Alamy Grows Image Supply In Q3

Posted on 10/27/2006 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

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ALAMY GROWS IMAGE SUPPLY IN Q3


No Indication As To How This Relates To Revenue Growth



October 27, 2006

Alamy added almost a million new images to its collection in Q3 2006, two-thirds of them Rights Managed. Photographers uploaded slightly fewer RF than in the previous quarter, but significantly more RM with the total images uploaded by photographers at 466,750. There is no indication as to how this relates to revenue growth.

Agencies more than doubled the RF images uploaded compared to the previous quarter and the number of RM images added was also higher. Total image added by 180 agencies was 478,300. Alamy now has more than 7 million images on the site and expects to top 8 million before the end of the year.

The average photographer uploaded 175 images in the quarter. The average agency uploaded 2,657 in the quarter.

The average price per RF image licensed during the quarter dropped from $226 to $213 and the percent of RF images licensed remained the same at 29% of total images licensed. No figures were reported for actual numbers of images licensed so we don't know if the total number went up or down.



The average price for RM images licensed rose from $151 in the previous quarter to $159 after having dropped for fourth straight quarters in a row.

The average price for an editorial use was $133, up from $122, and the average price for a commercial use was $357, down from $364 in Q2 and $389 in Q1. Thus, while Alamy seems to be pushing up prices on the editorial side of their business it seems that they are under pressure from the commercial customers to lower prices.

RF makes up 31 percent of the images on the site and these images generated 38% of the revenue in the quarter. Sixty-nine percent of the images are RM and they generated 62% of the revenue.

The percent of revenue from editorial licenses is steadily rising and is now at 72% while the commercial revenue is steadily dropping and is now at 28%.

Alamy doesn't report figures that would enable me to calculate total images licensed or gross revenue so it is impossible to determine whether revenue or the number of units licensed is rising as rapidly as the number of images available. However, anecdotal information from various photographers and agencies indicates that while total sales are probably rising significantly the return-per-image that the suppliers see is actually falling.
I estimate that the current average gross return per images is between $4.50 and $6.00 annually and photographers get 65% of that or $2.90 to $3.90. Photographers doing better than this I believe are doing better than the average. Given the rate that suppliers are adding images, I suspect that the RPI will continue to fall.

The following is a detailed chart of the information reported by Alamy.




















































































































































































































































































































































































2005

2005

2005

2005

2006

2006

2006

Contributor Information

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

New RF images from photogs.

53,408

74,008

89,199

83,614

95,940

97,552

95,009

New RF images from agencies

60,850

140,360

63,451

125,405

152,752

109,935

243,386

New RM images from photogs.

203,641

258,847

268,147

291,356

450,653

312,170

371,741

New RM images from agencies

125,688

143,297

120,030

144,433

125,707

192,282

234,914

% Revenue photographers

38%

39%

41%

40%

43%

44%

45%

% Revenue agencies

62%

61%

59%

60%

57%

56%

55%

2005

2005

2005

2005

2006

2006

2006

Contributor Information

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Photogs. submitting images

2,030

2,209

2,349

2,452

2,870

2,667

2,667

Photogs. submitting RM images

1,850

2,001

2,111

2,179

2,569

2,349

2,376

Photogs. submitting RF images

907

1,041

1,135

1,214

1,435

1,351

1,264

Agencies submitting images

165

175

179

161

178

165

180

Agencies submitting RM images

142

141

142

128

130

126

136

Agencies submitting RF images

58

70

72

67

79

74

76

RM images submitted in quarter

329,329

402,144

388,177

435,789

576,360

504,452

606,655

RF images submitted in quarter

114,258

214,368

152,650

209,019

248,692

207,487

338,395

All images submitted in quarter

443,587

616,512

540,827

644,808

825,052

711,939

945,050

2005

2005

2005

2005

2006

2006

2006

Percentage Revenue Info

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Images per transaction - credit card

1.7

1.7

1.8

1.8

1.8

1.7

1.7

Images per transaction - account

2.9

2.9

3.0

3.3

3.4

3.6

3.6

% Revenue RF

43.0%

43.1%

42.3%

41.0%

40.0%

38.0%

36%

% Revenue RM

57,0%

56.9%

57.7%

59.0%

60.0%

62.0%

64%

% Images sold RF

41.0%

39.0%

39.9%

36.4%

33.0%

29.0%

29.0%

% Images sold RM

59.0%

61.0%

60.1%

63.6%

67.0%

71.0%

71.0%

% Images sold - credit card

23.0%

21.9%

23.0%

21.0%

18.0%

16.0%

15.0%

% Images sold - account

77.0%

79.0%

77.0%

79.0%

82.0%

84.0%

85.0%

% Revenue - credit card

25.0%

25.4%

28.1%

25.1%

23.0%

21.0%

22.0%

% Revenue - account customer

75.0%

75.0%

71.9%

74.9%

77.0%

79.0%

79.0%

% Revenue editorial licenses

67.0%

66.0%

62.7%

65.0%

69.0%

71.0%

72.0%

% Revenue commercial licenses

33.0%

34.0%

37.3%

35.0%

31.0%

29.0%

28.0%

2005

2005

2005

2005

2006

2006

2006

Average Price in USD

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Avg RF price - credit card

$191

$199

$206

$210

$211

$235

$229

Avg RM price - credit card

$239

$276

$304

$236

$225

$230

$254

Avg RF price - account

$193

$206

$114

$203

$203

$221

$205

Avg RM price - account

$170

$156

$146

$162

$151

$145

$151

Avg RM price - editorial use

$132

$137

$131

$131

$126

$122

$133

Avg RM price - commercial use

$423

$423

$425

$359

$389

$364

$357

Avg price all RM images

$177

$165

$182

$170

$158

$151

$159

Avg price all RF images

$192

$203

$201

$206

$206

$226

$213




Copyright © 2006 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

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