Author Topic: Shutterstock Performance May 2014 - Good, Bad or Indifferent? (Read 12410 times)

ethan · « **on:** June 01, 2014, 03:37 »

Disappointing for me following a record month in April across all areas. Record D/L For the Month, Record Revenue for the Month, BDE in D/L and BDE in Revenue.

May was down 15% in downloads and even worse, 26% down in Revenue terms so therefore my performance was BAD

Ariene · « **Reply #1 on:** June 01, 2014, 03:50 »

Admit, May was bad, there was no nice surprice.

Beppe Grillo · « **Reply #2 on:** June 01, 2014, 04:00 »

A little down, but not so much.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #3 on:** June 01, 2014, 04:23 »

A weak month, but not disastrous - around the bottom end of expectations.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2014, 04:59 »

Pretty good for me but I'm an overall poor performer by SS standards

Shelma1 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 01, 2014, 05:01 »

Down almost 25% since March.

heywoody · « **Reply #6 on:** June 01, 2014, 05:11 »

About 70% of April but see the same across all the sites

luissantos84 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 01, 2014, 05:41 »

+20% comparing to May 2013

Noedelhap · « **Reply #8 on:** June 01, 2014, 05:47 »

+ 27% compared to May 2013

For me, March and April were exceptionally strong months due to some Single Downloads, May only had regular downloads and some On Demands, so the numbers are pretty skewed.

dbvirago · « **Reply #9 on:** June 01, 2014, 05:55 »

Decent month despite no ELs

Desintegrator · « **Reply #10 on:** June 01, 2014, 06:04 »

Mine started terribly but turned out pretty good at the end

cathyslife · « **Reply #11 on:** June 01, 2014, 06:05 »

I got the short end of the stick on their last shuffle. No ELs either.

spike · « **Reply #12 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:02 »

-3% compared to April 2014
+430% compared to May 2013

Ron · « **Reply #13 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:11 »

+63% compared to May 13
-25% compared to April 14 (also BME)

No ELs, no footage, no large SOD, massive lack of ODDs. Lowest RPD since July 13

Crap month, but if I remove ELs and LSODs from the other months, its exactly the same amount, every month. Which is no good, I added 700+ images.

ethan · « **Reply #14 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:17 »

Quote from: Ron on June 01, 2014, 07:11

+63% compared to May 13
-25% compared to April 14 (also BME)

No ELs, no footage, no large SOD, massive lack of ODDs. Lowest RPD since July 13

Crap month, but if I remove ELs and LSODs from the other months, its exactly the same amount, every month. Which is no good, I added 700+ images.

SNAP

Apart from adding new images. I'm boycotting SS on all new images until they sort out their new image review software

cobalt · « **Reply #15 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:22 »

Shutterstock is up 30% over April, but lower than March. Decent mix of photo, video,odd sales.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #16 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:40 »

Out of my 5 months so far, 2nd best, but surprised it was more than $100 below April, with all the uploads I put in.

grsphoto · « **Reply #17 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:45 »

I had a great month for my meagre and underperforming portfolio...BME...On Demand, and Single downloads pushed it higher. Now I need to work on actually creating some content that sells consistently.

JPSDK · « **Reply #18 on:** June 01, 2014, 08:10 »

1/3 below March and April.

disorderly · « **Reply #19 on:** June 01, 2014, 08:12 »

Bad but not awfully so. Slow start, got good in the middle of the month and then kind of stalled at the end. Down 11% from April, which is in line with my average April -> May decline over the past 8 years across all agencies.

Maximilian · « **Reply #20 on:** June 01, 2014, 08:15 »

30% decrease. same money as istock now.

Mantis · « **Reply #21 on:** June 01, 2014, 08:22 »

Pretty regular until the last few days where I had some big downloads. Those pushed me to a BME by maybe $100.

ShadySue · « **Reply #22 on:** June 01, 2014, 08:36 »

Quote from: Mantis on June 01, 2014, 08:22

Pretty regular until the last few days where I had some big downloads. Those pushed me to a BME by maybe $100.

