.
iS: -50% (using last month's PP, otherwise, even worse)
Alamy & my own site: OK sales on both with additional zooms and inquiries which I hope mean October has some promise. Trying to stay positive.

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #38 on: October 05, 2014, 04:41 »
0
Are those with strong FL results opted into DPC? I've seen my sales drop with FL and am opted out.

I don't want to derail the thread, but am interested to know how it's working out for those who stayed opted in.

stocked

« Reply #39 on: October 05, 2014, 05:49 »
+3
I'm opted out and deleted several thousands files and my earnings are still stable (actually a little up)

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #40 on: October 05, 2014, 09:50 »
0
I am not entirely uncomfortable with the thought of FL making up less of my income, same with DP who I've stopped uploading to.

Just wanted to hear how others are doing. Great to hear that you don't have to be opted in to do well.

« Reply #41 on: October 06, 2014, 00:40 »
0
Compared to August, which was BME I am down by 37%, compared to last September I am up 56%

Stocksy - 68% (-51% from August, +245% from Sep 2013)
SS - 15% (+76% from August (which was really slow), -6% from Sep 2013)
DT - 10% (+114% from August, +78% from Sep 2013) - DT is really picking up for me this year
FT - 7% (+6% from August, -51% from Sep 2013)

overall - and thanks to Stocksy - my Stockyear is going rather well. Revenue up by 127% - I am going to have a BYE - but given that I am generally speaking a low earner this is probably not saying much.  :)


 

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