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Agency Based Discussion => Pond5 => Topic started by: georgep7 on September 27, 2019, 00:30

Title: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 27, 2019, 00:30
This live event is coming.

Instead of calling names, crying over low sales or pricing, perhaps we can squeeze our brains to seek for alternatives. Here are some ideas, any "problem" is also a possible gateway to a new feature:

"Reuters style", perhaps we can ask, suggest, demand to have an option to upload similar, sequences of rough cut clips, kind of series, telling a story with e.g. pricing x the number of individual clips included. It is one think the buyer to search and add to basket five or six clips with same model, subject, mood, coloring, whatever and another to add in basket a series to do the job.

"do me first please!" :P For newsworthy or time sensitive clips a possible check box, kind of "urgent" for both exclusive and non-exclusive contributors. Guess a penalty could be applied if feature is misused.

Add yours if you wish...
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Brasilnut on September 27, 2019, 05:05
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 27, 2019, 06:19
Here is another one, showing the option "more form this model" below "similar" and "more from artist" display.

It might be easier or quite predisposing buyer to include some more clips of the model in different action or wear or background or whatever. It actually will work as a collection itself with no extra effort.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on September 27, 2019, 08:31
One idea:  How about being honest and cutting the startup speak?. 

If the economy is in recession and sales are down and Pond5 has limited funds or is perhaps losing money like other stellar startups like WeWork and Movie Pass then simply state that give the current economic situation and our limited resources there are some things we can no longer do.

And if they are going in a different direction which it's looking like they are with all these deals with companies like Reuters and others then simply say it.

Reuters is allowed to sell for $1100 per item, I am not allowed to price over $79 and I can only upload one shot at a time with no audio.

They actually are trying to tell us we need to lower our prices and go exclusive all while everyone who's done both has reported over 75% drop in sales and income and btw once you pull thousands of clips from other sites it takes time to re-upload them and years to get your ranking back.

I think the best thing for the upcoming town hall is to demand answers to why they have been avoiding answering questions from contributors and also what's up with them telling us one thing and the exact opposite happening.

It's gotten so bad now that I think that as soon as the town hall is over someone(s) gonna be leaking the entire debacle to the tech press and social media and bringing it all out in public like has happened with startups like WeWork and Movie pass and others.

Really not interested in hearing how their conversions are up and sales are up all while revenue is down 85% and the usual nonsense of "we believe than over the long terms this will be beneficial.......". 

They need to cut the startup speak and cut the dishonesty.

I feel bad for those who bought in to the exclusive program and basically lost their businesses, I came very close to being one of them but then I saw some reg flags and held off and kept holding off but stopped uploading to SS, now I am uploading 24/7 to SS and trying to catch up.

I can't honestly figure out if they are dishonest or simply beyond clueless like many other startup people, I'm thinking they are clueless as I am seeing this trend with other startups who are losing millions and billions, Uber, WeWork, Movie Pass and others, they really think that below cost selling will make more money and I think that's what's happening at pond5 and perhaps other sites as well.

This town hall I want answers and I'd be willing to bet we will get more startup speak and falsehoods like the last time.

I am amazed at how those three where able to sit through the last town hall and pitch the exclusive program and keep from cracking up laughing themselves.














Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 27, 2019, 09:53
Quote
I feel bad for those who bought in to the exclusive program

Truth is that I was wondering on that, "Exclusive" is on frontpage slider's third "slide" out of four in total, right after (among others) Hypnotic, Activism and ....Boho.

???
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Trippy on September 27, 2019, 10:46
It would be good to get some opinions from those that went exclusive.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Clair Voyant on September 27, 2019, 11:01
I'd like to see an easier bulk uploading interface. I personally find it to be confusing. AS, SS, and IS are much easier to bulk edit.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Visualab on September 27, 2019, 14:32
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

actually 4k is 4 times larger than hd ,then storage processing exporting takes much longer than hd,so double price is ok i think...
what's the point of asking to earn less?? i really don't get it...
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: marthamarks on September 27, 2019, 17:50
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

actually 4k is 4 times larger than hd ,then storage processing exporting takes much longer than hd,so double price is ok i think...
what's the point of asking to earn less?? i really don't get it...

