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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: weathernewsonline on November 11, 2015, 22:46

Title: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 11, 2015, 22:46
I just came across this while Google searching http://stormchasingvideo.com/content/stock-footage-rate-card (http://stormchasingvideo.com/content/stock-footage-rate-card)

I happen to have a lot of severe weather, car crashes, environment, campus life clips,  a LOT.   Anyone actually pay those rates and if so.....I'm raising my prices on P5 :)

Seriously tho....thoughts? 
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on November 11, 2015, 23:04
Considering they don't know how to use apostrophes, I wouldn't put too much "stock" in it (and it's three years old).
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: thepokergod on November 11, 2015, 23:40
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 11, 2015, 23:56
Considering they don't know how to use apostrophes, I wouldn't put too much "stock" in it (and it's three years old).
Not sure about the connection between apostrophes and stock? Its an unusual analogy, I cant see what difference it make's.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on November 12, 2015, 08:09
Considering they don't know how to use apostrophes, I wouldn't put too much "stock" in it (and it's three years old).
Not sure about the connection between apostrophes and stock? Its an unusual analogy, I cant see what difference it make's.

Lol, just my pet peeve.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 12, 2015, 08:16
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Thanks, so maybe a price adjustment is in order at least for the weather stuff, not all of my weather content is award winning of course but my winter weather and my traffic gridlock clips are the best sellers followed by campus life.

In general maybe it is time to raise prices and move into a different space as my current low prices don't seem to be attracting the volume of sales needed.   I love the pricing debates but only when backed up by stats, would love to see some stats from other producers on this as well. 

Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 12, 2015, 11:04
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Thanks, so maybe a price adjustment is in order at least for the weather stuff, not all of my weather content is award winning of course but my winter weather and my traffic gridlock clips are the best sellers followed by campus life.

In general maybe it is time to raise prices and move into a different space as my current low prices don't seem to be attracting the volume of sales needed.   I love the pricing debates but only when backed up by stats, would love to see some stats from other producers on this as well.
You need to at least be somewhat proactive in this. You can't wait for others to blaze the trial. You can easily change the price of 50% of your weather clips from $58 to $158 and it doesn't matter which 50%. Then come back and give a general report on your bottom line.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 12, 2015, 11:29
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Thanks, so maybe a price adjustment is in order at least for the weather stuff, not all of my weather content is award winning of course but my winter weather and my traffic gridlock clips are the best sellers followed by campus life.

In general maybe it is time to raise prices and move into a different space as my current low prices don't seem to be attracting the volume of sales needed.   I love the pricing debates but only when backed up by stats, would love to see some stats from other producers on this as well.
You need to at least be somewhat proactive in this. You can't wait for others to blaze the trial. You can easily change the price of 50% of your weather clips from $58 to $158 and it doesn't matter which 50%. Then come back and give a general report on your bottom line.

I agree, might be doing it tonight when I get back from covering the wind storm in Ontario, I just did a Google search and there are so many sites now offering free HD and 4k stock footage so those who have low to no budgets are going to source out the free or near free clips so maybe I do need to focus on clients with larger budgets.

I'd leave my prices as is if volume increased dramatically but it hasn't, it's still at that slow-steady walking pace.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 13, 2015, 07:42
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Oh this gets hard now!,  just yesterday morning I was ready to pull the trigger on a major price change, time to take all prices up to the $200 -$299 range, came home last night beyond exhausted and didn't get to it, wake up this morning to a whole lot of P5 sales at the old low price after a week long slump.  So this morning guess who is going for a haircut to remove traces of grey instead of changing prices?.

Seriously though, I think it is time for everyone to get back to business and change the model from race to the bottom to a race upwards, like why are we all competing to have the lowest prices?, wish the oil companies did that but they don't and for a reason.....profit and sustainability of their business.  We all need to think about that and give it a try.  There is still the free stuff out there for the low to no budget producers so no need to feel guilty.

