iStockphoto Download Trends

Posted on 7/12/2013 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (1)

Since early in 2009 I have been tracking downloads of 192 of iStockphoto’s most productive contributors. All of them have more than 48,000 downloads and 130 of them have more than 100,000. There are others with high numbers of downloads that I have not tracked for as long a period, and I’m sure there are a few I have not identified. Nevertheless, I believe this group is very representative.

As of July 1, 2013 this group had total career downloads of at least 31,331,000 and possibly as many as 32,954,000.  Based on records that used to be published by iStockcharts, a service of multimedia.de, I believe iStock has had less than 150 million total downloads since its founding. Thus, this group probably represents at least 20% of iStocks total business.
    In the early years iStock used to provide the actual number of downloads of each contributor on the contributor’s “User_view” page. In June of 2009 they switched to listing a whole number and indicating that the total downloads were “greater than” that number. When downloads hit the next higher whole number that number was listed. For example, a contributor’s downloads may have been listed at >10,000. The actual number was somewhere between 10,000 and 10,999. When the number hits 11,000 it would be shown as >11,000.



    By checking the “User view” pages of each of these contributors I was able to determine that as of January 2013 they had a combined total of at least 30,292,000 downloads. By factoring in next higher whole number the maximum possible downloads was 31,916,000. Considering that some contributors have just passed the minimum number and others are just about to reach the next higher whole number I have taken an average of these two numbers as a rough estimate of the total downloads of this group of contributors as of that date. Then I compared the averages with those of pervious years to determine the approximate number of downloads for this group in each of the years since 2010. The average for 2012 is 31,104,000. See the chart below for the previous years.
  Low High Average DL in Year
Jan 1 2010
 20,775,000 21,534,000 21,154,500  
Jan 1 2011
 24,918,000 26,918,000 25,918,000 4,763,500
Jan 1 2012
 28,417,000 29,878,000 29,147,500 3,229,500
Jan 1 2113
 30,292,000 31,916,000 31,104,000 1,956,500
Jul 1 2013


31,331,000 32,954,000 32,142,500 1,038,500

While the number of sales dropped dramatically between 2010 and January of 2013, the sales seem to have reached a plateau in the last six months. Assuming that sales in the next six months continue at about the same rate as the first half of the year this group of contributors will probably have about 2,077,000 downloads for the year – very close to the 1,956,500 for 2012. If this group represents 20% of iStock’s total downloads then total downloads for 2013 can be expected to be about 10 million.

One-hundred-fifty-three of the photographers in this group are exclusive with iStock. Exclusives, particularly in recent years, have been given higher positions in the search return order which may increase their sales volume. Only 39 of the group are non-exclusive.



Of the 130 with more than 100,000 total downloads almost half (64) had 10,000 or less downloads in the first six months of 2013. Of the 62 with less than 100,000 total downloads, 4 had less than 1,000 downloads in the first six months and 32 had less than 2,000 downloads. Most of the 26 others had 3,000 to 4,000 downloads. One may have had as many as 7,000 downloads and a handful had about 5,000.

For individual results see the chart below. (Note that Yuri Arcurs was non-exclusive until recently.)

