Author Topic: Shutterstock Q2 2019 earnings - stock falls 8.66% (Read 15986 times)

Jo Ann Snover · « **on:** August 06, 2019, 17:52 »

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shutterstock-reports-second-quarter-2017-financial-results-300498083.html

SSTK closed at $34.37 Tues Aug 6, down $3.26 for the day, which suggests to me investors weren't happy with the results and/or their lowered guidance for revenue and earnings for the 2nd half. The market recovered somewhat today (DOW up 1.21%) so this drop was all about Shutterstock specifically.

Edited to add that the closing price on Fri Aug 9 was $34.54 - the price had recovered somewhat later in the week, but I guess investors settled back to what they first thought after Tuesday's report. Aug 12 closing price was $33.96 (but the market was down too).

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3487422-shutterstock-reports-mixed-q2-weak-fy-view

Couple of things I noticed.

-They say paid downloads increased over Q2 2018, but the absolute number of paid downloads in the quarter was down on Q1 2019 and Q4 2018 - 46.6 vs 47.2 vs 46.8. That is not now it went if you look at Q2 2018 versus Q1 2018 and Q4 2017 (45.2 vs 43.7 vs 43.9)

What that says to me is that in addition to filling the collection with image spam, the growth in purchases is slowing, both providing pressure on income of existing contributors.

-While the e-commerce/enterprise split is sill about 60%/40%, e-commerce growth was 6% in the quarter versus enterprise declined 0.2%

-In explaining the increase in operating expenses they mentioned "one-time severance costs". Not sure who or how many were severed...

~~I couldn't find a transcript of the earnings call~~ (see link to one below), so I listened to parts of the recording (and that was a pretty downbeat experience - they talk about being excited in tones that suggest they're bored stiff). They talked about restructuring the enterprise channel and Jon mentioned getting back to our roots; thinking big and acting bold. The phrase "critical re-evaluation" was used to describe their look at the enterprise business. The new guy - Co-COO Stan Pavlovsky talked after Jon about how wonderful the company was, the people, the new "View in Room" feature; understoring their path forward... etc. Both of them were clearly reading from a prepared script.

The questions asked what was up with the enterprise segment: was there potential for growth, were there competitive pressures, was SS going to change pricing or offer new products or... I did listen to the responses from SS but they really have learned to avoid specifics and the analysts just say thank you. They did mention changes in how things were organized and in incentive systems. Several mentions of their "go to market" strategy, but I have no clue what that is.

There was some talk about making it easier for customers who purchase both images and video but no details about changes.

They're still looking for a new CFO - the previous one, Steven Berns, quit "to pursue other opportunities". His LinkedIn page shows his Shutterstock job ended in June, but not anything new.

Couple of interesting factoids mentioned in passing. About 1/3 of their revenue is in foreign currency, primarily GBP and Euros. Jon mentioned the term "data velocity" - new to me - in talking up how they're going to keep growing and fix whatever ails enterprise sales. He said they sell 6 images a second and that this was faster than anyone else. He did use the term images, so I have no idea if that includes video or not.

Shutterstock slides

http://investor.shutterstock.com/static-files/43c73326-25aa-4ad8-9306-d7f57ef87091

Edited to add a Motley Fool article on the reaction to Shutterstock's Q2 earnings report

https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/08/06/sales-slowdown-hits-shutterstock.aspx

They picked up on the drop in actual numbers of paid downloads Q1 to Q2. No one (in the general investing community) seems to have picked up that all these happy talk numbers about collection growth conceal the truth about the vast amount of garbage they've allowed in along with all the really good and useful content. I wonder if any enterprise customers have expressed frustration at the difficulty of sorting the wheat from the chaff...

Edited Aug 7 to add a link to the earnings call transcript

https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2019/08/07/shutterstock-inc-sstk-q2-2019-earnings-call-transc.aspx

H2O · « **Reply #1 on:** August 06, 2019, 18:15 »

The Vector sales over time will go down due to the new rule changes, of producing vast files of up to 100 MB for download, plus the restriction on the design limiting creativity and saleability.

If they are crazy enough to implement this completely wacky set of new uploads for Vectors, what else are they up to.