I had that same reaction but didn't reply.

Personally, I'm just moving into 4k footage, requiring not only new camera gear but also a much more powerful computer. Why on earth would one go through all the extra expense and learning curve if there's no reasonable payoff for it?

I don't get it either.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on September 28, 2019, 10:39

Personally, I'm just moving into 4k footage, requiring not only new camera gear but also a much more powerful computer. Why on earth would one go through all the extra expense and learning curve if there's no reasonable payoff for it?

I don't get it either.
[/quote]

So hard to even think about upgrading equipment and computers when 2019 has been one of the worst years ever for sales for many producers, that and with so much of the end product being viewed on cell phones it doesn't help the decision making process.

I am 4K now but not that many 4K sales yet but I do mostly editorial, 5G is coming so maybe that will boost the demand for 4K but it all depends on the cost of the data plans for consumers.

With consumer demands changing so far I am nervous about making any more upgrades, kind of in a holding pattern for now.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 28, 2019, 11:28
Assuming that we entered stock as already relative to photo or video, "I need an upgrade" don't sound as a master argument. Quality of work is better reason I guess...

I have already mentioned in older threads that at home i work on proxies and render 4K in an i5 laptop with 8Gb shared with GPU memory and two first gen SSDs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here is another one: Promotional clips: 4-5-6 clips assembled and described: buy this package.

So:

Better and more complex promos. With some millions of clips available, promo clips seem (apologies for this) poor.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: obj owl on September 28, 2019, 13:31
They don't need to sell anything any cheaper or give discounts and promotions, because they can say with all honesty that they are the cheapest on the market, that's all they need to promote.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Stephan on September 28, 2019, 15:14
They should put on fixed prices at normal value and bring buyers back and give us 50% revenue back  :)
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: marthamarks on September 28, 2019, 15:38
They should put on fixed prices at normal value and bring buyers back and give us 50% revenue back  :)

Yep, they should. But they won't. Sad.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 29, 2019, 02:07
One possible addition to the "fast curation" option. A checkbox that could indicate that the shot is for currently short term trending or breakign news subject that no other or too low number of other clips or photos exist in current whole library and it might worth to be pushed over clients to partners or directly through email "look! we got it! grab it now!". Everybody says there are "gaps" in stock but by the time this gap is filled with work it is past trend or news...
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on September 29, 2019, 09:08
I noticed there are a couple of good and detailed posts in the pond5 forums this morning on the matter as well but I have a feeling they are not listening, it's their way, they do the talking, they know best, they declared themselves stewards of the marketplace, they are leading us in the race to the bottom one way of another and when we offer suggestions they ignore them or deflect them.

I think the reason they have stopped responding in the forums is they got caught with the hidden search price cap, the exclusive program scheme, and all these discounts and forcing our prices lower and lower all while allowing Reuters and other clients to sell for $300 to $1100 per clip.

They are out of lies and they know it.


I think we need to find another agency to sell our commercial and editorial content on. It's just not working, we lost the summer and now here we are in the fall selling season and once again the higher I price the higher they discount so my cut is almost the same now whether I price near the bottom, mid range or sky high.    Last week was a really good week for sales at pond5 but everything discounted so my cut was same or less than what I get at SS.    Good week at SS too but not what it should be for this time of year.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Jake Hellbach on September 30, 2019, 09:15
I hope everyone realizes this "live" event is totally one sided as the chat function will be turned off.
They have already made up their mind on what they are going to do. It will be nothing nice for us.

You can make up all the ideas you want, I tried that on the pond5 forum. They don't listen and will continually blame everyone else.
I've been with Pond5 since they started and this is the worst I've seen, totally are not an artists friendly site any more.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 30, 2019, 11:11
Perhaps you want to correct your signature link, not working.