    2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 July 2013 July 2013 2013
    29-May 1-Jan 1-Jan 1-Jan 1-Jan Minimum Maximum 6 Mon
E* Yuri Arcurs 594,990 760,000 1,000,000 1,300,000 1,400,000 1,500,000 1,600,000 200,000
E Lise Gagne 862,623 950,000 1,000,000 1,100,000 1,100,000 1,100,000 1,200,000 100,000
E DNY59 524,961 650,000 830,000 980,000 1,000,000 1,100,000 1,200,000 200,000
E hidesy 492,118 550,000 620,000 670,000 700,000 710,000 720,000 20,000
E alexs1 180,112 230,000 350,000 490,000 560,000 590,000 600,000 40,000
E jhorrocks 305,831 360,000 450,000 510,000 530,000 540,000 550,000 20,000
E Nikada 164,874 210,000 280,000 360,000 400,000 420,000 430,000 30,000
E duncan1890 239,456 260,000 310,000 340,000 360,000 360,000 370,000 10,000
E blackred 229,561 260,000 290,000 330,000 340,000 360,000 370,000 30,000
E nico blue 261,541 280,000 310,000 330,000 340,000 350,000 360,000 20,000
E webphotographeer 128,050 170,000 240,000 300,000 330,000 350,000 360,000 30,000
E sodafish 225,267 250,000 280,000 310,000 330,000 340,000 350,000 20,000
E 4x6 177,865 190,000 230,000 270,000 310,000 330,000 340,000 30,000
E Neustockimages 54,329 110,000 180,000 260,000 310,000 330,000 340,000 30,000
E skodonnell 163,314 190,000 280,000 290,000 310,000 320,000 330,000 20,000
E enjoynz 121,941 150,000 210,000 270,000 300,000 310,000 320,000 20,000
N Andresr 154,181 190,000 240,000 270,000 290,000 300,000 310,000 20,000
E peepo 110,951 150,000 220,000 260,000 280,000 280,000 290,000 10,000
N GlobalP 97,763 130,000 180,000 230,000 270,000 280,000 290,000 20,000
E bubaone 132,132 160,000 190,000 230,000 260,000 280,000 290,000 30,000
N jgroup 136,287 170,000 220,000 250,000 260,000 270,000 280,000 20,000
N shironosov 87,278 120,000 180,000 230,000 250,000 260,000 270,000 20,000
E mstay 123,537 140,000 170,000 210,000 240,000 260,000 270,000 30,000
E aldomurillo 88,136 120,000 160,000 200,000 240,000 260,000 270,000 30,000
E sdominick 173,114 190,000 210,000 230,000 240,000 250,000 260,000 20,000
E Cimmerian 173,971 190,000 210,000 230,000 230,000 240,000 250,000 20,000
N kirstypargeter 171,687 180,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 240,000 250,000 20,000
E AndrewJohnson 122,507 150,000 200,000 220,000 240,000 240,000 250,000 10,000
E YinYang 93,643 120,000 160,000 190,000 220,000 240,000 250,000 30,000
E mammamaart 182,840 190,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 230,000 240,000 10,000
E Mlenny 149,220 160,000 190,000 200,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 20,000
E A-Digit 116,960 130,000 160,000 190,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 20,000
E filo 123,597 140,000 170,000 190,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 20,000
E digitalskillet 83,308 110,000 150,000 180,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 20,000
E TommL 65,829 91,000 120,000 170,000 210,000 220,000 230,000 20,000
E RapidEye 76,389 98,000 130,000 170,000 200,000 210,000 220,000 20,000
E Kativ 132,882 140,000 170,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 210,000 20,000
E enot-poloskun 116,729 140,000 170,000 190,000 200,000 200,000 210,000 10,000
E narvikk 91,257 110,000 150,000 180,000 190,000 200,000 210,000 20,000
E LUGO 104,464 130,000 160,000 180,000 200,000 200,000 210,000 10,000
E appleuzr 124,940 130,000 150,000 170,000 190,000 200,000 210,000 20,000
N aleksandarvelasevic 99,154 110,000 120,000 150,000 180,000 200,000 210,000 30,000
E kcline 137,885 150,000 170,000 230,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 10,000
E bluestocking 111,199 130,000 160,000 180,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 10,000
E geopaul 106,546 130,000 160,000 180,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 10,000
E sx70 168,611 170,000 180,000 180,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 10,000
E Juanmonino 65,718 89,000 120,000 150,000 170,000 180,000 190,000 20,000
N MorganL 53,598 78,000 110,000 150,000 170,000 180,000 190,000 20,000
E billnoll 90,097 100,000 130,000 150,000 170,000 170,000 180,000 10,000
N Palto 68,068 92,000 130,000 150,000 160,000 170,000 180,000 20,000
E PeskyMonkey 49,984 73,000 100,000 140,000 160,000 170,000 180,000 20,000
E Floortje 63,257 83,000 110,000 140,000 160,000 170,000 180,000 20,000
