Downloads from iStock continued to decline in the first half of 2016. Since 2011, I have been tracking the number of downloads and images in the collection of 430 of iStock's leading contributors. At the end of June 2016 these contributors have had a combined total of between 56,465,000 and 58,967,000 downloads during their iStock careers. iStock has over 100,000 contributors, but despite this group's small number I believe their work represents almost one-third of all the images iStock has licensed since the company began operations.
iStock reports round numbers on the creator’s portfolio page. For those with under 100,000 downloads the number reported is the last 1,000 passed. For those with downloads between 100,000 and one million it is the last 10,000 passed. Thus, the total downloads for this group in the last six months range between 381,000 and 2,883,000. In the previous six months the range was between 605,000 and 3,074,000. In each case we assume the average was somewhere in the middle of these numbers.
It is unclear whether these numbers include Subscription downloads. Based on an analysis of sales of a few iStock contributors I believe subscription sales represent upwards of 80% of all Essentials and Signature licenses made directly from the iStock collection. This does not include Partner sales, Extended Licenses or licenses of Signature images through Gettyimages.com.
The average gross license fee of a non-exclusive Essentials image licensed via a subscription is about $1.50. The image creator gets between 15% and 20% of that. The average gross license free of a Signature image seems to be between $4.50 and $5.00. Creator royalties range from 25% to 40% of these figures.
It appears that it is necessary to license approximately 5.5 images at subscription prices to generate revenue equal to that earned from one image purchased using credits.
Most of the people I’ve been tracking began contributing images to iStock before 2008. They were very successful in the early years and the images they produced generated huge numbers of downloads. They know what sells and they have continued to produce that type of imagery. Nevertheless, their sales have been declining significantly in recent years.
It is possible that some of these people have gotten tired, moved on to something else, and other unidentified new contributors are now responsible for a larger percentage of the sales. I don’t think that is the case, but I can’t prove it.
A high percentage of these people have stopped adding new images particularly in the last few years. This could also explain the decline in sales, but I don’t think that’s the case. Overall, a significant number of new images are being added. Combined, these contributors have grown their collections by an average of 39% in the three years since July 2013. Despite this addition of new imagery sales overall continue to decline.
The maximum possible downloads in the 12 months between
July 2012 and July 2013 was 6,042,000 and the minimum number was 3,731,000. The average of this number would be 4,886,500
The maximum possible downloads between
July 2015 and July 2016 was 3,488,000 and the minimum number was 986,000. The average of this number is 2,237,000, a 54% decline from the 2012-2013 figure.
I have broken down the sales based on the year when each contributor started contributing to iStock. The first contributors started in 2002. The numbers in the 2008 row include a couple people who started after 2008. It is important to note that a significant percent of these image contributors are illustrators and many of the contributors supply both photos and illustrations. For more information of the breakdown of photographers and illustrators check out
this story published in January.
| |
Photog |
Min DL |
Maximum |
|
Mim DL |
Maximum |
|
Mas DL |
Max DL |
|
| Year |
and |
July |
July 2012 |
|
July |
July 2015 |
|
2012- |
2015- |
Percent |
| |
Illust. |
2013 |
June 2013 |
|
2016 |
June 2016 |
|
2013 |
2016 |
Declines |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2002 |
32 |
4,222,000 |
4,416,000 |
|
4,402,000 |
4,596,000 |
|
368,000 |
230,000 |
37.5% |
| 2003 |
42 |
6,682,000 |
6,985,000 |
|
7,033,000 |
7,354,000 |
|
554,000 |
356,000 |
35.7% |
| 2004 |
59 |
6,605,000 |
6,889,000 |
|
7,000,000 |
7,311,000 |
|
611,000 |
435,000 |
28.8% |
| 2005 |
121 |
15,810,000 |
16,534,000 |
|
16,951,000 |
17,738,000 |
|
1,746,000 |
1,059,000 |
39.3% |
| 2006 |
123 |
13,160,000 |
13,733,000 |
|
14,592,000 |
15,192,000 |
|
1,799,000 |
880,000 |
51.1% |
| 2007 |
38 |
3,386,000 |
3,514,000 |
|
3,699,000 |
3,863,000 |
|
463,000 |
222,000 |
52.1% |
| 2008 |
17 |
2,031,000 |
2,136,000 |
|
2,788,000 |
2,913,000 |
|
501,000 |
306,000 |
38.9% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
432 |
51,896,000 |
54,207,000 |
|
56,465,000 |
58,967,000 |
|
6,042,000 |
3,488,000 |
42.3% |
Below is a breakdown of the images added by these same contributors.
| Year |
Photog
|
Images |
Images |
Images Add |
Percent total |
| |
and |
in |
in |
Added in |
collection |
| |
Illust. |
July 2013 |
July 2016 |
last 3 years |
added |
| |
|
|
|
|
2013-2016 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2002 |
32 |
132,113 |
231,599 |
99,486 |
43.0% |
| 2003 |
42 |
175,661 |
228,216 |
52,555 |
23.0% |
| 2004 |
59 |
207,252 |
266,513 |
59,261 |
22.2% |
| 2005 |
121 |
470,981 |
729,547 |
258,566 |
35.4% |
| 2006 |
123 |
490,153 |
855886 |
365,733 |
42.7% |
| 2007 |
38 |
108,068 |
142,038 |
33,970 |
23.9% |
| 2008 |
17 |
109,722 |
319,057 |
209,335 |
65.6% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
432 |
1,693,950 |
2,772856 |
1,078,906 |
38.9% |