A price change is a coming.....now watch me get like 1000 sales a day through the weekend at the old price.   Can't win!



Thanks, so maybe a price adjustment is in order at least for the weather stuff, not all of my weather content is award winning of course but my winter weather and my traffic gridlock clips are the best sellers followed by campus life.

In general maybe it is time to raise prices and move into a different space as my current low prices don't seem to be attracting the volume of sales needed.   I love the pricing debates but only when backed up by stats, would love to see some stats from other producers on this as well.
You need to at least be somewhat proactive in this. You can't wait for others to blaze the trial. You can easily change the price of 50% of your weather clips from $58 to $158 and it doesn't matter which 50%. Then come back and give a general report on your bottom line.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 21, 2015, 09:31
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Quick update here:
I don't have proper stats for you yet but I did make the play this week, there is a 3 day delay before you see the sales results at the new price so I only have data from Thursday and Friday since I adjusted prices Monday morning but lets just day the price experiment will be continuing. Sales are happening at the new price. I am cautiously optimistic.

I think it's time for everyone to treat it as a business and as if it was a physical product and raise prices reasonably so we not only cover all costs of making the product and make profit.  We are not a charity but so many are acting as if we are, we are not.  In my case I am using three main sites, all have different price points which does help to not exclude the clients with smaller budgets. 




Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Mantis on November 21, 2015, 09:43
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Quick update here:
I don't have proper stats for you yet but I did make the play this week, there is a 3 day delay before you see the sales results at the new price so I only have data from Thursday and Friday since I adjusted prices Monday morning but lets just day the price experiment will be continuing. Sales are happening at the new price. I am cautiously optimistic.

I think it's time for everyone to treat it as a business and as if it was a physical product and raise prices reasonably so we not only cover all costs of making the product and make profit.  We are not a charity but so many are acting as if we are, we are not.  In my case I am using three main sites, all have different price points which does help to not exclude the clients with smaller budgets.
One of the things I do is when a clip is downloaded two more more times I bump up the price (on P5).  I have one that sells fairly regularly and i have been successful at bumping its price up by $30. Similar with other clips of mine.  One has to be careful, though.  A commodity clip will not be able to compete at higher pricing.  The clip must have uniqueness to it like JJNEFF's Niagara Falls footage. A video of a beach will generally have hundreds if not thousands of choices unless it isa a very specific beach with very few clips of it. I have one of those in HD but will be going back to re-shoot it in 4K latter in December.

edit: I don't know why I cannot post outside of someone elses quote.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on November 21, 2015, 10:52
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 21, 2015, 13:08
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: gcrook on November 21, 2015, 13:13
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.

Lol i had my BME from selling mostly hd at 4K prices.
Which at least for me proves how relevant 4K is for today's needs, and also how much i care for all those scenarios where 4K will be the next hd bla bla bla.
Prices dont need 4K as an excuse to go down.There are better and more effective ways and we are experiencing them as we speak.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 21, 2015, 14:12
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.

Lol i had my BME from selling mostly hd at 4K prices.
Which at least for me proves how relevant 4K is for today's needs, and also how much i care for all those scenarios where 4K will be the next hd bla bla bla.
Prices dont need 4K as an excuse to go down.There are better and more effective ways and we are experiencing them as we speak.
Someone decided years ago that photos should be sold like potatoes, but instead of by the pound, it was by the pixel, with little regard to the value that image (or clip) produced for the end user. The reality is, even at several hundred dollars per clip, if the end user doesn't have to shoot it himself and it fills his need, then the price is cheap.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: gcrook on November 21, 2015, 14:24
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.

Lol i had my BME from selling mostly hd at 4K prices.
Which at least for me proves how relevant 4K is for today's needs, and also how much i care for all those scenarios where 4K will be the next hd bla bla bla.
Prices dont need 4K as an excuse to go down.There are better and more effective ways and we are experiencing them as we speak.
Someone decided years ago that photos should be sold like potatoes, but instead of by the pound, it was by the pixel, with little regard to the value that image (or clip) produced for the end user. The reality is, even at several hundred dollars per clip, if the end user doesn't have to shoot it himself and it fills his need, then the price is cheap.