Thank goodness.
I was beginning to think the sky was really falling.

asmai · « **Reply #23 on:** June 01, 2014, 08:42 »

Unusually terrible month, and only at SS. 20% down from April, 15% down from last May. The last week of May was the same as the week of last Christmas, which is the worst of the whole year. Very unusual for me as they are pretty consistent until now.

gbalex · « **Reply #24 on:** June 01, 2014, 09:45 »

Down 30% on last year

File Sold · « **Reply #25 on:** June 01, 2014, 10:12 »

Very good month for me.

Compared to Apr 14:

Portfolio: +16%
Downloads: +15%
Earnings: +26%

robhainer · « **Reply #26 on:** June 01, 2014, 10:28 »

Flat month.

Earnings up .8 percent over April 2014. Total sales down slightly over April. Still, earnings up 31 percent over May 2013.

Having trouble getting new files to stick. A lot of them sell quick after upload, then I don't really see them again.

silksatsunrise · « **Reply #27 on:** June 01, 2014, 12:10 »

Best month of the year. Not as great overall growth as 2013 vs 2012, but so far Jan 13 to May 13 vs Jan 14 to May 14 is up 26%

fotoroad · « **Reply #28 on:** June 01, 2014, 12:54 »

down 50% compare with last year and with more images

ethan · « **Reply #29 on:** June 01, 2014, 13:11 »

A real mixed bag.

Congrats to all that are on the upside

and commiseration's to all those (like me) on the downside

Must be due to all those growing numbers of free images out there.....

MxR · « **Reply #30 on:** June 01, 2014, 14:08 »

BME in Shutter and Fotolia (OUT of DPC)

The other stock webs... where are??

Rinderart · « **Reply #31 on:** June 01, 2014, 15:02 »

Haven't had a BME since march 2013 when the crash came. May was fairly good though with lots of tasty EL's.

Goofy · « **Reply #32 on:** June 01, 2014, 15:11 »

only up 55% compared to least May 2013

Will · « **Reply #33 on:** June 01, 2014, 15:14 »

Down by $300 from March but up from April by $250, close to the same as May 13 without many additions. So, pretty much steady as she goes...

Jogga0 · « **Reply #34 on:** June 01, 2014, 15:49 »

Big improvement on April 14 due to a large SOD and multiple footage sales. Hope it continues, but think I was just lucky in May!

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #35 on:** June 01, 2014, 16:29 »

May 2014 was up 9% over May 2013 in $$ and 12% in downloads - so not bad. And that follows last year's pattern - May 2013 was down over April 2013 (19% $$ and 1% downloads)

What I think is interesting is that May 2014 was down 29% in $$ over April 2014 while downloads were up 8%. That says that the impact of fewer SODs and ELs is significant. Look at the percentage of subscription earnings for the last three months compared to the same three in 2013

Mar-May 2013 48 / 41 / 51
Mar-May 2014 36 / 33 / 52

May 2014 was about the same subs/other ratio as the year before, but the two prior months were very much better this year than last.

Shutterstock continuing to grow their SOD/OD/EL business is clearly what matters (to me) for earnings growth.

Oldhand · « **Reply #36 on:** June 01, 2014, 16:43 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 01, 2014, 16:29

Shutterstock continuing to grow their SOD/OD/EL business is clearly what matters (to me) for earnings growth.

Snap. They are becoming the key factor in how the month was.

pancaketom · « **Reply #37 on:** June 01, 2014, 20:40 »

They beat May 2010... (but not any May since then). Actually it was about avg. for the year, which isn't so great. April was very good though, so it feels like a letdown. Usually I have 10 or so "good" days at SS (totally arbitrary distinction). This month only 5 - but the good days were very good, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. DT and Alamy took up some of the slack though.

ultimagina · « **Reply #38 on:** June 01, 2014, 22:58 »

Excellent! BME by far! 75% better than the previous BME (April)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ComfortEagle2095 · « **Reply #39 on:** June 02, 2014, 00:05 »

Lowest income in May since 2007.
Down 43% from April 2014.

I lost out on the EL and high value SODs lottery this month. First month in a long time I haven't had one or the other or both.

danienel · « **Reply #40 on:** June 02, 2014, 01:25 »

Mine was about half of previous months. Definitely a bad one.

