Author Topic: Sales have peaked a little over a year ago on VideoBlocks. (Read 9590 times)

helloitsme · « **on:** March 05, 2018, 08:59 »

Since then it's a constant downhill. Maybe big buyers don't trust them or something.

trucic · « **Reply #1 on:** March 06, 2018, 10:47 »

... yes, February for me was without sales... even first month gave better results and December and January were solid...

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #2 on:** March 06, 2018, 11:27 »

Quote from: helloitsme on March 05, 2018, 08:59

Since then it's a constant downhill. Maybe big buyers don't trust them or something.

No... It's because of increased competition. Sellers have been flocking there because of the great commission, and they have also bought thousands of clips for their membership library. The more clips they have in their membership library, the less you will sell.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2018, 12:33 »

Re: VB - yes, I agree.

*REALLY* smart business model for them, really crappy for producers. Over time - the "free" membership library will be so huge, that people won't really want to buy clips unless it is a truly unique shot that they want and can't find elsewhere...

Noedelhap · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2018, 13:07 »

Well, while the membership library will grow, some members will still be enticed to buy a clip they really can't find anywhere else.

Sales may dwindle, but that's also the case with other agencies with equally growing libraries. The tangible difference is that VB still pays 100% commission while others pay 30%-50% (or in case of iStock, pennies).

(For the record: I had 2 video sales and 2 image sales in February).

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #5 on:** March 06, 2018, 14:32 »

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helloitsme · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2018, 16:00 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on March 06, 2018, 11:27

Quote from: helloitsme on March 05, 2018, 08:59
Since then it's a constant downhill. Maybe big buyers don't trust them or something.

No... It's because of increased competition. Sellers have been flocking there because of the great commission, and they have also bought thousands of clips for their membership library. The more clips they have in their membership library, the less you will sell.

Nope. SS and P5's contents are increasing as well, but their sales are increasing too.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2018, 16:43 »

If you mean "their sales" by total revenue for the company... then that's probably the same for VB as well. I think the 'dwindling' part refers to individual sales rather than company performance. But if you mean "their sales" by average sales per individual author.... I'd like to see these stats!

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #8 on:** March 07, 2018, 02:36 »

Quote from: helloitsme on March 06, 2018, 16:00

Nope. SS and P5's contents are increasing as well, but their sales are increasing too.

One new clip at SS results in a $79 vs $79 competitor.

One new clip in the VB membership section results in a $0 vs $49 competitor.

Thus, a new clip in the membership section is a much stronger competitor for a customer, compared to a new clip in a marketplace.

kenwood · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2018, 08:19 »

As a seller, I came across a number of system issues that I never thought should exist. For example, after uploading a video clip, it takes almost a week for it to process before I submit to the curator. Last year it was one day (for other sites its almost instant). Another issue is that csv sometimes do not apply to all clips - i reported this to videoblocks early this year and they acknowledged it is a defect, yet I have yet to see a fix.

I wonder what type of problems buyers are facing. Perhaps they are frustrated by the usability of the system and they went elsewhere.

Mantis · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2018, 18:32 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on March 06, 2018, 11:27

Quote from: helloitsme on March 05, 2018, 08:59
Since then it's a constant downhill. Maybe big buyers don't trust them or something.

No... It's because of increased competition. Sellers have been flocking there because of the great commission, and they have also bought thousands of clips for their membership library. The more clips they have in their membership library, the less you will sell.

This. I recall VB being in these very forums and this exact thing was brought up. Their response was something along the lines that this would not happen because they could never get enough clips in that collection and they needed an offering beyond a small owned collection. Something like that. Anyway, their private collection is growing a lot and sales for me have softened. I was getting 8 a month, then it would drop a month or two then 8 more, etc. Now I am lucky to get 3-4 in a peak month and 1 in between. It was (and is) pretty obvious that this was their ultimate goal. It will only get worse as their wholly owned collection ramps up and takes 90% of the share.

suz7 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 22, 2018, 23:56 »

Didn't realize there was a free section in VB? How does that work? How does a contributor earn from that?

Video-StockOrg · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2018, 02:01 »

This just explains how disgusting VB marketing strategy is and puts to shame all people defending their "awesome" commissions. Well, here are your commissions now. There won't be any sooner or later.

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2018, 04:34 »

Quote from: Video-StockOrg on March 23, 2018, 02:01

disgusting VB marketing strategy

Disgusting?

I think it's pretty brilliant. Does it come as a surprise that they are growing their membership section? Of course they are. That's their business. And we all knew it from the start. Nothing "disgusting" about it.

Mantis · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2018, 08:10 »

Quote from: suz7 on March 22, 2018, 23:56

Didn't realize there was a free section in VB? How does that work? How does a contributor earn from that?

They have subscribers to Storyblocks. They pay a membership fee and can download any wholly owned content for no additional cost. However, if they don't find what they want in the wholly owned collection, they have the option to search in the main collection (the one we submit to) and pay a reduced rate ($49) as opposed to $79 like at SS. We get the $49. So as they build the wholly owned collection, there is less of a need to reach into the main cookie jar and pay another chunk of doe.

suz7 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2018, 09:26 »

And the wholly owned content is supplied by who? Does this pay anything out to the owner of the content or does VB just own the videos outright?

Thanks for explaining things to me!

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #16 on:** March 23, 2018, 09:31 »

Quote from: suz7 on March 23, 2018, 09:26

And the wholly owned content is supplied by who? Does this pay anything out to the owner of the content or does VB just own the videos outright?

Thanks for explaining things to me!

They buy content for the membership regularly. Usually from the marketplace section. They don't own those clips, but they buy the right to license them (non-exclusively) as they wish. After they buy the clips, the creator does not get any further royalties from them.

suz7 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 23, 2018, 10:42 »

Dearie me, not exactly ideal for us

rod-09 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 13, 2018, 02:56 »

I guess that explains the decreasing on my sales every year and the fact that I never sold a single 4K video there.

pkphotos · « **Reply #19 on:** April 13, 2018, 03:45 »

Since there are so many variables which combine to generate sales for a particular artist, it's highly subjective to try and determine whether or not sales have peaked or not.

These include; growth of your portfolio relative to growth of the entire collection, buyer trends, market ups and downs, etc etc. It's all about staying ahead of competitors, which is best done by finding niches, uploading quality marketable work and being early onto the game for new adaptations such as 4K was a few years ago. This is all obvious stuff and I suspect for some sellers at SB, sales are healthy. I'm slightly down on last year but there's plenty of time yet.

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Author Topic: Sales have peaked a little over a year ago on VideoBlocks. (Read 9590 times)

helloitsme

trucic

increasingdifficulty

SuperPhoto

Noedelhap

SuperPhoto

helloitsme

SpaceStockFootage

increasingdifficulty

kenwood

Mantis

suz7

Video-StockOrg

increasingdifficulty

Mantis

suz7

increasingdifficulty

suz7

rod-09

pkphotos

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