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Author Topic: Any ideas to suggest to them?  (Read 19867 times)

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« Reply #25 on: October 06, 2019, 13:44 »
+1
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

You can set your 4k, HD, Web price to whatever you want.  It's up to you, not Pond5.  Just go to "Account" and "Preference" and set your percentage.

What he is saying is to have a price cap forced on us.  That kind of thinking is what destroys industries. I have 4k 5 second clips that sell for over $400. What nut is saying is to cap that at $95.  P5 should hire him.

They probably will.


« Reply #26 on: October 06, 2019, 16:29 »
+1
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

You can set your 4k, HD, Web price to whatever you want.  It's up to you, not Pond5.  Just go to "Account" and "Preference" and set your percentage.

What he is saying is to have a price cap forced on us.  That kind of thinking is what destroys industries. I have 4k 5 second clips that sell for over $400. What nut is saying is to cap that at $95.  P5 should hire him.

Totally agree...no need to low price...ss and as prove it...they sell a lot keeping the industry standard...79/179$
..

georgep7

« Reply #27 on: October 07, 2019, 04:29 »
0
Quote
P5 should hire him.

And that was the only straight suggestion in this thread titled "Any ideas to suggest to them?"

LOL! :P XD

In templates, pre-selection "TYPE OF IMAGE: Photo/ Illustration/ Exclude from template" does not work,
at least for photos, template applied but photo option is deselected and has to be selected again manually.


« Reply #28 on: October 07, 2019, 09:16 »
0
I just got the "reminder" email about tomorrow's town hall.  (I can't watch live, it's in the middle of a work day.)

I didn't save the other one when it was originally scheduled for the 27th, but I seem to recall it was going to feature three P5 representatives.  Now, today's email says only two will be on camera.  The CEO, Jason Teichman--who I think was on the original email as a participant/host--isn't listed on this new email.

I tried to search for the original invitation to see if I was right, but I had emptied my trash and it's long gone.

Anyone else save their original email?  Am I wrong?

wds

« Reply #29 on: October 07, 2019, 09:21 »
+3
My suggestion to them is: Get sales up!!  :)

georgep7

« Reply #30 on: October 08, 2019, 03:33 »
0
I think third person mentioned was McAfee in both emails.
They might focus on the myth busted clip as long as pricing and rating are the hottest issues.

I just got the "reminder" email about tomorrow's town hall.  (I can't watch live, it's in the middle of a work day.)

I didn't save the other one when it was originally scheduled for the 27th, but I seem to recall it was going to feature three P5 representatives.  Now, today's email says only two will be on camera.  The CEO, Jason Teichman--who I think was on the original email as a participant/host--isn't listed on this new email.

I tried to search for the original invitation to see if I was right, but I had emptied my trash and it's long gone.

Anyone else save their original email?  Am I wrong?

Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #31 on: October 08, 2019, 08:17 »
+2
I recall seeing a state somewhere that something like 90% of sales are HD. Surely a lower 4K price would help to even out this breakdown. 4 times the resolution doesn't have to be twice the price imo

StockDaebak

« Reply #32 on: October 08, 2019, 08:49 »
0
I recall seeing a state somewhere that something like 90% of sales are HD. Surely a lower 4K price would help to even out this breakdown. 4 times the resolution doesn't have to be twice the price imo

Now that you mentioned it, I also read that "most" sales are still HD but that was about a year ago, this has me thinking about two things, 4K and higher might be in demand for high end productions but most of content these days is being viewed on smartphones and HD is more than enough for that.

Secondly, is "4K" throwing off buyers, yes I know that on Pond5 and SS there are HD versions listed directly below but many humans have the attention span of a squirrel and maybe they are being thrown off by 4K, or worried about system compatibility, keep in mind many people still run WindowXP for example, they may not have the computing power to handle 4K and even though there is an HD version available might worry that the specs are too high for their systems so they will just go with what they know works which is plain old HD and 24fps or 30fps.

A lot of it is psychology, think business and marketing, how many times have we read about simply pricing strategies that trick people's minds into thinking that's a better price when in reality they are only saving a fraction of a penny?, but it works.

Would be interesting to see if those who switched to producing 4K content experienced a sudden sales drop.  I have a mix of HD and 4K, some 4K sales have happened but mostly it's HD.

Just yesterday I saw an action camera that does 5.7K 360degrees and all that and it looked amazing and then I thought ok but who can use this video? and for what?.