Phadrea · « **Reply #41 on:** June 02, 2014, 02:59 »

April great month. May I didn't even make the payout threshold. Terrible $:-\$

ethan · « **Reply #42 on:** June 02, 2014, 03:11 »

Quote from: Herg on June 02, 2014, 02:59

April great month. May I didn't even make the payout threshold. Terrible $:-\$

That's sad, on the bright side you should make the payout threshold early in the month and have a bumper June payout

Karen · « **Reply #43 on:** June 02, 2014, 03:55 »

Compared to Apr 14:

Very good month on SS

Very bad month on iStock

dpimborough · « **Reply #44 on:** June 02, 2014, 06:34 »

Over 100% up on April so I'm happy

Harvepino · « **Reply #45 on:** June 02, 2014, 07:30 »

SS down by 10% compared to April 2014 despite some ELs. But I haven't added any new content, so not unusual result.

Overall, May was my BME

Record sales on DT, 123rf, PD, BS and surprise... Mostphotos which was dormant for long time but produced some nice sales last month.

60D · « **Reply #46 on:** June 02, 2014, 10:34 »

In terms of income:
+51% compared to April 2014
+312% compared to May 2013

In terms of downloads:
+40% compared to April 2014
+256% compared to May 2013

ethan · « **Reply #47 on:** June 02, 2014, 10:43 »

Quote from: 60D on June 02, 2014, 10:34

In terms of income:
+51% compared to April 2014
+312% compared to May 2013

In terms of downloads:
+40% compared to April 2014
+256% compared to May 2013

Wow. That's heading in the right direction. Congratulations

roidi · « **Reply #48 on:** June 02, 2014, 11:09 »

Down by 22% compared to April 2014

mike ledray · « **Reply #49 on:** June 02, 2014, 16:56 »

BME!!!

SS Rocks!
[suspicious][/suspicious]

60D · « **Reply #50 on:** June 02, 2014, 18:30 »

Quote from: ethan on June 02, 2014, 10:43

Quote from: 60D on June 02, 2014, 10:34
In terms of income:
+51% compared to April 2014
+312% compared to May 2013

In terms of downloads:
+40% compared to April 2014
+256% compared to May 2013
Wow. That's heading in the right direction. Congratulations

Thanks!

Goofy · « **Reply #51 on:** June 02, 2014, 18:57 »

Quote from: mike ledray on June 02, 2014, 16:56

BME!!!

SS Rocks!
[suspicious][/suspicious]

What happen to your Dog icon?

wordplanet · « **Reply #52 on:** June 02, 2014, 23:21 »

Up 200% from April (which was WMY), just $3.00 under my BMY, and significantly up from May 2013. Good volume and earnings.

jamesdeanny · « **Reply #53 on:** June 03, 2014, 14:41 »

Record month

+290% from May 2013
+155% from April 2014

It helps that I had two sales that must've been ELs of some sort (huge earnings per each clip)

stockmarketer · « **Reply #54 on:** June 03, 2014, 15:09 »

Quote from: jamesdeanny on June 03, 2014, 14:41

Record month

+290% from May 2013
+155% from April 2014

It helps that I had two sales that must've been ELs of some sort (huge earnings per each clip)

Those are nice numbers. I'm curious how long you've been at this, and how your portfolio increased during the same periods.

In general, I think it's only relative newcomers to microstock that can see growth like this. If you started just a year or two ago, and today you have several times the port size of the year you're comparing, then huge increases are the norm.

But once you've been at this five years or more, growth typically falls to zero, or into negative territory. It becomes impossible to keep your head above the tide of new competitors flooding the market, and you start realizing that growth is unsustainable.

Does any microstock veteran have a different experience?

luissantos84 · « **Reply #55 on:** June 03, 2014, 19:08 »

Quote from: stockmarketer on June 03, 2014, 15:09

Does any microstock veteran have a different experience?

I can think of one that starts with a D and ends with V

(from previous discussions here at MSG)

Jogga0 · « **Reply #56 on:** June 04, 2014, 02:11 »

Pretty happy, best month since August 2012. Encouraged by increased sales at SS, Alamy and P5.

pyrst · « **Reply #57 on:** June 04, 2014, 02:27 »

Happy, best month, which is sweet as i havent had time to upload anything for quite some time. Had to take a day job... Got to pay those bills...

