Shutterstock VS Istock

[fintastique]

Well its no big mystery who will break the million mark but I wonder if SS will ever actually catch up with iStock

Today (7 July) <3rd July> [22th June] 8th June

1 Fotolia                944,904 (899) <880> [839k] 779k inc 45k
2 istock                 926,538 (904) <892> [869k] 841k inc 22k
3 Shutterstock       891,452 (871) <863> [844k] 814k incr 20k

4 Dreamstime         490,000+ (480) <470> [450k] 430k inc 10k
5 Big Stock Photo   417,000 (409) <404> [392k] 379k  incr 8k
6 123 rf                300,000+
7 Can Stock Photo  236,056 (231) <228> [224k] 217k incr 5k

8 Stockxpert          150,000?
9 Stockphotomedia  66,235 (64) <63> [62k] (60k) incr 1.5k

I think I really should draw a graph

[leaf]

boy thanks for the numbers.

yeah good question, they have been coasting along a similar speed for sometime now.

[fintastique]

I keep on reading posts about SS reviewers going a little crazy, high rejection rates. Well they will be the biggest subscription only site for a long time to come

When this default search option being "most popular" its going to be a kick in the teeth for the newbies but I will still contribute as they still have one of the easiest upload procedures and despite a slow start I should get enough for a payout this month. 

[Greg Boiarsky]

I really wonder if photo base equates to sales.  For example, I've had more sales on StockXpert in two months than in four months of Dreamstime.  I like both sites, but StockXpert is a bit more active for me.

Given that photo base isn't necessarily a predictor of sales, I wonder what is.  I don't think it's views, since views don't seem to correlate with sales.  In fact, for selling images I tend to get about one download per 5 looks (for best sellers) to 20 looks (for slow movers).  But, while non-sellers get fewer looks, it's not necessarily a huge difference--depending on the site.

Similarly, I don't think time in the market equates to sales, other than for SS and IS.  For the others, I get relatively similar sales regardless of how old the site is.

So, any ideas of what might be a good predictor of sales?  Any idea of what sells where better (such as, where would portraits sell, or landscapes)?

[fintastique]

I suppose it depends on how many buyer versus how much competition each of your photos has.

For instance if a buyer visited LO and wanted photos of London or Paris I would be very happy.

StockXpert don't have that many photos but they seem to get visitors who actually do buy.

At least number of views gives you an idea if people are at least interested in your photos.

I have quite a few images which have had 100 views but no sales

I quite like DT option to buy an image with Paypal for customers who don't want to buy credits which net us $3.

Anyway for those of you interested in DT growth over the last two years I have added a graph (a work in progress I seem to have screwed up the HTML)

http://www.fintastique.com/dreamstime.htm

You need to scroll down.
The source data taken from DT website is underneath.

[GeoPappas]

FYI: Dreamstime just broke the half million mark, so you migth want to update your graph.

[GeoPappas]

According to the latest Stockxpert newsletter, they now have more than 170,000 images.

[fintastique]

http://www.fintastique.com/fotolia.htm

scroll down

A graph to show the rise of Fotolia (SS and Istock seem to be running parallel)

Data from this morning added but Excel doesn't label the very last data point

[Freezingpictures]

Good Information fantastique, I like your site :-)

[CJPhoto]

It is a shame your spreadsheet doesn't go back further.  it would be interesting to see the effect FT 20c payout had on increasing their numbers.  The slope of the graph from then on compared to SS is probably just a more lenient policy.  iS stricter policy is ofset by its exclusives.

[fintastique]

Yes its a pity DT post when they break the 500,000 mark etc

but for the other sites its a question of periodically noting down the number of images and I only started that in Mid March and I only started in Micro Stock in mid Feb.

I may ask around

From the slope of the graph ie if they continue to increase at a similar rate I estimate these sites will be breaking the one million mark

Fotolia 11 days so by the end of the July
iStock 35 Days - late August
Shutterstock 49 days - early September


Obviously there are SO many variables involved I will be surprised if they are correct or even close, I expect SS will be faster as Newbies only have to wait one month if their first ten get rejected before they can try again.

[fintastique]

Its Monday morning in Europe so its time to count the number of images at the microstock sites - I think it may be time to rename this thread as there isn't really any competition anymore, well apart from when StockXpert catches up with CanStockPhoto. The figures in brackets are from last Monday so my original predition still looks valid FT to break the one million mark on the 31st of July.

1 Fotolia� � � � � � � �977,382� [944,904] increase 32,478
2 istock� � � � � � � � �940,763� [926,538] increase 14,225
3 Shutterstock� � � �906,228 [891,452] increase 14,776

4 Dreamstime� � � � �510,000 [490,000+] increase 20k
5 Big Stock Photo� �424,000 [417,000] increase 7k

6 123 rf� � � � � � � � 300,000+
7 Can Stock Photo� 240,520 [236,056] increase 4464

8 Stockxpert� � � � � 170,000?

9 Stockphotomedia� 67,325 [66,235]� incr 1090
10 Gimmestock� � � �45,835
10 Featurepics� � � � 43,962

[GeoPappas]

You got up too early.

DT just broke 510,000...