Statistics & Surveys
After reading
Stock Photo Market Size In 2011 Tom Zimberoff asked several question that need a more detailed response. This story explains why growing microstock revenue does not mean that a growing number of microstock images are being used.
The Occupy Wall Street movement’s “we are the 99 percent” campaign is
basically about a fairer distribution of wealth. Photographers and those
who handle the distribution of images to end users need to launch an
Occupy Book Publishers movement.
Since Getty Images went went private at the end of 2007 and Alamy
stopped providing quarterly figures at the end of 2009 it has become
very difficult to estimate the size of the stock photo market worldwide. This article is an update of my previous articles and provides an overview of the amount of revenue being generated in each segment of the business today.
While fees charged customers for stock photo use have been steadily
declining, there is another issue that should be of equal concern to
image creators. That is the percentage they receive of the gross fee the
end user pays. This can be complicated and not the number many
photographers think it is.
In a little over a year the number of
images represented by the top four microstock sites has increased by 41%. Fotolia has had a 59% increase. The number of people contributing images to Shutterstock has grown by 37% and now totals 313,393. This wouldn't be bad if demand were growing at the same rate, but it's not. Demand seems to be relatively flat and at iStockphoto seems to be declining. How will these numbers affect everyone who produces stock images? Read more.
Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) has released some of the results from its
25th annual survey of graphic designers to determine their use of stock imagery. A total of
1,008 readers responded to the survey with 96 percent saying they use
stock imagery in their work and 60 percent using it at least 20 times a
year. Both represent new highs for the survey.
In 2009 I started to use
iStockcharts to track about 196 of the top 250 sellers on iStockphoto. While figures for the other 54 of the 250 contributors were available, their names were not. Consequently I left them out of my research. iStock has over 100,000 contributors, but it is believed that well over 90% of the images in the collection and well over 90% of the total downloads belong to the 37,085 contributors whose information is available on iStockcharts.
At the CEPIC Congress in Istanbul a panel of Asian stock agents provided insights into the current market for stock photography in Asia. The panel included: Sandeep Mahewsari of Imagebazaar (
www.imagebazaar.com) in India, Daphne Fu of Panorama Images (
www.panoramastock.com) in China, Daniel Kang of Image Republic (
www.irepublic.kr) in Korea, and Ryusel Yoshimoto of amanaimages (
www.amanaimages.com) in Japan.
Photographers are trying to assess how much the acquisition of PhotoLibrary will add to Getty’s gross revenue and what impact it might have on Getty’s overall control of the stock photo market. I estimate that gross 2010 revenue for still photo licensing worldwide was about $1.45 billion. Over the years I have defined the “stock photo market” as including the licensing of still photos and illustrations, but not footage or any of the auxiliary activities that Getty, Corbis and some other companies are involved in. I also include in my gross figure revenue generated by the picture divisions of AP, Reuters, AFP, etc. and of course the editorial division of Getty Images.
One way to satisfy customer demands for lower prices without reducing
overall operating costs is to cut the amount paid for the product you’re
selling. Over the past decade some stock photo distributors have used
this strategy very effectively. This article examines the effect that discount prices are having on the ability of stock photographers to earn a living.
In an IBISWorld market research report author Toon Van Beeck has identified the
10 Fasted Dying Industries in the United States. While every industry has a lifecycle – growth, maturity and decline – the fastest dying “standouts” include:
Photofinishing, #4 on the list,
Newspaper Publishing ,#7 and
Video Postproduction, #10. IBIS has a database of 700 industries and studied 200 that were in decline to determine which were in the worst shape.
Cutcaster recently conducted a survey using their own database and Adbase’s email list of creatives in multiple industries in North America. The professional backgrounds of the recipients cover most industries. They received 344 responses almost all of which came from North America with the next largest groups being South America and the UK. See the preliminary results at
http://blog.cutcaster.com/2011/02/10/picture-buyer-stats-released-market-information-for-online-image-users/
According to
WhatTheyThink?, a leading research organization serving the printing and publishing industry, January 2011 commercial printing shipments were $6.7 billion, up $270 million (+4.1%) compared to 2010. Adjusting for inflation, shipments were up +2.5%. Shipments for 2010 were also revised to be $86.7 billion. “Despite a dreadful first quarter in 2010, the remaining months were up +3%, to finish the year slightly higher than 2009,” explained Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. “January's shipment rise benefited from an easy comparison to the first quarter of 2010, but it continued a string of 10 months of positive comparisons to the prior year. We hope it continues.”
WhatTheyThink?, a leading research organization serving the printing and publishing industry, has just estimated that the value of printed materials shipped in the U.S. in 2010 was $86.7 billion. Based on my analysis I estimate that the worldwide sale of still stock imagery in 2010, most of which is used in some type of printed publication, was about $1.45 billion. Previously, we have estimated that in the range of 43% of the total worldwide sales of stock photography are licensed for use in the U.S. market. Thus, the comparison would be something in the range of $625 million for photography compared with $86.7 billion for printing.
This story provides links to a series of articles that include the results of a photographer income survey, analysis of the sales of microstock photographers, the size of the market for stock photography and other data useful to understanding stock photo industry trends.
The Association of Stock Image Licensors and Thriving Archives have launched
the ACSIL Global Survey of Stock Footage Companies 2,
a comprehensive review of the stock footage business. The survey will
assess overall business conditions within the stock footage industry and
provide strategic, action-oriented information and insights to industry
leaders. Participants who complete the online survey will be eligible
to receive a complimentary summary report of the results and a 50%
discount on the purchase of the final report.
Global ad spending in 2011 is expected to be up 5.4% to $411.7 billion
according to MagnaGlobal, but the trend for the print segment of the
business in the Western world is not so rosy. Most growth will be in Asian markets and media that does not have a big overlap with stock photography.
Grover Sanschagrin of PhotoShelter has published a very interesting analysis entitled “What Google Trends Says About Wedding & Stock Photography, and Photo Websites,” complete with charts that illustrate the trends.
A Selling Stock subscriber recently asked, “Do you have any idea of what are the actual market shares of Getty and Corbis worldwide?” A lot of guess work is required to answer that question as there are no longer any numbers publicly available to help in such an analysis.
Advertising growth is continuing to surprise analysts. ZenithOptimedia
has upgraded its forecast for global ad growth in 2010 from 3.5% to
4.8%. The forecast for 2011 is a continued growth of 4.6%. However, this
positive news comes somewhat qualified.
The average annual income or a large group of photographers is pretty
meaningless. It depends greatly on how many images a photographer has in
a collection, generally how productive he is, the kind of imagery he
shoots, whether his work is represented by a single agency or many
agencies, which agencies in particular, and probably a number of other
factors.
The 24th annual Graphic Design USA stock survey shows increasing use of microstock by professional graphic designers.
The results of the Stock Artists Alliance February survey paint a
familiar picture of the past 18 months: declining revenues and continued
division over microstock.
The World Association of Newspapers and Newspaper Publisher has released its annual
World Press Trends report covering 223 countries.
Phrases like “it’s not all doom and gloom” pop up often, but those who offer such encouraging analysis are typically in the top tier of the profession. While their experience is certainly real and laudable if not amazing, is it representative enough to be touted as a roadmap to a successful career? Common sense, economics, mathematics and every available source of statistical information says no.