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Author Topic: Selling videos exclusively on istock or not?  (Read 7668 times)

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« on: January 27, 2017, 16:11 »
0
Hi everybody.
I'm taking stock videos exclusive for Istock since 2014. At this moment i have over 900 videos on this agency. I started this job exclusive and i continued exclusive until yesterday. In last one year sales going really bad. I thought this reason push me to  working as a non-exclusive contributor.
In first step i will send videos to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Videoblocks. But i'm not sure this decision is right or not? On last one year my istock sales down to 4/10 of my avarage sales at 2015. What are you thinking guys?


« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2017, 16:27 »
+2
We foreseen this years ago... but today it is getting funny how shittystock is collapsing.

If you have good port, you'll do well on SS and probably on Pond5 too. We personaly don't like Videoblocks, because (again our prediction) they are dumping industry standard prices.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2017, 18:51 »
0
We foreseen this years ago... but today it is getting funny how shittystock is collapsing.


Is iStock collapsing? They may not be the best site for contributors, but does that matter to buyers? Is iStocks revenue dropping? Rather than people leaving the sinking ship, maybe it's just a case of people leaving a very much afloat ship.

As for VideoBlocks, the calculations you use in your article are very misleading...

"Lets get to the calculator. If you sell your work on Pond5, Shutterstock and Dissolve, each agency gives you about from $23 to $39 if you priced them all right. That means all together about $85 per sale on each site. While if you start selling your clips on Videoblocks for $49 and you get $48 per sale, thats almost twice less than you would get from other agencies."

Those are alternative facts if ever I heard them! You don't get $85 per sale on each site, you get between $23 and $39 like you already stated. You only get $85 if you add up sales from Pond5, Shutterstock and Dissolve. As it stands, you don't get "almost twice less (selling on VB) than you would get from other agencies" you actually get almost twice as much per sale.

And it's not like everyone is going to ditch Pond5, Shutterstock and Dissolve so they can upload to VideoBlocks, they'd sell there in conjunction with the others. So although one sale each at Pond5, Shutterstock and Dissolve may be $85... one sale each at Pond5, Shutterstock, Dissolve and Videoblocks comes to $132.

To the OP... I make an average of about $400 a month from Videoblocks and I've not seen any negative impact on my sales at other agencies. Most of them are on the increase, if anything.

« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2017, 02:54 »
+2
if sales drop on pond/ss/dissolve, then we get much less with only sales on videoblocks... what is not clear here?! And when all those agencies lower prices, we will get much much less income altogether.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2017, 03:52 »
+1
Where are the calculations for that though? Or is it just a gut feeling that you're deciding to treat as fact? And why would sales drop on pond5/ss/dissolve... because everyone is buying from Videoblocks instead? What's wrong with that?

If the $30 reduction in price means that people are buying more clips for the same budget (not guaranteed, but it's possible) and we're getting at least twice the commission amount... what's not to like? Buyers win, contributors win and VB seem pretty happy with the situation, so i guess they win too... what is not clear here?!

That's the only reason I can think of why sales would drop on P5/SS/Dissolve... is that they'd stop buying there and move to VB (or a different site). If anybody does stop buying at P5/SS/Dissolve, but doesn't start buying somewhere else...  then it's not going to have anything to do with prices. "Have you heard the news Tarquin, this Videoblocks place is selling stuff $30 cheaper than Shutterstock?! It just won;t do... we should give up buying stock altogether. I will not be forced to pay $30 less than I am currently, and I refuse to continue paying what I have been happy to pay for considerable time... it's sickening. Sickening I tell you". I just can't see it myself!

I've had seven downloads so far in January on Shutterstock, giving me a grand total of $143. I've had ten downloads on VideoHive for $471. That works for me. You'll no doubt explain how it's not sustainable, that I'm contributing to the downfall of the marketplace, and so on and so forth... but do you have any evidence to support this?

