It looks like the long term strategy is to build up BigStock subs sales and pay us much less than lots of us currently get with SS.

no idea about that, both BigStock and SS seem to be growing, at least for me

First of all, I didn�t ask about a raise because it has been discussed before and Jon has been clear in several interviews about it, that a raise is not an option at the moment.

Well, I don't think that's a reason for no asking and telling him a raise would be much appreciated. Just doing the "correct" questions won't improve things for SS contributors.

You think he doesnt know? Do you think me asking for a raise is going to change things? Or that Jon says, wow, I had no idea, I will get on it? Come one, everyone asks for a raise, I didnt, I rather spent my time asking questions they can answer. They know we want a raise, its been said many times here and on the SS forum. They know we want a raise, and why we wont get one is actually in my OP. They did touch on that.

Here is the third quarter thread for Shutterstock

Good report Ron. Didn't you stop uploading and quit Shutterstock this Summer because of rejections, search, sales and being gutted. Are you back reversed there.

I quit uploading early August because of rejections and poor sales,

Shutterstock counts for 75% of my earnings

Shutterstock is 51% of my total earnings for 2013 to date .... As long as Shutterstock is going up, I am fine.

 

Correct, thanks for noticing. I have edited my comment.

k

I do not see any evidence that the market for microstock and subscription is growing.

guess you have missed SS's latest report

Quote from: luissantos84 on November 11, 2013, 15:00

Quote from: bhr on November 11, 2013, 14:51

I do not see any evidence that the market for microstock and subscription is growing.

guess you have missed SS's latest report

no.

I do not believe that the market for subscription microstock is growing. But I do believe that they may be able to increase their stake before their trend levels.

It's related: Also remember that the stock price commentators are only ever talking about how high the thing can go. They have no interest in the long term sustainability of the thing from the supplier perspective. When they write about the stock they are talking about 6 - 18 months max.

guess you aren't understanding, SS is reporting growth since the first day, when are they going to decrease if I may ask?

too bad only SS seems to go up even IF they will fail at some point

Why does it have to come down? Why cant it level out? Talking about shares.

There are tons of companies on the stock exchange for decades showing consistency in the long term.

The sustainability of their growth seems doubtful to me especially given that their business is so little diversified. The stock has risen in a rising stock market. There are only two reasons to hold stock - either an increasing price or the dividend. Do you think it likely that they will announce a dividend ? If the stock price comes under pressure that will surely affect contributors. No ?

I would be much less dubious about them if they were not a public company. I am not seeing any evidence that they have usefully re-invested in the business so far (apart from the prestigious new HQ). Offset has largely gone un-noticed. Have I missed something ?

Quote from: bhr on November 11, 2013, 15:58

Quote from: luissantos84 on November 11, 2013, 15:19

SS is reporting growth since the first day, when are they going to decrease if I may ask?

My guess would be ... when they are no longer able to take customers from other sites - or when and if other companies start winning back customers from them - even at cost. But, of course, there are plenty of ways in which they can string it out even with diminishing customer growth.

The market for cheap microstock subscription content is not growing - the sites are trading customers with each other and the total pool of customers is not growing. The stock commentators are getting this wrong IMO. Also remember that the stock (i.e. shares) market is trading on very low volume.

SS did well in a new and growing market and then, in recent years, by taking customers from other sites. But they are basically over-exposed to microstock subscription IMO.

My guess is that things will seem great unless or until stock market prices start to change direction - and for the past few years prices have been underpinned by government liquidity. The thing you always have to remember is that there is no new or different economy. It is always the same patterns we saw with other companies, in other economies. What goes up relatively, comes down. Always.

You make some consistently good points.  I also think you hit the nail on the head in regard to trading customers with other sites.  IS just secured two contributors who pull a huge number of buyers. They also needed to fill the void that Sean left.  If they go for more of SS's HCV contributors and target large business accounts the table could turn faster than most might imagine.

oh please, nothing happened after Yuri's disappearance (actually they sold more files and for more RPD as you know) and I am sure nothing will happen this time as well, do you think iStock will "buy" all 30 Million files / 30k contributors?

give up guys, nothing will happen beside SS growing and IS shrinking

side note: AndresR portfolio still available at SS

The sustainability of their growth is seems doubtful to me especially given that their business is so little diversified. The stock has risen in a rising stock market. There are only two reasons to hold stock - either an increasing price or the dividend. Do you think it likely that they will announced a dividend ? If the stock price comes under pressure that will surely affect contributors. No ?

I would be much less dubious about them if they were not a public company. I am not seeing any evidence that they have usefully re-invested in the business so far (apart from the prestigious new HQ). Offset has largely gone un-noticed. Have I missed something ?

Have you missed something? I'd say you have missed pretty much everything. You must have your eyes and ears closed.

SS have diversified. Less than 50% of revenue now comes from subscription. The rest comes from single images sales, special licensing deals and footage. The diversification continues with the launching of Offset.

You don't 'see' the investment because it's not in the form of bricks and mortar. SS invest massively in their data collection and analysis (literally $10M's per year) which is why they can offer a better service than their competitors. They also invest hugely in marketing too (again several $10M's per annum). They closely monitor the cost to gain each customer which currently stands at about $100.

Since before the IPO SS have also expressed their interest in 'a major acquisition' and they are sitting on a gigantic pile of cash for when the right opportunity comes along. Of course, for all we know, such discussions might already be at an advanced stage.

I'm still seeing growth in the sub's market anyway. IS's PP is all the proof you need of that. Thanks to all the Getty sales guys contacting IS's own customers the PP has come from nowhere to become maybe 25% the size of SS. Possibly bigger than that in subs alone.

All the information on what SS are doing is out there ... you just have to read it (you will have to register to read the full article);

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1820992-shutterstocks-ceo-discusses-q3-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript?source=email_rt_article_readmore

Quote from: Ron on November 11, 2013, 17:21

So they lose 150k images, they add that back in half a week, and there are a ton of copycats. Maybe a few buyers buy the name, but I think the majority dont give a hoohaa on who shot the image. Not for stock. Art would be different.

right, both around 100k, like you just said half week of approvals at SS, there are 4 or 5 big "lifestyle" contributors at SS that will take care of their downloads, BTW they must be quite excited

Exactly. SS losing 100K images out of 30M will not be noticed. They'll add that many new images in about 4 days.

To be honest the 'photo factories' are pretty much going round in circles anyway. They are just shooting the same, relatively few themes, over and over. So are most of the rest of us too. There's precious little original in stock, especially nowadays, and any successful artist or image will rapidly be 'flattered' by an army of clones and similars.

I'd be a lot more concerned if we ever saw Monkeybusiness become 'exclusive' to Istock but I'm pretty sure that will never happen. Yeulet is a sharp business woman as she proved when she sold Bananastock to Jupiter for $20M. I'd trust her judgement in such matters over Yuri's all day long.