December sales - take two

[Former_Poster]

AS give a complete breakdown about how they do it in a webinar a year ago.

Ive never seen any admission of the sort from SS at all (or more generally, any idea of how their algorithm works).

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

5 minutes ago, Foodio said:

I knew I would get this question but honestly too lazy to look for it now. It was buried in a SS blog post, posted around the same time AS fessed up to the fact that they were manipulating the searches to actively replace content that was becoming too popular. In any event to me it has always made perfect business sense to do it this way, either in whole or in part.

Still my bestseller there is to be found on the first page out of thousands. So I don't know, how their (alternating) algorithm really works.

[Former_Poster]

Ive got 3 images that have been on page 1 (out of thousands) for literally years.

They sell consistently every week, are my highest earners and always have done.  Im not aware of them ever being switched off.

 

[stevemart]

Same here. I've got one shot on P1 'sandwiches'  of 966K photos and another on P2. Both have been in the top ten on page 1 for quite a few years (from 2013) and only now has the main seller gone down to halfway on P1 and the other to P2. The one now relegated to P2 is a 'ham sandwich' (143K) which the search still places at position 10 on P1. 

Doesn't strike me that SS has ever turned off any of my best-sellers and in categories that are not particularly subject to fashion and hype your top shots will just keep selling but with a gradual decline in the course of the years.

[Marcel Rommens]

Here in the Netherlands, we have a lockdown (for 5 weeks).

I am curious how it impact my sales

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

7 hours ago, Marcel Rommens said:

Here in the Netherlands, we have a lockdown (for 5 weeks).

I am curious how it impact my sales

It will be very difficult to determine the impact of the lockdown on downloads, Marcel. December has been the worst month for me for years. Around Christmas time and the turn of the year, many companies and agencies are closed. That has always had an impact on downloads and revenue - at least in the second half of December.

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

For me it looks like this at the moment:

[Marcel Rommens]

1 hour ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

For me it looks like this at the moment:

That's look not so good

I am afraid, that the lockdown has bad impact on sales

So far, this is a great month for me
Last week, i have second  my second video sale ($13,-- cart sale)
That's makes me more enthousiast doing more with video (but these months are to dark)

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

51 minutes ago, Marcel Rommens said:

That's look not so good

I am afraid, that the lockdown has bad impact on sales

So far, this is a great month for me
Last week, i have second  my second video sale ($13,-- cart sale)
That's makes me more enthousiast doing more with video (but these months are to dark)

It could be worse, Marcel.

It's exactly the middle of the month and I'm past the 500 downloads at my 7 agencies. That's okay for December. I don't want to grumble. But, as already written: In the second half of December this will get noticeably worse.

[DaLiu]

Mostly travel, landscape and cityscape pictures, I had a good start but it is starting to slow down for the second half of the month.

[Lost Mountain Studio]

On 12/12/2020 at 2:30 PM, Doug Jensen said:

Let me address this separately, I am a firm believer that every clips stands alone regardless of who submitted it.  If someone who just joined SS submitted the exact same clip with the exact same metadata as I have,  I am certain it would have the exact same chances of success or failure.  The fact that I have been around longer, have earned more money, have a bigger portfolio, etc. would not help that clip.  Every clip stands alone.

In fact, I could make the argument that it would be in SS's best interest not got give my clips priority because I am at a higher earning level than a newcomer.  If they sell my clip, they keep 70%.  If they sell a newcomer's clip they keep 85%.  But I don't think that's how it works anyway.  Every clips stands alone.

Then you would have to disregard a contributors "reputation" among customers.  If a number of clients have downloaded Doug Jensen videos and found them to be of high or even satisfactory quality, that takes an unknown out of the equation and it is beneficial for them to start looking in your portfolio, which is well earned and deserved, but still IMO goes against the "each and every clip stands alone" theory.  Because you have a large portfolio, you are much likelier to have client exposure. Because you are experienced and have good equipment and a good working knowledge of that  equipment, your product is no doubt of much higher quality than mine would be.  

Sometimes you come across as dissing others as being lazy or incompetent because their microstock journeys  are not as successful as yours.  We all have different paths, interests and priorities in life. I admire your success, but have no wish to expand the effort chase it, as I would have to sacrifice other priorities to do so.  That being said, I wish you continued and evolving success.  If Microstock is "what you do" you are nailing it.  If it is only a spin off on what you do better yet, hopefully you never get disillusioned by it.

[Doug Jensen]

7 hours ago, Lost Mountain Studio said:

Then you would have to disregard a contributors "reputation" among customers.  If a number of clients have downloaded Doug Jensen videos and found them to be of high or even satisfactory quality, that takes an unknown out of the equation and it is beneficial for them to start looking in your portfolio, which is well earned and deserved, but still IMO goes against the "each and every clip stands alone" theory.  Because you have a large portfolio, you are much likelier to have client exposure. Because you are experienced and have good equipment and a good working knowledge of that  equipment, your product is no doubt of much higher quality than mine would be.  

Sometimes you come across as dissing others as being lazy or incompetent because their microstock journeys  are not as successful as yours.  We all have different paths, interests and priorities in life. I admire your success, but have no wish to expand the effort chase it, as I would have to sacrifice other priorities to do so.  That being said, I wish you continued and evolving success.  If Microstock is "what you do" you are nailing it.  If it is only a spin off on what you do better yet, hopefully you never get disillusioned by it.

Kelly, first of all I appreciate your thoughts and positive comments.  I wish you the same success.

