Issue 2 – Customer Growth – There has been an explosion of customers who want to use imagery, but the majority of these new clients have small budgets for photography. Meanwhile, sales to traditional stock photo customers have been sluggish for some time, and there are signs their needs will decline.
To understand the subject better, it helps to review a few recently written articles.
iStockphoto’s statistics shows a dramatic increase in customers quarter-by-quarter. Oleg Tscheltzoff of Fotolia claims revenue has been growing 10% a month for over 18 months, and he sees no end to this growth trend. On the other hand, my examination of the traditional industry indicates that printed products (the core users of still imagery) will experience a steady decline without hope of a turnaround.
Industry leaders are trying to devise ways to sell their images to these new customers. Getty has significantly lowered prices for Web use in an effort to reach the customer currently using microstock. Others who license Web use rights can be expected to match or undercut Getty’s prices in order to stay competitive.
RF production companies are beginning to make their images available for licensing at microstock prices, as well as through traditional RF distributors.
New Business Model - Issue 2
Issue 2 - Customer Growth - There has been an explosion of customers who want to use imagery, but the majority of these new clients have small budgets for photography. Meanwhile, sales to traditional stock photo customers have been sluggish for some time, and there are signs their needs will decline.
To understand the subject better, it helps to review a few recently written articles.
iStockphoto's statistics shows a dramatic increase in customers quarter-by-quarter. Oleg Tscheltzoff of Fotolia claims revenue has been growing 10% a month for over 18 months, and he sees no end to this growth trend. On the other hand, my examination of the traditional industry indicates that printed products (the core users of still imagery) will experience a steady decline without hope of a turnaround.
Industry leaders are trying to devise ways to sell their images to these new customers. Getty has significantly lowered prices for Web use in an effort to reach the customer currently using microstock. Others who license Web use rights can be expected to match or undercut Getty's prices in order to stay competitive.
RF production companies are beginning to make their images available for licensing at microstock prices, as well as through traditional RF distributors.
Links:
traditional industry: http://www.selling-stock.com/?p=1923
lowering prices: http://www.selling-stock.com/?p=2075
microstock prices: http://www.selling-stock.com/?p=2085