In January, Dreamstime reported a buyer pool of 250,000, an 850,000-image inventory and an estimated 10,000 contributors. Less than a year later, those numbers have grown significantly: the company services 450,000 customers, offers 2 million images and has 25,000 contributors.

The company's growing ranks of image buyers suggest the 3-year-old agency is succeeding in its continued efforts to remain at the top of the microstock space. Its closest rivals are Shutterstock, Fotolia and the segment leader iStockphoto, which boasts around 2 million customers.

Dreamstime is a young, innovative company that offers a 50% contributor commission, the highest among its closest competitors and higher than many traditional stock agencies. The company also prides itself on editing, offers keywording services and actively promotes exclusive licenses. It has a number of other distinctive features geared at both photographers and image buyers.

Those in the traditional space should note that Dreamstime's growth supports the larger trend of microstock's continued rise in popularity with image buyers of all stripes. According to Dreamstime, its customer profile has changed, expanding beyond independent business owners to encompass a variety of professional agencies.

Dreamstime's buyer roster includes Fortune 500 companies, large ad agencies, magazines, and film and TV production companies. Though Dreamstime's growth offers additional evidence of microstock's penetration of the professional market, quantifying the effects or making predictions for the future remains impossible without concrete data.