I agree but the thing here is that the creator of the clip doesn't come in direct contact with the end user so we never know how much that fills his needs so we can negotiate it further.We mostly speculate (if we have the means to set a price for example)
So we leave it to others to determine for us how big is that need, with very "interesting" results most of the times.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 21, 2015, 20:24
Rare footage of hurricane eyewalls, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, car crashes in blizzards etc can easily fetch $50 USD or more per second for broadcast. In Pond5 pricing I find $299 is the sweet pricing spot since that equates fairly roughly to $50/s given buyers rarely use a shot for longer than 6 seconds.

Anyone can shoot campus life and general environment footage so that won't command nearly as high a price - too much competition.

Quick update here:
I don't have proper stats for you yet but I did make the play this week, there is a 3 day delay before you see the sales results at the new price so I only have data from Thursday and Friday since I adjusted prices Monday morning but lets just day the price experiment will be continuing. Sales are happening at the new price. I am cautiously optimistic.

I think it's time for everyone to treat it as a business and as if it was a physical product and raise prices reasonably so we not only cover all costs of making the product and make profit.  We are not a charity but so many are acting as if we are, we are not.  In my case I am using three main sites, all have different price points which does help to not exclude the clients with smaller budgets.
One of the things I do is when a clip is downloaded two more more times I bump up the price (on P5).  I have one that sells fairly regularly and i have been successful at bumping its price up by $30. Similar with other clips of mine.  One has to be careful, though.  A commodity clip will not be able to compete at higher pricing.  The clip must have uniqueness to it like JJNEFF's Niagara Falls footage. A video of a beach will generally have hundreds if not thousands of choices unless it isa a very specific beach with very few clips of it. I have one of those in HD but will be going back to re-shoot it in 4K latter in December.

edit: I don't know why I cannot post outside of someone elses quote.

I did try that once and for some reason it didn't work for me....maybe I didn't try hard enough.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 21, 2015, 20:38
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.

I feel the same way but I am starting to see a lot of well priced 4K on the P5 artists resources page so maybe it will take.  It would be nice to offer the content to customers in both HD and 4K but it's a lot of money to upgrade camera and storage so I am trying to look the other way right now:)
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 21, 2015, 21:01
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.

I feel the same way but I am starting to see a lot of well priced 4K on the P5 artists resources page so maybe it will take.  It would be nice to offer the content to customers in both HD and 4K but it's a lot of money to upgrade camera and storage so I am trying to look the other way right now:)
I'm guessing it's content specific as well.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 21, 2015, 23:03
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.


I feel the same way but I am starting to see a lot of well priced 4K on the P5 artists resources page so maybe it will take.  It would be nice to offer the content to customers in both HD and 4K but it's a lot of money to upgrade camera and storage so I am trying to look the other way right now:)
I'm guessing it's content specific as well.

Yea, lost of establishing shots, stuff that would go in a movie but I am still thinking and hoping the switch will be slow, the storage costs alone are a lot and not many if any broadcasters or cable and satellite companies are ready and with budgets shrinking I just don't see it going mainstream just yet.  A few of our local TV stations in Ontario are still SD for news, was talking to a live truck operator yesterday and he joked that they might be in a position to skip HD completely and go 4K.

Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: thepokergod on November 22, 2015, 00:13
Very glad I jumped on 4K early on since I'm starting to win business from clients who are producing 4K TV documentary series. I just licensed 68 4K clips to a production - the market is certainly growing.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Mantis on November 22, 2015, 10:14
Very glad I jumped on 4K early on since I'm starting to win business from clients who are producing 4K TV documentary series. I just licensed 68 4K clips to a production - the market is certainly growing.

That's awesome. Congrats.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on November 22, 2015, 10:18
Very glad I jumped on 4K early on since I'm starting to win business from clients who are producing 4K TV documentary series. I just licensed 68 4K clips to a production - the market is certainly growing.