They obviously have some people working for them that have no idea what they are doing, this will effect sales in the long term.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2019, 18:35 »

Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2019, 18:56 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35

Slide 5 tells you all you need to know ... downloads up 3%.

Especially as downloads aren't really up; just up from a year earlier. Down from Q1 2019...

wds · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2019, 21:31 »

Why no mention of "OFFSET"?

It's interesting that there is no discussion of the quality of the collection just size...truly treated as just a commodity.

charged · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2019, 21:39 »

450,000 contributors last year. 900,000 contributors this year. That is a crazy amount of growth in contributors. Paid downloads up 3%. No wonder everyone is making less money. The growth in supply is crazy.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 07, 2019, 00:52 »

Quote from: wds on August 06, 2019, 21:31

Why no mention of "OFFSET"?

It's interesting that there is no discussion of the quality of the collection just size...truly treated as just a commodity.

What are the chances they will take their policy on similars seriously when one of the key metrics is growth of the collection? Only when they drop this figures as a headline will it change.

jonbull · « **Reply #7 on:** August 07, 2019, 04:37 »

They are killing their business 450000 more conytiboutor... desperate mostly who need some dollars to survive. Their strategy is appalling really. Speexhless why they are killing a business for many without actually any benefit for them apart more server to stoxk more files. The only way to survive is high uality and sell through agenvy like stocksy. Pr going living in siberia and produncing million files each year for penny.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #8 on:** August 07, 2019, 04:39 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35

Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

jonbull · « **Reply #9 on:** August 07, 2019, 05:21 »

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.

jonbull · « **Reply #10 on:** August 07, 2019, 05:25 »

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.

https://shootset.com

this is the agency. for those who know and browse the lifestyle category in ss or fotolia...you can easily recognize the red hair guy in the first page. he is practically present in hundred thousand photos. probably micro stock will become soon a eastern country agency and move their headquarter there?

Pauws99 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 07, 2019, 05:50 »

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

There must be some truth in that as my earnings are holding up better than you might expect. However its very rare for any of my new content to sell let alone sell enough to move up the rankings.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 07, 2019, 06:00 »

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.

No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

jonbull · « **Reply #13 on:** August 07, 2019, 06:32 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:00

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21
Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.
No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

nobody said i have some special right. i just explained why contributor in western emispeher will struggle to survive...like olfactory in western europe who close due to chinese competition. but you cant understand, you live of photography?

Pauws99 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 07, 2019, 06:50 »

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:32

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:00
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21
Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.
No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

nobody said i have some special right. i just explained why contributor in western emispeher will struggle to survive...like olfactory in western europe who close due to chinese competition. but you cant understand, you live of photography?

You don't have to live off photography to understand it...just have a basic understanding of Economics and History to see the same thing has happened to hundreds of industries over hundreds of years. Eastern Europe is in the Western hemisphere by the way. You give the impression you somehow resent people who come from countries with a lower standard of living and compete on price.

jonbull · « **Reply #15 on:** August 07, 2019, 06:52 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:50

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:32
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:00
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21
Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.
No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

nobody said i have some special right. i just explained why contributor in western emispeher will struggle to survive...like olfactory in western europe who close due to chinese competition. but you cant understand, you live of photography?
You don't have to live off photography to understand it...just have a basic understanding of Economics and History to see the same thing has happened to hundreds of industries over hundreds of years. Eastern Europe is in the Western hemisphere by the way. You give the impression you somehow resent people who come from countries with a lower standard of living and compete on price.

i don' t resend ...i am telling and explain gin why our revenue are falling down and why you can't compete if you live in a richer country with much les infrastructure for modeling and stock photography. you shoot lifestyle? model content? if not please avoid commenting.

ShadySue · « **Reply #16 on:** August 07, 2019, 07:09 »

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:52

... you shoot lifestyle? model content? if not please avoid commenting.

That's not how internet forums tend to work!