« Reply #33 on: October 08, 2019, 08:51 »
0
I just got the "reminder" email about tomorrow's town hall.  (I can't watch live, it's in the middle of a work day.)

I didn't save the other one when it was originally scheduled for the 27th, but I seem to recall it was going to feature three P5 representatives.  Now, today's email says only two will be on camera.  The CEO, Jason Teichman--who I think was on the original email as a participant/host--isn't listed on this new email.

I tried to search for the original invitation to see if I was right, but I had emptied my trash and it's long gone.

Anyone else save their original email?  Am I wrong?

Half right. There was never a third person, but originally "Scott Koehler, SVP and General Manager, Artists & Content" was listed. In the new email, his name is replaced by "Kunal Mody, Director, Marketplace Growth". The latter of which started in their current position at Pond5 at the beginning of 2019, right before several damaging changes were made.

I recall seeing a state somewhere that something like 90% of sales are HD. Surely a lower 4K price would help to even out this breakdown. 4 times the resolution doesn't have to be twice the price imo

Whether you are right or wrong, whether that's true or not, as others have stated, you have 100% control over your own pricing (for the time being). So 4K can be double, triple, 20% higher, 20% lower, the same, half the price, etc. of HD. Not exactly sure what your concern is or what you are asking to be changed. Price to your heart's content.  Personally, as someone that had to pay more out of their own pocket for better cameras, faster and higher capacity memory cards, external HD's, upgraded computers that can smoothly handle 4k, longer render times, huge uploads that take more bandwidth and time...I believe 4k is definitely worth the heftier price tag.

georgep7

« Reply #34 on: October 08, 2019, 08:55 »
0
4K is among top 3 or 5 term or category search positions in every monthy report email right after family and green screen.

I suspect that buyers don't go for the original 4K but for the downgraded but still large HD file with lots of details provided.

So it seems inevitable that we will upload 4K and they will buy the HD version for some time in the future.

???

StockDaebak

« Reply #35 on: October 08, 2019, 09:06 »
0
Half right. There was never a third person, but originally "Scott Koehler, SVP and General Manager, Artists & Content" was listed. In the new email, his name is replaced by "Kunal Mody, Director, Marketplace Growth". The latter of which started in their current position at Pond5 at the beginning of 2019, right before several damaging changes were made.

Good catch! and this Kunal Mody fellow doesn't seem to stay in one place very long. I think we just found our answer to the collapse of Pond5 https://angel.co/kunal-mody

StockDaebak

« Reply #36 on: October 08, 2019, 10:02 »
0
4K is among top 3 or 5 term or category search positions in every monthy report email right after family and green screen.

I suspect that buyers don't go for the original 4K but for the downgraded but still large HD file with lots of details provided.

So it seems inevitable that we will upload 4K and they will buy the HD version for some time in the future.

???

Maybe but also I wouldn't pay much attention to those emails or graphs if they are from Pond5, they have taken all useful stats away from us and replaced them with graphs and emails telling us what they want us to see and believe, remember this is the same company who told us in the spring that "buyers are telling them" they don't want to see our clips on other sites and that we should pull our clip from all other sites and go exclusive and well as we know that was a total disaster for everyone who did it.

I don't trust a single word uttered from these agencies.

StockDaebak

« Reply #37 on: October 08, 2019, 10:04 »
0
Found another link to Kunal Mody at Pond5, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody and https://angel.co/kunal-mody

In early 2019 changes came and sales all but ended there. I wonder.......

georgep7

« Reply #38 on: October 08, 2019, 10:25 »
0
Quote
buyers are telling them" they don't want to see our clips on other sites and that we should pull our clip from all other sites and go exclusive and well as we know that was a total disaster for everyone who did it.

I don't trust a single word uttered from these agencies.


I agree on everything, i dunno if exclusivity was a disaster, too early to judge.

But reading behind the lines they actually seemed to have complaints on different pricing on same file pricing between P5 and other agencies. And what should they say in public on this issue? Myself was submitted to AS and SS accepting the $69 price tag but in Pond5 i asked more for the same files that had the same model releases. And it was the first step to start deleting files in other agencies. It was a clear "price it to the sky if you like but we will host it exclusive" message. Then they tried to restrain non exclusives with their best price guarantee feature. And TBH i think that was a right move. Pricing equal on all agencies I mean.