That's awesome. Congrats.

An anonymous account with 3 posts, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt...
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: gcrook on November 22, 2015, 10:26
Dont know who he is but this isn't unlikely.
I've licended same series of 4K clips but nowhere near these numbers.
Still, 4K is growing slowly but at this point i still consider it a gimmick.The only reason certain people report growth of sales for 4K is because they sell it extremely cheap.
As an editor i would certainly consider buying a certain 4K clip to crop it up into individual hd clips and/or animate it and "fill" air time.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Mantis on November 22, 2015, 11:24
Very glad I jumped on 4K early on since I'm starting to win business from clients who are producing 4K TV documentary series. I just licensed 68 4K clips to a production - the market is certainly growing.

That's awesome. Congrats.

An anonymous account with 3 posts, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt...

Agreed, just giving benefit of doubt is all.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: jjneff on November 22, 2015, 12:40
I have to post my frustration here. Just about at the end of the rope here for good!  I have 7,038 video files on Getty. In Oct. I sold 28 of those 28 18 were sold for 20bucks or less!  I think the future is curation with higher prices coming from hard to get unique content. I am formulating Plan B. 
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 22, 2015, 12:56
I have to post my frustration here. Just about at the end of the rope here for good!  I have 7,038 video files on Getty. In Oct. I sold 28 of those 28 18 were sold for 20bucks or less!  I think the future is curation with higher prices coming from hard to get unique content. I am formulating Plan B.
Greetings, I may be getting people mixed up, so I apologize up front either way, but didn't you report within the last month or so how pleased you were with how many sales you were getting and the amounts you received for each sale? Not trying to call you out or anything, like everyone, I'm just trying to move through this minefield we find ourselves in as safely as possible. And yes I fully understand your frustration.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 22, 2015, 12:57
Very glad I jumped on 4K early on since I'm starting to win business from clients who are producing 4K TV documentary series. I just licensed 68 4K clips to a production - the market is certainly growing.

That's awesome. Congrats.

An anonymous account with 3 posts, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt...

Agreed, just giving benefit of doubt is all.
And I doubt the benefit ;)
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: jjneff on November 22, 2015, 13:12
The last half of this year is very slow I did have one month in the summer that was decent. I am down around 12k on the year and frustrated. If I have a good month I post that as well. I only hope things turn around. I have been exclusive in video at iStock since 2006. I know this business and you can call me out anytime! Several changes at iStock has me worried and I do not want to be in a race to the bottom. I think curated sites like Stocksy are the future for serious full-time producers. This is not a hobby or side job for me so when I have several low months in a row durning high buying season it is a concern.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 22, 2015, 13:25
The last half of this year is very slow I did have one month in the summer that was decent. I am down around 12k on the year and frustrated. If I have a good month I post that as well. I only hope things turn around. I have been exclusive in video at iStock since 2006. I know this business and you can call me out anytime! Several changes at iStock has me worried and I do not want to be in a race to the bottom. I think curated sites like Stocksy are the future for serious full-time producers. This is not a hobby or side job for me so when I have several low months in a row durning high buying season it is a concern.
Thanks for sharing the info. Yes I agree, curated sites with a long term interest in both the vendor and and contributor is likely the way of the future if you want to survive the stock dystopia we live in now.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: stuttershock on November 22, 2015, 15:23
My sales with 4K at $199 are few and far between.
4k seems to be a bit of Field of Dreams scenario at the moment. I don't have a lot of it myself but I just don't hear of many sales of 4k at an any price.

Yes someone will jump in next post and tell me they have their BME because of 4k sales but I'm still sceptical.

indeed -- the entire 4K thing may either be a flop altogether, or it's at least way-premature to "push" the market in a direction that is neither supported nor warranted by surrounding technology.

