Getty is telling debt investors (people who buy corporate bonds and corporate debt) that 70% of iStockphoto revenue is generated by exclusive images. They also say that total iStock revenue annually is around $300 million. iStock revenue declined 9% in Q2 2013 compared with Q2 2012. Thus, about $90 million of Getty’s revenue comes from non-exclusive images and $210 million from exclusive
Based on recent research using iStockphoto’s price slider (see chart below) it appears that about 35% of the images on iStock photo are exclusive. Of all the exclusive images available about 61% are licensed at the basic Exclusive prices and 39% at Exclusive+ or Vetta prices.
I believe there are between 12 million and 16 million total images on the site. That means that the average annual gross revenue generated by each exclusive image in the collection would be between $37.50 and $50. The average annual revenue generated for each non-exclusive image would be between $8.65 and $11.50.
Of course some images will be licensed many times in a year and others not at all. Based on
analysis of a group of iStock contributors that have had a combined total of more than 20% of iStock’s total downloads since its founding, I believe iStock had about 10 million downloads in 2012 and is on track after the first half of the year to download about the same number in 2013. Thus, there is less than 1 download per image on the site annually. By way of comparison Shutterstock has about 3 downloads per image on its site.
The gross figures above do not reflect what contributors earn. Non-exclusives earn between 15% and 20%. Exclusives earn between 25% and 40% with very few earning more than 35%.
Price Slider Research
This chart shows the total number of images on iStockphoto when certain keywords are used as search terms. The first column shows the keyword searched. Column 2 is the total images - both exclusive and non-exclusive - containing this keyword. Column 3 is the total number of Exclusive images. Column 4 is the percent of the total images that are exclusive. Column 5 shows the number of images that are priced at Signature+ and Vetta levels and Column 6 is the percent of the total images containing this keyword that are at the highest priced levels.
| |
Total |
3 top |
Percent |
2 top |
Percent |
| food |
1479217 |
352560 |
24% |
79857 |
5% |
| travel |
1195050 |
411858 |
34% |
101471 |
8% |
| portrait |
1177555 |
500981 |
42% |
139809 |
12% |
| lifestyle |
919316 |
436892 |
47% |
132679 |
14% |
| landscape |
905879 |
283787 |
31% |
59726 |
7% |
| architecture |
861589 |
272401 |
32% |
58448 |
7% |
| business |
792302 |
255246 |
32% |
119156 |
15% |
| scenics |
744103 |
247605 |
33% |
54438 |
7% |
| cities |
656367 |
270674 |
41% |
64699 |
10% |
| animals |
616530 |
144029 |
23% |
28096 |
5% |
| sports |
426123 |
178191 |
42% |
47583 |
11% |
| medical |
377958 |
146555 |
39% |
47929 |
13% |
| farming |
373025 |
102598 |
27% |
20436 |
5% |
| wildlife |
294056 |
59027 |
20% |
9865 |
3% |
| industry |
287580 |
104788 |
36% |
27106 |
9% |
| education |
245892 |
110492 |
45% |
36335 |
15% |
| entertainment |
109981 |
51334 |
47% |
14785 |
13% |
| science |
95593 |
38168 |
40% |
13233 |
14% |
| aviation |
43753 |
18913 |
43% |
4420 |
10% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
11601869 |
3986099 |
34% |
1060071 |
9% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| horizontal |
1991129 |
1119657 |
56% |
318746 |
16% |
| vertical |
1204133 |
645369 |
53% |
153289 |
13% |
| illustration |
881871 |
286230 |
32% |
65742 |
7% |
If we assume that the average non-exclusive contributor earns 17% and has 1,000 images on the site that person might earn between $1,480 and $1,955 annually. The exclusive contributor with 1,000 images might earn between $11,250 and $15,000 annually. (Probably less than 125 contributors have enough Redeemed Credits to receive a royalty higher than 30%.)