E browndogstudios 79,690 94,000 110,000 140,000 160,000 170,000 180,000 20,000
E Grafissimo 109,274 120,000 140,000 150,000 160,000 160,000 170,000 10,000
E joshblake 113,515 120,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 170,000 20,000
E ooyoo 89,233 100,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 160,000 170,000 20,000
N nyul 79,644 98,000 120,000 140,000 150,000 160,000 170,000 20,000
N Elenathewise 58,063 75,000 100,000 130,000 150,000 160,000 170,000 20,000
E LeggNet 71,106 92,000 110,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E mbbirdy 80,262 97,000 120,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E jacomstephens 91,925 100,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E AVTG 99,335 110,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E tacojim 104,293 110,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E kemie 125,507 130,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E THEPALMER 87,288 100,000 120,000 130,000 150,000 150,000 160,000 10,000
E Stockphoto4U 50,216 64,000 96,000 120,000 140,000 150,000 160,000 20,000
E fpm 89,938 100,000 120,000 140,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
E aldra 115,125 120,000 130,000 140,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
E Graffizone 94,406 100,000 110,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 20,000
E russelltatedotcom 93,222 100,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
E jsmith 102,365 110,000 120,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 20,000
E barsik 114,025 120,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
N koun 60,690 83,000 110,000 130,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
E snapphoto 89,597 100,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
E francisblack 56,446 72,000 99,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 20,000
E EricHood 56,665 71,000 91,000 110,000 140,000 140,000 150,000 10,000
E ImagineGolf 78,161 92,000 100,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E buzbuzzer 78,283 90,000 100,000 120,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 10,000
E Viorika 73,252 89,000 100,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
N Sportstock 74,732 90,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 10,000
E TriggerPhoto 87,620 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E kycstudio 76,449 90,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E ZoneCreative 48,753 65,000 93,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E leezsnow 66,441 78,000 97,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E johnwoodcock 72,405 85,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E konradlew 69,372 82,000 99,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 140,000 20,000
E scottdunlap 61,141 77,000 96,000 110,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 10,000
E Leontura 69,527 81,000 99,000 110,000 130,000 130,000 140,000 10,000
E dlewis33 74,139 89,000 100,000 120,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E molotovcoketail 98,477 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E RBFried 84,859 96,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E abzee 80,102 97,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E nano 90,332 99,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
N PhotoEuphoria 102,668 110,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E eyeidea 70,358 83,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E kate_sept2004 60,058 79,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E Veni 71,231 84,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 20,000
E duckycards 81,296 91,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
N iofoto 60,250 79,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E Vasko 82,983 94,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
N M-I-S-H-A 88,388 97,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E MarsBars 45,240 60,000 83,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 130,000 20,000
E Jbryson 58,172 72,000 92,000 100,000 120,000 120,000 130,000 10,000
E andipantz 89,000 94,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
N PIKSEL 76,540 87,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