But if you're saying, and I suspect it's true, that it's becoming increasingly difficult to make a living shooting lifestyle for stock in a developed country, (and I'm sure it's true, given the expenses involved in these shoots, and it's not just sales but profit which matters) why continue doing it? For sure, these are what the buyers want, but if one can't make a sustainable profit out of shooting them, why do it? And yes, that may mean moving out of stock if one needs to make a living.
Many people in many other industries over the centuries were faced with the same problem.

That doesn't mean I'm not sympathetic, I am. I whine all the time about decreasing sales and particuarly about decreasing rpd.
It's just that this is the way the world has always worked.
Luckily, I can still eat and stay warm and dry without stock.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 07, 2019, 07:16 »

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:52

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:50
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:32
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:00
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21
Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.
No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

nobody said i have some special right. i just explained why contributor in western emispeher will struggle to survive...like olfactory in western europe who close due to chinese competition. but you cant understand, you live of photography?
You don't have to live off photography to understand it...just have a basic understanding of Economics and History to see the same thing has happened to hundreds of industries over hundreds of years. Eastern Europe is in the Western hemisphere by the way. You give the impression you somehow resent people who come from countries with a lower standard of living and compete on price.

i don' t resend ...i am telling and explain gin why our revenue are falling down and why you can't compete if you live in a richer country with much les infrastructure for modeling and stock photography. you shoot lifestyle? model content? if not please avoid commenting.

When did you take over the forum? I gave up shooting models as I couldn't compete in that market maybe you should consider doing the same or live with it and stop whining. You might even find that when you look back on the day you stopped banging your head against a brick wall and found a more lucrative way of using your talents as one of your happiest days and thank me for it.

jonbull · « **Reply #18 on:** August 07, 2019, 08:00 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 07:16

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:52
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:50
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:32
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:00
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21
Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.
No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

nobody said i have some special right. i just explained why contributor in western emispeher will struggle to survive...like olfactory in western europe who close due to chinese competition. but you cant understand, you live of photography?
You don't have to live off photography to understand it...just have a basic understanding of Economics and History to see the same thing has happened to hundreds of industries over hundreds of years. Eastern Europe is in the Western hemisphere by the way. You give the impression you somehow resent people who come from countries with a lower standard of living and compete on price.

i don' t resend ...i am telling and explain gin why our revenue are falling down and why you can't compete if you live in a richer country with much les infrastructure for modeling and stock photography. you shoot lifestyle? model content? if not please avoid commenting.
When did you take over the forum? I gave up shooting models as I couldn't compete in that market maybe you should consider doing the same or live with it and stop whining. You might even find that when you look back on the day you stopped banging your head against a brick wall and found a more lucrative way of using your talents as one of your happiest days and thank me for it.

now you compete? you live out of photography full time? if not why you are talking...part time and full time are two different story.

jonbull · « **Reply #19 on:** August 07, 2019, 08:04 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 07:16

Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:52
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:50
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 06:32
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 07, 2019, 06:00
Quote from: jonbull on August 07, 2019, 05:21
Quote from: Noedelhap on August 07, 2019, 04:39
Quote from: Pauws99 on August 06, 2019, 18:35
Slide 5 tells you all you need to know from a contributor standpoint. Number of customers +2% number of contributors +100%. Number of Images up 37% downloads up 3%.

On a positive note, my bet is that most of these new contributors will never have more than 10 images in their port and remain small fish. The ones we have to fear are experienced contributors who set up image factories and are churning out thousands of images a week.

in the east europe they are popping out every day 2 3 factory, in belgrade there are literally hundred of them who use the same model, there is a model agency specialized in stock with 100 model who practically you can find in any serbian factory...russia the same and ukraine even more...cost of production are ridiculous and cost of living a third of europe...in case ukraine even less outside kiev...how can we compete with these factory if a shooting cost minimum 400 euro and living is super expensive? impossible. that's why most of contributor even in stocksy are coming from eastern euroep....thousand model ready to shoot for 8 dollar hour, studio equipped with profit light at 8 dollar hour rent....most employ 3 4 photographer paid pennies and producing thousand of photo every week.
No you can't compete if you produce directly comparable content...what makes you think you have some kind of right to? stock is a global industry.