Take a 4K video on YouTube, for example: does this stuff ever play well, does it play well on any (other) site on the Net, period? I don't think so, haven't seen it yet, and am not overly eager to do so because we ought to be a bit more down to earth with our resources and how we allocate them... And I am using a 100MBits/sec fiber optic line (that falls back to 10MBits/sec, but that is still way enough for playing all sorts of HD 1080 footage).

4K-supporting internet bandwidth for every rubbish, seriously? I mean, we are watching TV in 480x640 or similar stuff. And, no, don't get me wrong: I am not totally against all 4K, it may have its niche, and it may or may not develop from there in in the future -- but this is FUTURE not now. HD1080 is wayyy-sufficient for most everything, including stock, unless you dream of selling to IMAX-style productions or similar. (And even then you may be better off increasing the frame rate than the overall resolution -- and file size...)

As HD1080 is a big leap forward from mass-market TV, this should be sufficient for the time being.

So the 4K mania should be reserved for off-line DVDs or off-line feature films, and demo reel DVDs -- but these are not microstock. Of all these, there are not so many...

Conversely, this seems to be reflected in numbers and sales for 4K -- as in LLLOWWW.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: thepokergod on November 22, 2015, 19:39
Very glad I jumped on 4K early on since I'm starting to win business from clients who are producing 4K TV documentary series. I just licensed 68 4K clips to a production - the market is certainly growing.

That's awesome. Congrats.

An anonymous account with 3 posts, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt...

I've been reading the forums for a while and finally decided to sign up and join the discussion. I can tell you, in certain niches 4K is taking off. Now large deals like that I mentioned don't come along every day however this year I've won a lot of business from 4K productions and more inquiries are coming in (they don't always end in a deal of course.)

Edit: thanks Mantis for your reply earlier!

Cheers,

James - "Earth Uncut TV" on Pond5 and Youtube
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 22, 2015, 20:57
We have in our neighbourhood a video store. One of those good old fashioned ones that has all the new releases for  you to rent. I like the place and support it when I can. The thing is, it's greatest amount of shelf space is still dedicated to DVDs, not Blu Ray. Maybe it's the cliental or something else. But the far majority don't even bother to rent on BluRay.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: thepokergod on November 22, 2015, 21:12
Remember 4K isn't just about what's transmitted to your TV or computer over the internet - it's just as much about the added versatility editors get, even if they're working on HD productions. There's a lot more you can do with a 4K video clip.

My HD sales still far outweigh my 4K sales and I anticipate that to be the case for the next couple of years. But it's been a pleasant surprise to see my 4K material being licensed in larger quantities than originally expected, so soon and at a good price. If and when 4K becomes mainstream my aim will be to have a full stocked portfolio of 4K shots which surpasses the competition.

I'm certainly thankful I didn't jump on the 3D bandwagon and invest in that direction  ;)
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: emblem on November 22, 2015, 23:43
Remember 4K isn't just about what's transmitted to your TV or computer over the internet - it's just as much about the added versatility editors get, even if they're working on HD productions. There's a lot more you can do with a 4K video clip.

My HD sales still far outweigh my 4K sales and I anticipate that to be the case for the next couple of years. But it's been a pleasant surprise to see my 4K material being licensed in larger quantities than originally expected, so soon and at a good price. If and when 4K becomes mainstream my aim will be to have a full stocked portfolio of 4K shots which surpasses the competition.

I'm certainly thankful I didn't jump on the 3D bandwagon and invest in that direction  ;)

Great port...are you a news cameraman?
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: thepokergod on November 22, 2015, 23:54
Thanks emblem.