Actually I read your thread at P5 forum and loved the "enough misery" part, so I copied it here.
I am the guy that need a dumb-bell for pricing low and advertising it :)
(Offtopic, @cathyslife if you read it, people calling names exist everywhere, I don't care if they do not pay my meal)

Perhaps this is different, it is i think the first time that they asked for help,
if we are willing to help promote in Youtube etc. in the questionary.
Perhaps it is a dead end and it is to everyone's interest to help before hitting the wall.
Yes they made errors. Yes they can do better. But still sales do happen.

Hoping for the best.

Edit, being completely honest, since going exclusive this is my only agency of interest, so I have to care or act on what will happen next...
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on September 30, 2019, 12:46
I would upload every frame of video you have and tag it on pond5 now, literally go 24/7, they didn't delay the town hall because sellers contacted them and told them they are busy in their production cycles and can't watch for an hour; not buying that anymore than I bought their line about buyers calling them and telling them they want exclusive footage (that everyone else can buy) only on pond5.

I think it's more a case of in their race to the bottom plus the economic resession that the higher ups are in a position where they need to make even more drastic changes in order for the company to keep going.

This could mean applying the brakes on new or similar uploads, who knows. Pretty sure people didn't call them and ask them to delay the town hall.

So don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today or tonight as we have no idea if the town hall will being massive changes or be a mild one but given the rough year everyone including the agencies have had I would be worried .

Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on September 30, 2019, 13:08
Quote
I would upload every frame of video you have and tag it on pond5 now, literally go 24/7,

Funny to mention that, today it was one of the rare times that current ftp succesful uploads were in "processing" stage for more that one hour maybe two. Guess everyone uploads like crazy?

???
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on September 30, 2019, 20:27


Funny to mention that, today it was one of the rare times that current ftp succesful uploads were in "processing" stage for more that one hour maybe two. Guess everyone uploads like crazy?

???
[/quote]

Interesting, I never noticed how long the files stay in processing as usually I upload all night long and tag in the morning but I have noticed that if it's 24fps it goes faster and 60fps take longer but I guess if there is a higher volume of uploads then it would slow down as well.

I just think it's a good idea to literally get it all up and in there just in case they close the barn door or make some other changes regarding similars like SS did.  It's always a good idea to do that anyways but as you know we sometimes get busy shooting or tired and put things off for a bit.

September turned out to be a better sales month for me on both Pond5 and SS, nothing to get excited about but it ended up being a tie almost to the dollar and the best month for me in 2019, here's hoping our buyers keep on buying!
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 04, 2019, 05:39
Give us your social handlers and we might shout you out!
And only Youtube option included?
Thanks a lot! I am banned for life from YT! Hahahah!

Jokes aside, no Vimeo? It is the Mecca of showreels i think.

???
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: helloitsme on October 05, 2019, 08:12
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Noedelhap on October 05, 2019, 09:21
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

No way, and that shouldn't be up to Pond5 to decide.

Ontopic: It's futile to suggest ideas. Their ""townhall meeting"" is not a town hall meeting where people can shout suggestions. It's just a livestream with announcements, nothing more.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Mantis on October 06, 2019, 08:22
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Trippy on October 06, 2019, 13:44
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Visualab on October 06, 2019, 16:29
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$
..
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 07, 2019, 04:29
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.

Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: odesigns on October 07, 2019, 09:16
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?
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: wds on October 07, 2019, 09:21
My suggestion to them is: Get sales up!!  :)
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 08, 2019, 03:33
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?
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Brasilnut on October 08, 2019, 08:17
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
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 08, 2019, 08:49
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?.

Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Atomazul on October 08, 2019, 08:51
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 08, 2019, 08:55
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.