Videoblocks has been around for a couple of years (well, the marketplace bit) and is Shutterstock now a futile, barren wasteland because of them? VideoHive has been around for ten years... surely the end would have come about by now if that was the case? Why aren't Shutterstock and Dissolve charging $8 for everything as a result? Pond5 raising the minimum from $10 to $25... was that an example of this price dumping that we're all bringing about? 
« Last Edit: January 28, 2017, 04:04 by SpaceStockFootage »

alno

« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2017, 03:54 »
0
Hi everybody.
I'm taking stock videos exclusive for Istock since 2014. At this moment i have over 900 videos on this agency. I started this job exclusive and i continued exclusive until yesterday. In last one year sales going really bad. I thought this reason push me to  working as a non-exclusive contributor.
In first step i will send videos to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Videoblocks. But i'm not sure this decision is right or not? On last one year my istock sales down to 4/10 of my avarage sales at 2015. What are you thinking guys?

Upload to Fotolia/Adobe too, they are very good seller nowdays. Videohive and 123rf are also quite successful. You should quit this exclusivity the sooner the better. The messy greedy agency hiding our own monthly earnings has surely some more to hide from us.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2017, 16:10 »
0
My ' too long, didn't read' version goes a little something like this...
if sales drop on pond/ss/dissolve, then we get much less with only sales on videoblocks...
Yes, of course we do. If sales drop on any site we contribute to, then we get less overall... whether that be Pond5, Shutterstock, Dissolve, Videoblocks, VideoHive or iStock.

But how will contributing to VideoBlocks result in a drop in sales at other sites? What information do you have to back up this claim?

« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2017, 03:47 »
+1
Hi everybody.
I'm taking stock videos exclusive for Istock since 2014. At this moment i have over 900 videos on this agency. I started this job exclusive and i continued exclusive until yesterday. In last one year sales going really bad. I thought this reason push me to  working as a non-exclusive contributor.
In first step i will send videos to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Videoblocks. But i'm not sure this decision is right or not? On last one year my istock sales down to 4/10 of my avarage sales at 2015. What are you thinking guys?
Not easy to give you advice not knowing how much you are earning and not seeing your portfolio.
Things are not easy in footage since Pond 5 introduced their membership plan. Artists who are not part of this plan have practically been cut out because the participating ones have been pushed up in the search engine. As a result, if you are not a part of it, you are very unlikely to get many sales there.
This Pond 5 MP is a sort of all-you-can-eat buffet were video files are given away for next to nothing, so all the customers of P5 are gradually moving there and sales are quickly drying.
In my opinion sales at other agencies are starting to feel the pressure from this unprecedented price dumping and I believe they will start lowering prices to face this competition. Basically video clips at single digit price will become the norm, thanks to Pond 5 membership plan

« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2017, 06:10 »
+1
Brightontl u're right....few months ago i refused their membership program and my sales are almost non-existent. A decrease from 400 $ to 100 $ per month, thanks for being seriously P5.

« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2017, 13:05 »
0
Brightontl u're right....few months ago i refused their membership program and my sales are almost non-existent. A decrease from 400 $ to 100 $ per month, thanks for being seriously P5.
Wow! you refused it! That is brave!
They made it practically impossible to refuse by stating that participating artists would be pushed up in the search, which means that the others would be squeezed out, as indeed happened

« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2017, 06:21 »
0

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2017, 06:34 »
+1
Here is my Portfolio
http://www.istockphoto.com/il/portfolio/izustun?excludenudity=true&sort=best


A lot of commercially viable stuff and variety in there, looks good. One thing I did note though... just an observation, not a criticism.. a lot of your stuff seems very 'contrasty', like the blacks are really crushed. I'd be slightly put off by that if I was in the market for some video clips... doesn;t leave me much room to play when it comes to grading. Do you shoot with a flat colour profile? 

« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2017, 03:19 »
0
it is my fault. i'm shooting flat profile lately  :-[ I'm trying to fix this for my new stock videos. thank you for your observation :)


 

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