Perhaps i am wrong though :)
« Last Edit: October 08, 2019, 10:28 by George_ »

StockDaebak

« Reply #39 on: October 08, 2019, 11:37 »
0

I don't trust a single word uttered from these agencies.

[/quote]

I agree on everything, i dunno if exclusivity was a disaster, too early to judge.

But reading behind the lines they actually seemed to have complaints on different pricing on same file pricing between P5 and other agencies. And what should they say in public on this issue? Myself was submitted to AS and SS accepting the $69 price tag but in Pond5 i asked more for the same files that had the same model releases. And it was the first step to start deleting files in other agencies. It was a clear "price it to the sky if you like but we will host it exclusive" message. Then they tried to restrain non exclusives with their best price guarantee feature. And TBH i think that was a right move. Pricing equal on all agencies I mean.

Perhaps i am wrong though :)
[/quote]

Hard to know if right or wrong because after the hidden search price cap and all that stuff we simply can't believe a single word from them.  Something changed at Pond in 2019 and I think we found a possible cause now.

Of course sales are down everywhere else too but not by that much but that's the economy and changes in demands for the product we make but Pond5 went off a cliff completely.

For those who went exclusive they are all reporting it went bad but even their prices are capped in the search.

I think with the price cap it also thinned out the selection so buyers went looking to other places and now maybe they are happy and not coming back here.

« Reply #40 on: October 11, 2019, 06:00 »
+2
Cut the race to the bottom and set fixed prices for all contributors 4K, HD and web.

My only wish for the entire industry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

« Reply #41 on: October 14, 2019, 10:03 »
0
One Pond5 curated collection description says:

4K
"That sure it s [sic] a lot of pixels... four thousand of them, to be exact. "

Apart from being far from exact, last time I checked 4K was more than 8 million pixels, but apparently Pond5 experts know best.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2019, 10:05 by Noedelhap »

StockDaebak

« Reply #42 on: October 15, 2019, 07:45 »
0
One Pond5 curated collection description says:

4K
"That sure it s [sic] a lot of pixels... four thousand of them, to be exact. "

Apart from being far from exact, last time I checked 4K was more than 8 million pixels, but apparently Pond5 experts know best.

This looks to be the new expert who they hired in January who has an extensive background in all things media and lectured us during the town hall, bet he knows  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody and https://angel.co/kunal-mody

Seriously, it's really looking like they don't know or care anything about video let alone specs and stuff, the town hall was more of a pitch deck for investors looking to acquire the company.

I've emailed them a couple of follow up questions on the town hall and NOT ONE was answered, 2nd email was responded to by support and they again didn't respond to the questions but instead inserted a link to their contributor portal.

If you read their forums it appears almost no one is getting sales there anymore, it now really looks like they are gearing the marketplace down exactly like Storyblocks did and come the next town hall they will probably announce the end of the marketplace and that they will be going with the collections and subscription model.

The company has clearly changed direction, that is obvious. 





 





wds

« Reply #43 on: October 15, 2019, 08:36 »
+2
One Pond5 curated collection description says:

4K
"That sure it s [sic] a lot of pixels... four thousand of them, to be exact. "

Apart from being far from exact, last time I checked 4K was more than 8 million pixels, but apparently Pond5 experts know best.

This looks to be the new expert who they hired in January who has an extensive background in all things media and lectured us during the town hall, bet he knows  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody and https://angel.co/kunal-mody

Seriously, it's really looking like they don't know or care anything about video let alone specs and stuff, the town hall was more of a pitch deck for investors looking to acquire the company.

I've emailed them a couple of follow up questions on the town hall and NOT ONE was answered, 2nd email was responded to by support and they again didn't respond to the questions but instead inserted a link to their contributor portal.

If you read their forums it appears almost no one is getting sales there anymore, it now really looks like they are gearing the marketplace down exactly like Storyblocks did and come the next town hall they will probably announce the end of the marketplace and that they will be going with the collections and subscription model.

The company has clearly changed direction, that is obvious.

Question is where have their sales gone?...to other vendors or are video sales dropping due to oversupply?

StockDaebak

« Reply #44 on: October 15, 2019, 21:03 »
0
Question is where have their sales gone?...to other vendors or are video sales dropping due to oversupply?
[/quote]

I can't rule anything in or out but I think a lot of "our" sales on Pond5 have gone to Pond5's collections and wholly owned content and to their enterprise clients who they have deals with like Reuters etc,  the customers are being herded in that direction vs the marketplace.

