In July Mike Watson launched moodboard.com and introduced a new usage-based pricing strategy for the high end RF images offered by his agency. These images are available under the brand name moodboard+. moodboard has just announced that they have licensed an RF image for non-exclusive usage for a fee of over $1,000, a price they believe is a new record for a non-exclusive sale of an RF image. (To see the image licensed go to moodboard and do a search for 13660012.jpg.)
Unlike traditional RF images that are priced based on file size regardless of how the image is used, the prices for moodboard+ are based on three broad usage categories. The three categories are: commercial, editorial and in-house.
The four division of commercial use are defined as follows:
· Any Web, electronic or broadcast media -- including advertising, email, mobile devices, television, film, video or presentation software – intended for commercial or promotional purposes.
· Any printed or packaging material distributed for commercial or promotional purposes. Also includes electronic/online version of finished piece.
· Any print, display, exhibition, décor or outside advertising for commercial or promotional purposes. Also includes electronic/online version of finished piece.
· Any medium intended for commercial or promotional purposes.
The prices for these uses are: Interactive Pack (web and electronic), $510; Print & Packaging, $745; Ad & Display, $1,105 and All Commercial (which basically includes used in all the above categories), $2,125.
The four division of editorial are:
· Web, electronic or broadcast media -- including Internet, mobile devices, television or film not intended for commercial or promotional purposes. Applies to a single edition, issue or program and all copies or versions for the original use appearing in electronic or broadcast format.
· Inside use in magazine, newspaper, book or other printed material not intended for commercial or promotional purposes. Applies to a single issue or edition and all reprints or printed versions of the original use. Image may be used anywhere other than the front cover of the publication. Also includes electronic/online version of finished piece.
· Cover use in magazine, newspaper, book or other printed material not intended for commercial or promotional purposes. Applies to a single issue or edition and all reprints or printed versions of the original use. Image may only be used on the front cover of the publication. Also includes electronic/online version of finished piece.
· Any medium intended for editorial purposes.
The prices for these are: Electronic, $135; Inside print, $185; Cover print, $650 and All of the above, $875.
Finally there is a single price of $260 for in-house used in “Any medium intended for use within a company.â€
This pricing strategy breaks new ground in the RF industry and may be a way for RF sellers to increase revenue at a time when RF is feeling pressure from microstock. Based on reports from public companies, there appears to be a decline in the number of traditional RF images licensed while supply skyrockets.
It should be noted that in some cases RF images have been sold for fees higher than $1,000. Recently we reported a $5,100 sale by Dreamstime for exclusive rights to an RF image. In addition, a number of companies have licensed multi-seats and super high-res files for fees greater than $1,000, but this is probably the first time that an RF image has been licensed non-exclusively with restrictions on how the image could be used.
In addition to more money, there is also a creative intelligence advantage to this pricing strategy. By learning how images are being used, the seller can modify future prices to better serve various customer segments. In addition, this knowledge should help sellers as they plan future productions.
Also available on the moodboard site are two other collections of images -- Premium Royalty Free and Quality Microstock -- that are priced in the traditional way based on six different file sizes. This enable moodboard to offer imagery at a full range of price points, all on one site. It will be interesting to see if moodboard moves to pricing these other collections based on usage. Certainly, as they move ahead there will be some commercial users who find the image they really want to use for an ad in the Quality Microstock collection. When that happens, the customer will be able to purchase the image for $100 instead of $1,105.