I'm primarily a stock footage shooter however I often supply footage to news organisations as and when events unfold. Stock footage commands a far better price than the news market - unless you're shooting UFOs etc!
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: op on November 23, 2015, 06:55
Why shoot HD when you can shoot 4K. It is future proof. All my port is 4K since 2013.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: sharpshot on November 23, 2015, 14:32
We have in our neighbourhood a video store. One of those good old fashioned ones that has all the new releases for  you to rent. I like the place and support it when I can. The thing is, it's greatest amount of shelf space is still dedicated to DVDs, not Blu Ray. Maybe it's the cliental or something else. But the far majority don't even bother to rent on BluRay.
The difference between DVD and Blu Ray wasn't enough for most people but 4k takes it to another level.  Blu Ray will lose out, people will probably go from watching DVD's to streaming 4k, if the internet can cope.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 23, 2015, 15:06
We have in our neighbourhood a video store. One of those good old fashioned ones that has all the new releases for  you to rent. I like the place and support it when I can. The thing is, it's greatest amount of shelf space is still dedicated to DVDs, not Blu Ray. Maybe it's the cliental or something else. But the far majority don't even bother to rent on BluRay.
The difference between DVD and Blu Ray wasn't enough for most people but 4k takes it to another level.  Blu Ray will lose out, people will probably go from watching DVD's to streaming 4k, if the internet can cope.
I actually hope you're right but have my doubts. Program viewing is a pacifier to most people. Good 3D starts to fade as anything unique by mid movie. I make a point of seeing the regular version over 3d now. I remember thinking with Avatar how cool the 3D effect was but honestly couldn't see it anymore after a while. I guess I see 4k similarly. Yes everyone goes "wow this is so cool" but it's always about the content first.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: sharpshot on November 24, 2015, 04:02
I think 4k is much more appealing than 3D.  No glasses required, it doesn't hurt your eyes and it looks great.  With so many 4k video cameras out, I think it has to take off.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 24, 2015, 08:27
I think 4k is much more appealing than 3D.  No glasses required, it doesn't hurt your eyes and it looks great.  With so many 4k video cameras out, I think it has to take off.

You are probably right, the cameras are everywhere now from consumer level to pro.  Might be a slow take off though due to all the other upgrades needed including storage, storage is a problem, those files are huge and upgrading is not cheap.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 24, 2015, 08:39
The last half of this year is very slow I did have one month in the summer that was decent. I am down around 12k on the year and frustrated. If I have a good month I post that as well. I only hope things turn around. I have been exclusive in video at iStock since 2006. I know this business and you can call me out anytime! Several changes at iStock has me worried and I do not want to be in a race to the bottom. I think curated sites like Stocksy are the future for serious full-time producers. This is not a hobby or side job for me so when I have several low months in a row durning high buying season it is a concern.

Maybe it's time to upload ALL of your content to VB and P5 and at while VB still locks you in at $49 you get 100% commission at P5 you can get right out of the race to the bottom and set your own price.  Videoblocks has been bringing healthy sales for me as has Pond 5 and I have recently raise prices. 

If all the agencies raised prices to at least what I have raised mine to on P5 then the customers would pay, it's like gas stations, if all four stations on all four corners raise the price of gas at midnight I have pretty much no choice but to pay that price at one of them.  Yes there is grumbling but when I can't get it cheaper anywhere I have no choice.

I don't advocate pricing too high as that will price some customers out of the market and some will just do without but I'd go for something in the middle, after all, they are getting a good deal anyways compared with the cost of having to have something shot for them.   Race to the bottom is not sustainable for the agencies or us, the agencies have massive costs as well for storage and servers, 4K is coming.....time to raise the prices of the commodity.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on November 24, 2015, 09:46
We have in our neighbourhood a video store. One of those good old fashioned ones that has all the new releases for  you to rent. I like the place and support it when I can. The thing is, it's greatest amount of shelf space is still dedicated to DVDs, not Blu Ray. Maybe it's the cliental or something else. But the far majority don't even bother to rent on BluRay.
The difference between DVD and Blu Ray wasn't enough for most people but 4k takes it to another level.  Blu Ray will lose out, people will probably go from watching DVD's to streaming 4k, if the internet can cope.