File Sold · « **Reply #58 on:** June 04, 2014, 02:34 »

Could people put portfolio growth percent also when putting comparisons. That would be awesome!

sdeva · « **Reply #59 on:** June 04, 2014, 06:34 »

SS sales slowly drifting down for me

. About 10% below May 2013 and about 5% below May 2012 !! I don't have upload stats at the ready, but surely my content there is steadily up, probably 400+ image each year. With SS fast acquiring the leadership position in micro stock, perhaps its time they revised up the contributor share to at least keep us up with inflation...

Mantis · « **Reply #60 on:** June 04, 2014, 06:44 »

Quote from: Ariene on June 01, 2014, 03:50

Admit, May was bad, there was no nice surprice.

Those don't happen to often for me either, but I was lucky in May. I would say that every other month I get a juicy morsel, then it's the $35 kind of sale. All I can say is that at least shutterstock is changing the microstock experience for contributors in a more positive manner than all the rest of their competitors. And I can only hope it lasts or gets better. The one thing they need to keep their eye on is continuing to yield a POSITIVE BUYER EXPERIENCE.

VB inc · « **Reply #61 on:** June 04, 2014, 11:28 »

Quote from: stockmarketer on June 03, 2014, 15:09

Quote from: jamesdeanny on June 03, 2014, 14:41
Record month

+290% from May 2013
+155% from April 2014

It helps that I had two sales that must've been ELs of some sort (huge earnings per each clip)

Those are nice numbers. I'm curious how long you've been at this, and how your portfolio increased during the same periods.

In general, I think it's only relative newcomers to microstock that can see growth like this. If you started just a year or two ago, and today you have several times the port size of the year you're comparing, then huge increases are the norm.

But once you've been at this five years or more, growth typically falls to zero, or into negative territory. It becomes impossible to keep your head above the tide of new competitors flooding the market, and you start realizing that growth is unsustainable.

Does any microstock veteran have a different experience?

Does this mean you finally hit the wall?
You talked about producing images in niche subject matter and what not to avoid the wall for the past few years. It seems like your experiencing a slow down of sorts.

VB inc · « **Reply #62 on:** June 04, 2014, 11:31 »

Oh and to contribute to this thread, the sales have been getting better and better every month for me.

stockmarketer · « **Reply #63 on:** June 04, 2014, 12:47 »

Quote from: VB inc on June 04, 2014, 11:28

Quote from: stockmarketer on June 03, 2014, 15:09
Quote from: jamesdeanny on June 03, 2014, 14:41
Record month

+290% from May 2013
+155% from April 2014

It helps that I had two sales that must've been ELs of some sort (huge earnings per each clip)

Those are nice numbers. I'm curious how long you've been at this, and how your portfolio increased during the same periods.

In general, I think it's only relative newcomers to microstock that can see growth like this. If you started just a year or two ago, and today you have several times the port size of the year you're comparing, then huge increases are the norm.

But once you've been at this five years or more, growth typically falls to zero, or into negative territory. It becomes impossible to keep your head above the tide of new competitors flooding the market, and you start realizing that growth is unsustainable.

Does any microstock veteran have a different experience?

Does this mean you finally hit the wall?
You talked about producing images in niche subject matter and what not to avoid the wall for the past few years. It seems like your experiencing a slow down of sorts.

Yes, I feel like the wall has hit me. I've ramped up my uploads, but with more contributors joining everyday, it has become impossible to keep up.

Last I saw, there are 20,000 new images uploaded every day at SS. I could be the best in the world at what I do (I'm not) and I would still drown in all this ever-growing competition.

And yes, I'm in niches and am constantly looking for new ones, but I'm seeing new copycats stealing my ideas every day.

I once had a rosy view of microstock. Now I see my days in it are numbered.

cuppacoffee · « **Reply #64 on:** June 04, 2014, 12:54 »

I remember the days when, as a buyer, I would look at every image returned by my search before buying one. Now there are too many results on common subjects to bother to look at every page and image quality has improved so much that you can usually find a "good enough" image in the first 3 or 4 pages. Niche subjects are a different story but those are becoming more available too. Search placement is everything.

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Author Topic: Shutterstock Performance May 2014 - Good, Bad or Indifferent? (Read 12410 times)

ethan

Beppe Grillo

dbvirago

Ron

ethan

ethan

Rinderart

Goofy

ultimagina

ethan

dpimborough

Harvepino

ethan

Goofy

cuppacoffee

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