nobody said i have some special right. i just explained why contributor in western emispeher will struggle to survive...like olfactory in western europe who close due to chinese competition. but you cant understand, you live of photography?
You don't have to live off photography to understand it...just have a basic understanding of Economics and History to see the same thing has happened to hundreds of industries over hundreds of years. Eastern Europe is in the Western hemisphere by the way. You give the impression you somehow resent people who come from countries with a lower standard of living and compete on price.

i don' t resend ...i am telling and explain gin why our revenue are falling down and why you can't compete if you live in a richer country with much les infrastructure for modeling and stock photography. you shoot lifestyle? model content? if not please avoid commenting.
When did you take over the forum? I gave up shooting models as I couldn't compete in that market maybe you should consider doing the same or live with it and stop whining. You might even find that when you look back on the day you stopped banging your head against a brick wall and found a more lucrative way of using your talents as one of your happiest days and thank me for it.

by the way how many make a living without shooting model and released file? probably not even 100 in micro stock...99% of emerald and above in fotolia shoot model. model released are also the only way to defend your folio from free files like unsplash.
that's why model released are important...actually i'm shooting a lot in kiev and moving there from september, ;

...i don't have nothing against easter country,love them, love their youthness, the people, photographer are super skilled, i just said my opinion about why people like sean who were super profitable till some years ago struggle and will struggle much more, because you can compete with country where people pay a shooting 50 dollar or studio 8 dollar hour, and you can have a ride in taxi for one dollar. IT's IMPOSSIBLE. Travel and editorial still life and the rest sell infinitely less than lifestyle released images.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #20 on:** August 07, 2019, 08:08 »

I actually agree what you are saying is true. You have a choice though you can carry on knowing it won't change or stop doing something that makes you unhappy and find something else. I do what I do because it makes my happy when that ends I will do something else. Theres nothing special about being a photographer over history millions of people have faced the same dilemma. Stage coach makers either started making cars and become millionaires or wrote pamphlets complaining how unfair it was and think how portrait artists felt when cameras came long.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #21 on:** August 08, 2019, 15:11 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on August 06, 2019, 17:52

What that says to me is that in addition to filling the collection with image spam, the growth in purchases is slowing, both providing pressure on income of existing contributors.

Had to quote that as I agree totally.

About the number of contributors, that some have mentioned. When there were 450,000 members signed up, about 30,000 actually had over one active image. So those numbers are like "how many new images" when the question in both cases, is how many quality contributors and how many new quality images.

SS has always had talking points about the future and growth and how much room there was to expand. Maybe this market has reached saturation and there are far more images, agencies and supply of the commodity than there are buyers or needs?

There is not a buyer for every image, there is an existing image for every buyer and many more than needed.

cobalt · « **Reply #22 on:** August 08, 2019, 23:33 »

I am not worried about the number of contributors.

On the image home page, right at the bottom, SS tells you the size of the library and the number of new files added per week. They add between 1.1 -2.4 million files a week for at least 3 years.

I keep taking screenshots of that number whenever I update my workshop.

Eyeem has in principle several million contributors, but only a minority create sellable content.

I have 1500 photos, don‘t really upload much and still sell something on most days.

So their software must be very good at recognizing sellable content.

I do worry about the slow growth. Are the new customers all signing up with Adobe? Or with Getty?

And what happened to Offset, like others have said?

My video sales have slowed down a lot and since video is still fairly new and all libraries are small that is something that worries me.

leaf · « **Reply #23 on:** August 09, 2019, 02:39 »

Great summary Jo Ann

Pauws99 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 09, 2019, 02:52 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on August 08, 2019, 15:11

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on August 06, 2019, 17:52

What that says to me is that in addition to filling the collection with image spam, the growth in purchases is slowing, both providing pressure on income of existing contributors.

there is an existing image for every buyer and many more than needed.

Not necessarily but working what these are and producing them at a cost that can generate a profit are the two challenges that are getting harder everyday.

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Author Topic: Shutterstock Q2 2019 earnings - stock falls 8.66% (Read 15986 times)

Jo Ann Snover

H2O

Pauws99

Jo Ann Snover

wds

charged

Pauws99

jonbull

Noedelhap

jonbull

jonbull

Pauws99

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