I disagree.  The difference between standard and HD is huge.  The current resolution is enough that I can't see the pixels from my couch.  Adding more pixels won't change that.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: op on November 24, 2015, 12:38
We have in our neighbourhood a video store. One of those good old fashioned ones that has all the new releases for  you to rent. I like the place and support it when I can. The thing is, it's greatest amount of shelf space is still dedicated to DVDs, not Blu Ray. Maybe it's the cliental or something else. But the far majority don't even bother to rent on BluRay.
The difference between DVD and Blu Ray wasn't enough for most people but 4k takes it to another level.  Blu Ray will lose out, people will probably go from watching DVD's to streaming 4k, if the internet can cope.

I disagree.  The difference between standard and HD is huge.  The current resolution is enough that I can't see the pixels from my couch.  Adding more pixels won't change that.

The difference is as huge as the difference between standard and HD. Just go to any store and it is obvious. HD also looks like **** on my computer's retina screen. It is all about resolution and pixel density.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on November 24, 2015, 13:55
All I can say is what I see when I walk into Costco or Target and see the demo sets.  Looks like slightly clearer HD.  Not the miracle difference between HD and standard.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on November 24, 2015, 16:24
All I can say is what I see when I walk into Costco or Target and see the demo sets.  Looks like slightly clearer HD.  Not the miracle difference between HD and standard.
I agree there is a big difference between  DVD and HD, but we're visual artists, we see it. My point was that even though HD(Blu Ray) is readily available, and I would think that if you are going to rent a movie you would rent the HD version and enjoy the much nicer picture, this doesn't seem to be the case. Most people just rent the DVD. I expected DVDs to experience the same rate of decline from Blu Ray as VHS did with DVD. I hasn't. So I am going to believe there is a coming 4k revolution. No
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: op on November 24, 2015, 16:55
It is not a revolution, just an evolution. And 8K is next.

I don't know for America but in France or Korea, I haven't seen a DVD for years. And Blu-ray had no chance to replace it. People just want VOD or streams and those are HD for quite some time ago already.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 29, 2015, 17:47
Quick update on the original topic of this thread, I am into week two of the new pricing and no plans to turn back and rejoin the race to the bottom yet, record sales and revenue since I made the changes.....not looking back.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 29, 2015, 17:54
The last half of this year is very slow I did have one month in the summer that was decent. I am down around 12k on the year and frustrated. If I have a good month I post that as well. I only hope things turn around. I have been exclusive in video at iStock since 2006. I know this business and you can call me out anytime! Several changes at iStock has me worried and I do not want to be in a race to the bottom. I think curated sites like Stocksy are the future for serious full-time producers. This is not a hobby or side job for me so when I have several low months in a row durning high buying season it is a concern.

Not sure if you do video or stills or both but you can come to videoblocks and get 100% commission and also Pond5 which does photos and video and lets you set an appropriate price for your work as opposed to agencies that sell it for next to nothing and give even less to the contributor.

I am on three sites, P5, VB, SS and thinking about a 4th but my goal is to get all of my content on three sites but I can tell you that my record sales and revenue are coming from VB and P5. 

When I say record I don't mean I am getting rich and out of debt in a month but I have seen a huge turnaround, cautiously optimistic but I have to keep the pedal to the floor, not out of the woods yet.   

Something I noticed when I raised my prices to a more middle-tier pricing on P5 was my clip views dropped in half but my sales and revenue went up by double.  I am wondering if at low prices we get more buyers browsing but less actually buying, at the higher prices maybe more serious buyers coming through the door?.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: thepokergod on November 29, 2015, 20:47
Glad to hear your sales are doing well - October to early December is traditional a bumper period for stock footage sales before the holidays kick in.

If you're going to do any price experiments it's worth running them for at least 6 months - comparing data over a week or two is pretty meaningless since the stock footage market is generally a roller coaster for most people. Great one week, quiet the next.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: op on November 30, 2015, 03:25
Thanks for the update. It is interesting for sure.
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on November 30, 2015, 11:19
Glad to hear your sales are doing well - October to early December is traditional a bumper period for stock footage sales before the holidays kick in.

