At the end of 2016 Shutterstock had 190,000 contributors. By May 2017 that number was up to 225,000 and in September when they launched
Shutterstock Custom Content they said they had 250,000 contributors. Presumably the number was even higher at the end of the year.
Early in 2017 I discovered
Microstock.top that tracks Shutterstock leading contributors with more than 999 images in the collection. At the end of February
there were 14,373 and the combined total images of these contributors was 91,700,000. At the time Shutterstock had 119,000,000 images in its collection so 77% of total images were supplied by about 7.5% of Shutterstock’s total contributors.
At the beginning of 2018 I took another look. Now, there are 17,739 contributors and these contributors have a total of 122,143,734. That is now about 71% of the total image in the collection. The number of contributors is up 23% and the number of images is up 33% since last February. The percent of contributors with more than 999 images remains about the same.
It is also worth noting that while the number of contributors and images are growing dramatically, the number of downloads has grown a
little less than 2% in 2017 compared to 2016.
The breakdown of these top contributors is as follows:
| 2 |
more then 1 million images |
| 120 |
between 100,000 and 1 million |
| 144 |
between 50,000 and 100,000 |
| 619 |
between 20,000 and 50,000 |
| 1,342 |
between 10,000 and 20,000 |
| 2,885 |
between 10,000 and 5,000 |
| 12,629 |
between 5,000 and 1,000 |
About 2% of total contributors each had more than 10,000 images in their collections. The total images of these 5,112 contributors was 71,647,381 or 42% of the collection. In all likelihood much more than 42% of Shutterstock’s gross revenue is generated by these less than 1% of contributors.
Given the sizes of their collections these contributors have a significant advantage over those with smaller collections. Given their volume they are able to get a better understanding of what specific subjects, and treatments of those subjects, tend to sell and which ones don’t. Then they can concentrate on producing more of the kind of subjects that are in demand and not bother producing more what no one seems to want to buy.
A few with large collections may not be doing as well as the number of images might indicate. For example, about one-third of the contributors are illustrators and vector artists who produce illustrations and backgrounds. In some cases, they may produce more than 100 very slight variations of a basic concept. Chances are only a very small percentage of these variations actually sell. In many cases any customer with Photoshop experience could take any one of the versions offered and easily apply whatever variation the customers desired. Having all these variations available may save the customer a minute or so in time, but it may also make it much more difficult and time consuming for the customer to review all the truly different and unique approaches to solving the same problem.
A few of the with large collections have been provided by entertainment photographers who earn most of their income from assignments to cover red carpet and other entertainment events. They tend to upload virtually every frame they shoot. While there are some secondary sales of this type of subject matter the demand tends to be very low compared to the demand 24 hours to a week after the image was shot. While the average annual revenue per image in the Shutterstock collection is
about $2.82, of which the photographer should earn about $0.78 per image in royalty, one entertainment photographer with a huge collection told me earlier this year that annually he only earns about $0.05 per image in the collection.
Where Contributors Work
Another interesting fact is the number of contributors in each country with more then 999 images in their collections. On the 17739 contributors in this group only 76% listed a country of residence so this analysis is not totally accurate, but it probably gives us a representative idea of where the leading contributors work.
There is at least one contributor from 137 different countries. The 105 countries listed below have 2 or more contributors.
