Author Topic: My experience after 1 year selling stock footage (Read 60701 times)

videostocker · « **on:** February 24, 2016, 06:06 »

Hi people,

Let me share my experience after 1 year selling stock footage in microstock platforms.

I started on January 2015 selling content at Shutterstock, Pond5 and 123RF, adding Fotolia, iStock, Nimia, Dissolve, DepositPhotos, Videoblocks and Motionelements in the following months. In May I had all platforms selling my footage. At the end of 2015 I had 300 clips average in each platform with the same clips (more or less).

I've made sales in all platforms except Motionelements where I have no sales so far.

I created an excel file, where I wrote each sale in monthly basis (Number of sales and $ amount)

And here are my results: (All are not exclusive)

Agency Clips sold Earnings percentage
Pond5 29 sales 35% of sales
Shutterstock 22 sales 31%
Videoblocks 3 sales 10%
Nimia 1 sale 7%
123rf 6 sales 6%
Fotolia 8 sales 4%
iStock 9 sales 3%
Depositphotos 1 sale 2%
Dissolve 2 sales 2%

So, my conclusion, based in this experience is that, for maximize profit and time only Pond5, Shutterstock and Videoblocks* deserve the upload. The others, during 2015, were not profitable.

*Videoblocks are too new so I'm not sure it they will be profitable in 2016 due to the amount of people uploading.

As you can see, istock and Fotolia are the worst in terms of number of clips sold vs profit. They are a waste of time. Maybe if you play the exclusive role with those, results will be really different.

This 2016 Nimia has lower prices so maybe this 2016 they will be also at the bottom of the list (or not, maybe they will sell more due to the new prices, who knows)

This year I started to upload only to Pond5, Shutterstock and Videoblocks, as they are by far and based in my experience the most convenient places to sell clips nowadays.

Lana · « **Reply #1 on:** February 24, 2016, 07:08 »

Happy Anniversary!

Thank you for your stats and congrats on a good start!

Just wanted to ask a few things for a better understanding:
Are you selling only HD or 4k too?
How long did it take you before getting the first sale at SS and Pond?

I'm also weighing on whether to start doing footage..

videostocker · « **Reply #2 on:** February 24, 2016, 07:52 »

Quote from: lanabyko on February 24, 2016, 07:08

Happy Anniversary!

Thank you for your stats and congrats on a good start!

Just wanted to ask a few things for a better understanding:
Are you selling only HD or 4k too?
How long did it take you before getting the first sale at SS and Pond?

I'm also weighing on whether to start doing footage..

Well, I started with HD only, but today I've most 4K in my portfolio. But, I still sell most HD than 4K.

My first sale came on SS in just 15 days after approval. Not much sales in the first 2-3 months. But of course in the beginning I had less clips for sale than at the end of the year.

ACS · « **Reply #3 on:** February 24, 2016, 07:57 »

I started to make video clips for stock in 2013 and my experience is very similar to yours. As you mentioned, P5, SS, VB and (according to my stats) Fotolia are the agencies worth to submit nowadays and most likely they cover %75 of all the revenue made from videostock market.

cobalt · « **Reply #4 on:** February 24, 2016, 10:15 »

Thank you for sharing. It will be interesting to see how videoblocks does this year and if Fotolia sees an upswing by being integrated into adobe.

alno · « **Reply #5 on:** February 24, 2016, 16:38 »

Quote from: videostocker on February 24, 2016, 06:06

Hi people,

Let me share my experience after 1 year selling stock footage in microstock platforms.