If you're going to do any price experiments it's worth running them for at least 6 months - comparing data over a week or two is pretty meaningless since the stock footage market is generally a roller coaster for most people. Great one week, quiet the next.

October to December eh?  Guess that explains why September was as much of a disaster as this summer was for me, I am wondering about what happens come January.  Just have to keep uploading and maybe see if there is a 4th site that would be good to host my content on, not all will accept the stuff I have, it's news, weather, severe weather and events so not fine art that's for sure but it's stuff not many others have but still....
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on December 02, 2015, 10:03
I am now thinking of adding a 4th site, any thoughts on one that would accept my content and have reasonable sales volume?.

Pond5 accepts almost everything and sales are now quite good, VB can be a bit finicky on what they accept but sales are also quite good, SS seems to accept everything but so far sales are dead last.   I still have about 10,000 files to scrape off the drives and upload to all three but soon that will be done and then I am ready to start building up on site #4 in addition to shooting new content although so far the weather has been calm this fall/winter.

Thanks
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: alijaber on December 02, 2015, 10:16
I am now thinking of adding a 4th site, any thoughts on one that would accept my content and have reasonable sales volume?.

Pond5 accepts almost everything and sales are now quite good, VB can be a bit finicky on what they accept but sales are also quite good, SS seems to accept everything but so far sales are dead last.   I still have about 10,000 files to scrape off the drives and upload to all three but soon that will be done and then I am ready to start building up on site #4 in addition to shooting new content although so far the weather has been calm this fall/winter.

Thanks

Congratulations, very nice collection!!
Be aware that you have sooo many similar clips in your collection, my advice is to do some cleaning there. It would be much easier for you to manage, upload, keyword less files.
Regards
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on December 02, 2015, 11:32
I am now thinking of adding a 4th site, any thoughts on one that would accept my content and have reasonable sales volume?.

Pond5 accepts almost everything and sales are now quite good, VB can be a bit finicky on what they accept but sales are also quite good, SS seems to accept everything but so far sales are dead last.   I still have about 10,000 files to scrape off the drives and upload to all three but soon that will be done and then I am ready to start building up on site #4 in addition to shooting new content although so far the weather has been calm this fall/winter.

Thanks

Thanks, The hard part about cleaning up and cleaning out the similars is my worst stuff sells....my best stuff doesn't sell, I batch convert/upload/template it as there are too many to edit manually and my most recent shot that I sold on P5 was of a traffic jam after a snowstorm and I was on tripod but being buffeted by the high wind, if I would have seen that clip I would have deleted it myself and sure enough....it sold, vs my perfectly rock solid blizzard and traffic vis.....and of course by best stuff just won't sell, I have two collections there on that have some winter weather action news vis in there and I spend 8 hours on each stakeout in -25c conditions with strong wind to get those shots happening on camera and not one has sold.

I still haven't figured out this business.  I do think some agencies put too much focus on perfection, I have noticed that my less than perfect stuff sells, stuff that VB and SS would not accept sells on P5.  Maybe it just fits better in someone's project....dunno.



Congratulations, very nice collection!!
Be aware that you have sooo many similar clips in your collection, my advice is to do some cleaning there. It would be much easier for you to manage, upload, keyword less files.
Regards
Title: Re: Video pricing
Post by: weathernewsonline on December 21, 2015, 13:02
Final update for 2015 for me:

Spring, summer and September....complete disaster, lost a ton of money and now in major debt staying afloat, October/November record sales and revenue for me and this was after I raised my prices to a more respectable level on P5, December is going ok, holidays coming up will shut off all sales for two weeks no doubt.

Time for everyone and the agencies to maybe raise the prices? I did and was pleasantly surprised. During the slow time everyone needs to break out the business plan software and start playing with some numbers and see what you need to charge to make it profitable.

Should be everyone's new years resolution to end the race to the bottom, it's happening everywhere else but in this industry and I don't know why.  Grocery prices are up, not sure why the big chains aren't racing to the bottom to give the product away....