Then there is the LLP and GPP program plus their own membership program which has a lot of good content in there and it all adds up especially in a slow economy or recession.

I don't think that many customers went to other vendors because then everyone would be talking about how amazing sales are at the other vendors and I'm not seeing that.

For me it's actually be slower at SS than in the past with the exception of those two blockbuster days last week ($1500 in sales) but if I take those out then it's actually slower than normal for any month let alone October.

I really don't like those boxes with the collections on the Pond5 homescreen, a lot of our buyers are millennial and gen Z now and they tap on things, so if they are looking for something, they will tap on the appropriate box and assume that's all there is and they will pick something from there all while the search field window is right under their nose.

Big boxes with bold type for almost every subject matter, they put those there for a reason, and how to get into those collection boxes I have no clue, assuming they invite certain artists or production companies.

The exclusive program is now just one of those collection boxes as well, the new Marquee collection will be another box.

So back to your original question, if they went to other vendors, maybe some did because these collections don't have that many clips in them and if customers can't find what they want and think that's all there is then they go off to other sites to see what's there.  Very possible some are doing that.










« Reply #45 on: October 16, 2019, 01:57 »
0
Pond5 have dropped the ball majorly in the past year. Too many fancy moves instead of consolidating. Their turnover has always been dubious. On the negative side there is nothing contributors can do to complain since they owe us a grand total of nothing.

csm

« Reply #46 on: October 16, 2019, 15:54 »
0
I simply cannot understand how sales have been consistently growing this last year and then just stop.

Not a day goes by when I see a Tweet liked by P5, from a new Exclusive contributor, (often with extremely small or limited portfolios.) One even though they only have 10 clips in their portfolio.

I see the most amazing non exclusive lifestyle portfolios, but all I see promoted on Twitter are Exclusive contributors with unimpressive portfolios.  Pity exclusive content isn't tightly edited, Do clients really need exclusive clips of frog spawn? And I think how long will they stay the course after their initial submission of 10 clips, what could they possibly have that is not already online? All very well promoting Exclusive but the best artists with the most experience shooting footage (lifestyle come to mind first and foremost) are non exclusive, and many new Exclusive portfolios I see are by new contributors with little experience of shooting stock footage, but find the 60% appealing and less hassle supplying everyone. I will do what the top lifestyle artists are doing, while they are non exclusive, I will do the same. If and when they move their massive portfolios to Exclusive, I will then consider it.

I left Getty this year, feeling frustrated with Exclusive content not selling, I felt extremely reluctant to go straight into another Exclusive contract right away. However noble the original cause. (Race to the bottom and all that.) 3 month wind down, and then month uploading to P5. (Amongst others.) I didn't have a big portfolio, but there was some nice shots, I had a couple that sold well every month.
I've had nothing sell on P5 since. This was not what I had in mind when I left Getty.

StockDaebak

« Reply #47 on: October 16, 2019, 21:35 »
0
@csm I think that was yet another mistake they made among many in the year that they hired this new director of content dude who doesn't appear to have any previous media, video or photo experience that I can see other than "building strategic partnerships" and I see that sure has been happening.

Exclusive should not just be another name for another collection/box on the screen but it could contain the artists best work and perhaps curated accordingly, even if it's editorial it should be good to get into the exclusive folder and if it's more generic then it goes in the non exclusive account.

They have a box/collection for almost everything you can think of now, they don't contain that many files and I suspect customers are clicking on those boxes, not really finding what they want visually and are going to other agencies all while forgetting there is search window right under their noses and they can manually search through 20 million clips.

As for going exclusive and pulling your content from other sites?, don't do it, you make a product and as a manufacturer you want you product in as many stores as possible not just one, even if Pond did everything right, what if the buyers just moved on and another agency became hot?, happens fast these days and of course if you pull your content from other sites you lose ranking that takes years to get back.


 

« Reply #48 on: October 17, 2019, 03:25 »
0
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

You are free to set your own prices at Pond5 under Account->Preferences->Customize downconverted price percentages. :)

georgep7

« Reply #49 on: October 17, 2019, 04:05 »
0
Quote

They have a box/collection for almost everything you can think of now, they don't contain that many files and I suspect customers are clicking on those boxes, not really finding what they want visually and are going to other agencies all while forgetting there is search window right under their noses and they can manually search through 20 million clips.

Εxactly! And i cannot undestand why those collections are limited to one or few hundrend items and not endless pages sorted by sales or new or whatever...


 

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