I absolutely disregard my reputation among customers!!!  I have no reputation with customers.  Nobody who is searching for stock footage gives a crap about me, or my portfolio, or my experience, or my reputation, or what equipment I use, or anything else.  99.9% of stock footage buyers are looking for a video clip that will fill a hole in their editing timeline.  If they stumble upon one of my clips that suits their needs better than the other choices they are shown, they will buy it.  Simple as that. They don't care who shot it and probably would never even pay attention to my contributor name.  There is no way that a customer who bought one of my shots last week is going to come back to Shutterstock next week and begin their search in my portfolio because they liked one of my previous clips.  No chance at all.

Stock is just a hobby to me and accounts for less than 10% of my income. I have worked in the  broadcast television video production industry for almost 40 years and I know how stock footage customers (editors and producers) think and how they work.  And believe me, they don't give a crap about WHO shot anything. They are buying a clip (or series of related clips from the same contributor) and they don't care who shot it or what else is in their portfolio.  Trust me on this.

However, with all tha said, I can see how "reputation" might be a factor for still photography contributors who have a unique style or certain kind of portfolio, but not video.  At least not for me.  I am not shooting art and I am nothing to customers. My clips stand alone, and compete with everyone else's clips on a level playing field.  If I have a competitive edge it comes from the things I do before I submit a clip -- such as knowing what to shoot, how to shoot it, how to edit/grade it, how to create metadata that will ensure the clip gets seen by customers .   But none of those things has anything to do with who I am, or my portfolio, or reputation (or lack thereof). 

[Primus1]

9 minutes ago, Doug Jensen said:

Kelly, first of all I appreciate your thoughts and positive comments.  I wish you the same success.

I absolutely disregard my reputation among customers!!!  I have no reputation with customers.  Nobody who is searching for stock footage gives a crap about me, or my portfolio, or my experience, or my reputation, or what equipment I use, or anything else.  99.9% of stock footage buyers are looking for a video clip that will fill a hole in their editing timeline.  If they stumble upon one of my clips that suits their needs better than the other choices they are shown, they will buy it.  Simple as that. They don't care who shot it and probably would never even pay attention to my contributor name.  There is no way that a customer who bought one of my shots last week is going to come back to Shutterstock next week and begin their search in my portfolio because they liked one of my previous clips.  No chance at all.

Stock is just a hobby to me and accounts for less than 10% of my income. I have worked in the  broadcast television video production industry for almost 40 years and I know how stock footage customers (editors and producers) think and how they work.  And believe me, they don't give a crap about WHO shot anything. They are buying a clip (or series of related clips from the same contributor) and they don't care who shot it or what else is in their portfolio.  Trust me on this.

However, with all tha said, I can see how "reputation" might be a factor for still photography contributors who have a unique style or certain kind of portfolio, but not video.  At least not for me.  I am not shooting art and I am nothing to customers. My clips stand alone, and compete with everyone else's clips on a level playing field.  If I have a competitive edge it comes from the things I do before I submit a clip -- such as knowing what to shoot, how to shoot it, how to edit/grade it, how to create metadata that will ensure the clip gets seen by customers .   But none of those things has anything to do with who I am, or my portfolio, or reputation (or lack thereof). 

Great words!

[WaldekPietrzak]

tragic December ☹️

[Repelsteeltje]

Well... How about that..December is already my best month since I started in 2019.😳 No more cups of coffee, but a nice Thai food takeway for 2 !😂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

6 minutes ago, Repelsteeltje said:

Well... How about that..December is already my best month since I started in 2019.😳 No more cups of coffee, but a nice Thai food takeway for 2 !😂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats, Reepelsteeltje!

I could imagine that you have sold the Pfizer image many times in the last weeks, right?

[HodagMedia]

On 12/15/2020 at 7:21 PM, Former_Poster said:

Just to make it more depressing, as of today this is displayed on the dashboard:

 

Shutterstock just saying "F-*k You" to all contributors logging in between now and the end of the year.

Don't sugar coat this, tell us what you really think?

[Repelsteeltje]

1 hour ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

Congrats, Reepelsteeltje!

I could imagine that you have sold the Pfizer image many times in the last weeks, right?

Yep 👍 All over the world. 

[HodagMedia]

3 hours ago, WaldekPietrzak said:

tragic December ☹️

In general that says it all for me too. I'd say 1/6th of last year to this point, which I'll consider as half way through the month.

 

[WaldekPietrzak]

2 hours ago, Repelsteeltje said:

No cóż… Co powiesz na to… grudzień jest już moim najlepszym miesiącem, odkąd zacząłem w 2019 roku. 😳 Nigdy więcej filiżanek kawy, ale smaczne tajskie jedzenie na wynos dla 2 osób! 😂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gratulacje!!!

[Repelsteeltje]

12 hours ago, WaldekPietrzak said:

Gratulacje!!!

Thank you ! 👍

[otsphoto]

December is going average. Not bad, pretty expected for holiday season. 

I just had a lot of SOD of 1.74 for two days straight, this seems very weird. 

[Charles Lewis]

The beginning of the week was outstanding for me but then sales seemed to suddenly stop. Has the Christmas break already begun? 

Even so, compared to December 2019, I'm 25% better on downloads and 240% better on revenue. So I won't complain too loudly. 😎

[Former_Poster]

The last 7-10 days of December normally crash and burn as most of the places that buy photos dont work any more.

 

[Doug Jensen]

2 minutes ago, Former_Poster said:

The last 7-10 days of December normally crash and burn as most of the places that buy photos dont work any more.

 

Yeah, you can count on that like clockwork.  Last December I had 55 downloads ($2194) for the month, but only two ($55) came from Dec 25 - Jan. 1.