Thank you for sharing and congratulations. My own and friend of mine experience shows approximately the same percentage.
Fotolia is a complete waste of time.
Nimia seems nice just for storing own content. Their overpriced 'Content request' thing seems to be a kind of homemade fraud just to get people involved. Submitting content is a bit awkward - does any buyer really cares about flourecent or halogen lamp the footage was shot with?

videostocker · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2016, 17:46 »

Hi Irina,

Regarding Nimia, I also started to use it as backup platform and even a showcase platform to share clips with clients. Regarding sales, I don't expect too much. I don't use their content request system.
For backup and archive purposes, Nimia has a great file system, but I avoid to specify many of the fields like the temperature of the color or the type of lens, I don't need them. Maybe could be nice for some productions to have this kind of detail for organization purposes.

damseremie · « **Reply #7 on:** February 25, 2016, 14:34 »

Quote from: videostocker on February 24, 2016, 17:46

Hi Irina,

Regarding Nimia, I also started to use it as backup platform and even a showcase platform to share clips with clients. Regarding sales, I don't expect too much. I don't use their content request system.
For backup and archive purposes, Nimia has a great file system, but I avoid to specify many of the fields like the temperature of the color or the type of lens, I don't need them. Maybe could be nice for some productions to have this kind of detail for organization purposes.

Thanks for sharing
That's a wealth of info there, great for those of us just starting out, I hope to also post my 1 year report in Jan 2017.
Would you be able to share actual income figures?

if not, no problem

ccbcc · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2016, 15:12 »

Quote from: damseremie on February 25, 2016, 14:34

Quote from: videostocker on February 24, 2016, 17:46
Hi Irina,

Regarding Nimia, I also started to use it as backup platform and even a showcase platform to share clips with clients. Regarding sales, I don't expect too much. I don't use their content request system.
For backup and archive purposes, Nimia has a great file system, but I avoid to specify many of the fields like the temperature of the color or the type of lens, I don't need them. Maybe could be nice for some productions to have this kind of detail for organization purposes.

Thanks for sharing
That's a wealth of info there, great for those of us just starting out, I hope to also post my 1 year report in Jan 2017.
Would you be able to share actual income figures? if not, no problem

3 sales at Videoblocks is around $150, which is 10% of total earnings, so that means $1500 in 1 year. Assuming HD sales.

damseremie · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2016, 18:10 »

Quote from: ccbcc on February 25, 2016, 15:12

3 sales at Videoblocks is around $150, which is 10% of total earnings, so that means $1500 in 1 year. Assuming HD sales.

True,..nice breakdown but it could very well be that two of those sales were 4k or something... making a total of $450 from Video Blocks which will throw the total all the way up to $4500

videostocker · « **Reply #10 on:** February 26, 2016, 10:31 »

No problem sharing revenue,

ccbcc it's right, about 1500$ in one year.

As soon as I start to earn more than $150000 I will stop sharing revenue

.

ccbcc · « **Reply #11 on:** February 27, 2016, 13:48 »

aetb · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2016, 16:08 »

I would say... keep clean .csv files of your meta data and when you get 1000 files, you can upload everything at once on other agencies. Then do it again when getting to 2000 files + uploading the 2000 files on new agencies that worth it. Etc.

Roy Howell · « **Reply #13 on:** May 29, 2016, 11:02 »

Hello.....I am actually a 'customer' in need of advice. I am a composer in need of footage for some of my songs. (I've done 9 scores for the Discovery Channel, etc.).....I use Sony Vegas Pro to create the few personal vids I've done for my music, but I need to buy some excellent footage for some of my instrumentals.
My main question to you pros is this. What is the general LENGTH of the videos these companies offer in their 'plan' for consumers, and also, which companies do you guys consider the best, in terms of variety and the amount of vids they offer?
I noticed one of the companies offer a $99 'plan', but they're very candid about what you actually get for that.....thanks SO much for any advice.....I am 'Roy Howell' on Facebook and 'The Roy Howells' is my music page.....................thanks, Roy

thepokergod · « **Reply #14 on:** May 29, 2016, 21:35 »

Quote from: Roy Howell on May 29, 2016, 11:02

Hello.....I am actually a 'customer' in need of advice. I am a composer in need of footage for some of my songs. (I've done 9 scores for the Discovery Channel, etc.).....I use Sony Vegas Pro to create the few personal vids I've done for my music, but I need to buy some excellent footage for some of my instrumentals.
My main question to you pros is this. What is the general LENGTH of the videos these companies offer in their 'plan' for consumers, and also, which companies do you guys consider the best, in terms of variety and the amount of vids they offer?
I noticed one of the companies offer a $99 'plan', but they're very candid about what you actually get for that.....thanks SO much for any advice.....I am 'Roy Howell' on Facebook and 'The Roy Howells' is my music page.....................thanks, Roy

Hi Roy.

