Do you think Shutterstock will remain #1 with all the changes lately, and will Fotolia overcome them?

FL is a long way from overtaking SS but gaining ground. They could do it in a year or two.

I am not bothered really. What does worry me is if IS gains ground by undercutting the competition. There were signs sales there were increasing when I stopped uploading.  This would be a disaster for overall income as they pay so much worse and could also end in a price/ commission cutting war.

Have I mentioned stop uploading to istock?

So many people have left istock, it might seem that those left are making more money but hopefully it's just bigger slices of a shrinking cake.  If buyers continue to leave, those still using istock wont be making much in the future.

So many people have left istock, it might seem that those left are making more money but hopefully it's just bigger slices of a shrinking cake.  If buyers continue to leave, those still using istock wont be making much in the future.

They will also be stealing buyers from other sites now they can discount down to paying us 2c per dl. I already have multiple sales per month from their pp for 7 or 8c. I have to ask any independent contributor what istock would have to do for them to stop uploading if they haven't already? There's years of evidence now of the sort of company they are and the depths they will stoop to to squeeze every cent out of us. If we continue to upload there we deserve that treatment and will be getting the same from all the other agencies before too long.

FT is now #1 for me. It was inching closer and closer for months and then it finally took the top spot. It continues to improve consistently while SS fluctuates with all the changes.

Maybe SS will take back the top stop. They certainly has the potential to.

All the microstocks are slowing down it's very noticeable

Market saturation is the most likely culprit and the poor treatement of contributors so now they rely on the facotries churningout the same old stuff and a flood of poor quality from new contributors

60% right now...
well, that's exactly where my earning has been for over a year now..
or more like since they went public..
shortfall of 40% .
...which is like they expected, or promised their shareholders they get a bigger chunk of the cash
while the contributors get 60% of usual.

come to think of it, when they reduced the $75 payout to $35, it is just about that...
60%, more or less.
and when they reduced the entry criterion from 7/10 to 1/10 .. well, 7-1= 6
six off ten comes to 60 % LOL

They are yet again messing with the sort order as if it wan't  bad enough.Portfolios and new uploads disappearing and so on. Thinking about this if Adobe was clever they would force their absolute best and most downloaded and most commercial files right up front for a couple of weeks and since so many heavy contributors are unhappy with SS right now. Well who knows maybe Adobe would gain quite a bit?

Maybe buyers are fed up with buying the same old stuff ...just a thought.

SS is still number one for me, with Canva and FT nipping at their heels.  However, so far this year SS is at about 50% of last year's average, and Canva is down about 30%.  FT doubled last year compared to the year before and so far this month is looking good - still behind the other two but gaining as they drop.  Over all agencies this year is very bad so far.  I'm not expecting it to improve.

hmm, really??? so, from the right column, the increase in fotolia, envato and pond has nothing to do with ss going down 40%.
personally.  i too would not consider making bright predictions for 2017 for the others, since
as we all know, Alamy used to be shooting up into the 3rd  place awhile ago, and their
contributors were all cheering . now it's back to single digit.

i don' t think there is a migration to elsewhere by ss buyers, more that it is due to their
bolstering the inventory to gull ew shareholders that this energizer rabbit just keeps going.
iow, clients got tired of wasting their time looking past the muck flooding in the new image pages.