| Country |
supplier |
Country |
supplier |
Country |
supplier |
| Thailand |
2547 |
Portugal |
55 |
Uruguay |
6 |
| Russia Federation |
2107 |
Israel |
54 |
Uzbekistan |
6 |
| Ukraine |
1849 |
Switzerland |
51 |
Ecuador |
5 |
| United States |
778 |
Taiwan |
50 |
Korea, Dem. People's Republic |
5 |
| Germany |
449 |
South Africa |
49 |
Malta |
5 |
| Italy |
356 |
Austria |
48 |
Chile |
4 |
| Belarus |
343 |
Greece |
46 |
Qatar |
4 |
| Poland |
341 |
Croatia |
42 |
Saudi Arabia |
4 |
| United Kingdom |
328 |
Slovenia |
37 |
Sri Lanka |
4 |
| Spain |
300 |
Belgium |
36 |
Venezuela |
4 |
| Czech Republic |
257 |
Finland |
35 |
Yugoslavia |
4 |
| Serbia |
224 |
South Korea |
35 |
Bangladesh |
3 |
| Romania |
205 |
New Zealand |
32 |
Cambodia |
3 |
| Japan |
202 |
Vietnam |
32 |
Canary Islands |
3 |
| Canada |
196 |
Hong Kong |
31 |
Costa Rica |
3 |
| Andorra |
182 |
Denmark |
29 |
Cuba |
3 |
| Malaysia |
160 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
25 |
Monaco |
3 |
| Indonesia |
158 |
Philippines |
25 |
Morocco |
3 |
| Turkey |
129 |
Norway |
21 |
Reunion |
3 |
| China |
125 |
Ireland |
20 |
Bahrain |
2 |
| Netherlands |
125 |
Mexico |
20 |
Christmas Island |
2 |
| France |
124 |
Pakistan |
20 |
Cocos (Keeling) Island |
2 |
| Latvia |
114 |
Colombia |
18 |
Guatemala |
2 |
| Australia |
112 |
Macedonia |
18 |
Iran |
2 |
| India |
97 |
Singapore |
18 |
Jamaica |
2 |
| Hungary |
86 |
Argentina |
17 |
Jordan |
2 |
| Bulgaria |
82 |
Armenia |
15 |
Kyrgyzstan |
2 |
| Moldova |
77 |
Georgia |
14 |
Lao People's Republic |
2 |
| Azerbaijan |
75 |
United Arab Emirates |
14 |
Lebanon |
2 |
| Estonia |
67 |
Cyprus |
10 |
Nepal |
2 |
| Lithuania |
66 |
Egypt |
9 |
Palau |
2 |
| Slovakia |
66 |
Montenegro |
8 |
Panama |
2 |
| Kazakhstan |
65 |
Antarctica |
6 |
Puerto Rico |
2 |
| Brazil |
57 |
Iceland |
6 |
San Marino |
2 |
| Sweden |
56 |
Luxembourg |
6 |
Tajikiistan |
2 |
In March we published a
country-by-country breakdown for various parts of the world which showed that a high percentage of the images are being produced in low cost-of-living countries in Eastern Europe and Asia.
The chart below shows the top 20 countries with the most contributors, the combined total images these contributors have in the collection and the average pre contributor for each country. The overall average per contributor for these top 20 is 6,331.
| |
Contributors |
Total Images |
Average |
| Thailand |
2547 |
11,643,263 |
4,571 |
| Russia Federation |
2107 |
12,724,587 |
6,039 |
| Ukraine |
1849 |
13,676,567 |
7,397 |
| United States |
778 |
5,555,417 |
7,141 |
| Germany |
449 |
2,443,154 |
5,441 |
| Italy |
356 |
2,016,941 |
5,666 |
| Belarus |
343 |
2,178,547 |
6,351 |
| Poland |
341 |
2,808,970 |
8,237 |
| United Kingdom |
328 |
2,506,614 |
7,642 |
| Spain |
300 |
2,245,242 |
7,484 |
| Czech Republic |
257 |
1,420,093 |
5,526 |
| Serbia |
224 |
1,192,295 |
5,323 |
| Romania |
205 |
2,397,437 |
11,695 |
| Japan |
202 |
1,295,444 |
6,413 |
| Canada |
196 |
1,339,199 |
6,833 |
| Andorra |
182 |
1,859,199 |
10,215 |
| Malaysia |
160 |
886,471 |
5,540 |
| Indonesia |
158 |
1,063,630 |
6,732 |
| Turkey |
129 |
1,142,037 |
8,853 |
| China |
125 |
739,970 |
5,920 |
| |
|
|
|
| |
11,236 |
71,135,077 |
|