Sounds like you do some awesome work! As a creator of footage I'd have to recommend Pond5 since they have the most generous split with content providers, 50/50. General stock footage clips are between 10 - 30 seconds long, on Pond5 you can actually filter by clip duration if you're looking for clips of a specific length.

Good luck and happy shopping!

Roy Howell · « **Reply #15 on:** June 01, 2016, 11:15 »

thepokergod.......Thanks SO much for the info....I will definitely check out Pond5.....best of luck in all your endeavors.....

-Roy

AlexRvan · « **Reply #16 on:** June 02, 2016, 11:44 »

Is there a way to upload editable After Effects templates to Shutterstock? I've seen a few templates and animated icons but I'm wondering how does one edit a .mov? Or is it another codec/filetype?

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #17 on:** June 02, 2016, 11:50 »

Not as far as I know.

They should though, since AE templates sell much, much times more than non-editable footage. Takes a lot longer to make too of course...

arapix · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2016, 10:55 »

Hello,
Many thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a question , why didn't you try videohive ?

lopezbert · « **Reply #19 on:** September 06, 2017, 11:48 »

hi videostocker.
just a question. you have experience in selling on various sites. just want to know. have u sold the same image on various stock sites. is it ok to do so.
need your feedback

dpimborough · « **Reply #20 on:** September 06, 2017, 14:39 »

Quote from: lopezbert on September 06, 2017, 11:48

hi videostocker.
just a question. you have experience in selling on various sites. just want to know. have u sold the same image on various stock sites. is it ok to do so.
need your feedback

This thread is over a year old you know

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #21 on:** September 06, 2017, 15:01 »

Quote from: lopezbert on September 06, 2017, 11:48

hi videostocker.
just a question. you have experience in selling on various sites. just want to know. have u sold the same image on various stock sites. is it ok to do so.
need your feedback

http://stockphotoadviser.com/exclusive-or-non-exclusive/

LHMedia · « **Reply #22 on:** January 07, 2019, 18:06 »

This is quite an old thread, but I am just curious, @Videostocker how are you doing now? Are you still in Stock Footage business? Have your portfolio increased? What about your earnings, do you have new stats? I feel, that this topic is still missing on microstock and would be interesting to see how the market changed since your last post.

Thank you and have a great time!

silveandalu · « **Reply #23 on:** January 09, 2019, 13:15 »

Quote from: LHMedia on January 07, 2019, 18:06

This is quite an old thread, but I am just curious, @Videostocker how are you doing now? Are you still in Stock Footage business? Have your portfolio increased? What about your earnings, do you have new stats? I feel, that this topic is still missing on microstock and would be interesting to see how the market changed since your last post.

Thank you and have a great time!

Yes, would be nice to know how it goes now

NicolasKristen · « **Reply #24 on:** January 29, 2019, 02:10 »

That sounds nice. And shutterstock and pon5 are convenient according to my experiences.

I've started uploading on Envato. It is good so far. But I recently got the invitation of 100Wa from my private message in Envato. 100wa said they could offer me earnings in advance. It is attractive and I don't have to wait for a long time to get my income. But I am not sure whether I should try that. Cuz I haven't heard of 100Wa before. But it interests me when I was told they do Asian especially Chinese Market which is huge and potential.

Did anyone work with Envato or 100Wa? Their address newbielink:https://envato.com/ [nonactive] newbielink:https://100wa.com/en/ [nonactive]
How do you think 100Wa's offer?

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Author Topic: My experience after 1 year selling stock footage (Read 60701 times)

videostocker

Lana

videostocker

ACS

cobalt

alno

videostocker

damseremie

ccbcc

damseremie

videostocker

ccbcc

aetb

Roy Howell

thepokergod

Roy Howell

AlexRvan

increasingdifficulty

arapix

lopezbert

dpimborough

Sean Locke Photography

LHMedia

silveandalu

NicolasKristen

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