???
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 08, 2019, 09:06
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
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 08, 2019, 10:02
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 08, 2019, 10:04
Found another link to Kunal Mody at Pond5, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody) and https://angel.co/kunal-mody (https://angel.co/kunal-mody)

In early 2019 changes came and sales all but ended there. I wonder.......
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 08, 2019, 10:25
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 :)
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 08, 2019, 11:37

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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: BigBubba on October 11, 2019, 06:00
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
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: Noedelhap on October 14, 2019, 10:03
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 15, 2019, 07:45
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 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody) and https://angel.co/kunal-mody (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. 





 




Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: wds on October 15, 2019, 08:36
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 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalmody) and https://angel.co/kunal-mody (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?
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 15, 2019, 21:03
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.









Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: pkphotos on October 16, 2019, 01:57
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: csm on October 16, 2019, 15:54
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.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 16, 2019, 21:35
@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.


 
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: microlock on October 17, 2019, 03:25
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. :)
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 17, 2019, 04:05
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...
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: csm on October 17, 2019, 04:48
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. :)

If Exclusive.
If non exclusive, you are recommended to set prices to what is the general average prices for HD and 4K.
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: csm on October 17, 2019, 04:51
I am so annoyed how things are turning out, I had such high hopes for P5 this year.
I have been promoting my work for P5 every day on social media.
And for what, not a single sale?
It just seems unbelievable, compared to other sites that are selling.

Puts my off promoting my work, and wondering if its worth submitting anything else to them for the time being.

I wonder how many other feel the same?

Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: csm on October 17, 2019, 04:58

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.
[/quote]

Exactly.
Look how quickly things have changed at P5 this year, who would have thought a year ago.
I`m starting to look at stock like producing baked beans, and how baked beans are sold in cheap shops and expensive shops, still baked beans :)?

I wonder if other agents will become stronger as a result of this? Contributors tired of lack of sales and stopping submitting to them and submitting just to others instead. (I'm sure contributors will continue submitting just out of habit and you never know what's round the corner.)
The law of unintended consequences...

I was with Corbis, they went under, went to Getty. Not selling much, migrate to P5...
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 18, 2019, 13:03
Something I noticed this morning, on Pond5, HotelFoxtrot who is a rather high end video producer has her HD content priced at $59 now so one of two things, she like many others can't get sales at Pond5 this year and is trying out very low prices or the recession is taking more and more of a toll and prices are dropping.

Everything is down, all countries, all industries, it's not just stock. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/gildan-plunges-most-since-2008-as-cash-machine-unit-slumps-1.1333630 (https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/gildan-plunges-most-since-2008-as-cash-machine-unit-slumps-1.1333630)

It's literally everything and the "official" recession hasn't even technically started yet but as we know they don't start on specific dates but develop over a few months.

Hotelfoxtrot is listing content on Pond5 for less than what SS lists HD content for. 

So now I wonder, is it the economy or the race to the bottom feeding on itself?, but keep in mind BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and Telsa haven't dropped their prices to that of entry level Chevrolet so........
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: georgep7 on October 18, 2019, 13:52
I know sh*t on stock but I have learned a couple of things the hard way.

a. There is a customer for every price.
b. quality and established brand (as of quality) sell high.
c. last year's top products are this year's stock in selves.
d. Fashion and trends make cycles in history.
e. don't give your competition's fights yourself.

 ::)
Title: Re: Any ideas to suggest to them?
Post by: StockDaebak on October 18, 2019, 18:40
I know sh*t on stock but I have learned a couple of things the hard way.

a. There is a customer for every price.
b. quality and established brand (as of quality) sell high.
c. last year's top products are this year's stock in selves.
d. Fashion and trends make cycles in history.
e. don't give your competition's fights yourself.

 ::)

Yes I agree and the hardest one to remember and stick to is A. thanks for reminding me.  Natural instinct for many and I suspect for pond as well is to lower price or offer big discounts but then you're into the dollar store and need to sell thousands of product over and over again to make profit.