E LPETTET 75,603 83,000 93,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 20,000
E PLAINVIEW 61,059 73,000 90,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
E rzdeb 82,415 91,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
E jangeltun 62,824 75,000 89,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 20,000
E kickstand 85,552 93,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 20,000
E DSGpro 46,180 60,000 83,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 20,000
N Eraxion 50,023 65,000 88,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
E gmnicholas 84,221 91,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
N loooby 62,066 74,000 91,000 100,000 110,000 110,000 120,000 10,000
E tomazl 81,870 88,000 97,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 20,000
N lovleah 84,521 90,000 97,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E Art-Y 90,003 94,000 99,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E ggodby 90,112 94,000 99,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E NickS 71,511 80,000 92,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
N phildate 68,257 78,000 93,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
N redmal 74,892 84,000 95,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E belterz 69,801 77,000 89,000 98,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E ftwitty 69,594 79,000 90,000 98,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E lucato 72,390 80,000 90,000 97,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E mammuth 45,220 59,000 77,000 94,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E chuwy 58,721 70,000 83,000 94,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E subjug 52,707 63,000 88,000 94,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E onurdongel 57,621 67,000 80,000 94,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 10,000
E evirgen 57,100 66,000 80,000 91,000 99,000 100,000 110,000 11,000
E simonox 74,220 81,000 88,000 94,000 98,000 99,000 100,000 2,000
E Kameleon007 48,615 58,000 72,000 85,000 94,000 98,000 99,000 5,000
E aabejon 63,147 73,000 84,000 92,000 95,000 97,000 98,000 3,000
E BlackJack3D 48,490 60,000 76,000 87,000 94,000 97,000 98,000 4,000
E RonTech2000 45,372 56,000 70,000 83,000 91,000 95,000 96,000 5,000
N Paha_L 57,822 66,000 78,000 87,000 92,000 94,000 95,000 3,000
E davidf 62,288 69,000 78,000 87,000 92,000 94,000 95,000 3,000
N Illustrious 62,632 71,000 81,000 88,000 91,000 93,000 94,000 3,000
N matka_Wariatka 50,555 61,000 76,000 86,000 90,000 93,000 94,000 4,000
E fstop123 44,758 55,000 67,000 79,000 89,000 93,000 94,000 5,000
E Natural_Warp 80,398 84,000 87,000 89,000 91,000 92,000 93,000 2,000
E penfold 62,863 69,000 78,000 85,000 89,000 91,000 92,000 3,000
E prill 53,622 63,000 75,000 83,000 89,000 91,000 92,000 3,000
E arsenik 48,405 59,000 72,000 82,000 88,000 90,000 91,000 3,000
E chictype 49,909 58,000 70,000 79,000 83,000 85,000 86,000 3,000
N YanC 50,357 60,000 72,000 79,000 82,000 84,000 85,000 3,000
E exdez 57,928 63,000 71,000 78,000 82,000 84,000 85,000 3,000
E JLGutierrez 45,821 57,000 69,000 77,000 79,000 81,000 82,000 3,000
N JoeGough 45,097 53,000 64,000 73,000 78,000 81,000 82,000 4,000
E Renphoto 52,633 60,000 68,000 74,000 78,000 80,000 81,000 3,000
N danielle71 68,754 72,000 75,000 78,000 78,000 79,000 80,000 2,000
E sweetym 57,057 64,000 72,000 76,000 77,000 78,000 79,000 2,000
N 77DZIGN 54,605 63,000 70,000 75,000 77,000 78,000 79,000 2,000
N webking 63,379 67,000 72,000 75,000 77,000 78,000 79,000 2,000
E Luso 60,417 65,000 70,000 74,000 76,000 77,000 78,000 2,000
E LoBoCo 59,433 65,000 70,000 73,000 75,000 76,000 77,000 2,000
E grajte 51,483 57,000 66,000 71,000 75,000 76,000 77,000 2,000
E naphtalina 47,556 55,000 64,000 71,000 73,000 75,000 76,000 3,000
E Trout55 45,380 52,000 61,000 68,000 73,000 75,000 76,000 3,000
E Marje 55,411 59,000 65,000 70,000 72,000 74,000 75,000 3,000
E Ceneri 49,087 55,000 62,000 68,000 68,000 74,000 75,000 7,000
E pkline 45,619 54,000 64,000 70,000 72,000 73,000 74,000 2,000
N endopack 44,291 51,000 60,000 68,000 71,000 73,000 74,000 3,000
E creacart 44,502 51,000 59,000 66,000 71,000 73,000 74,000 3,000
E jamesbenet 55,506 59,000 64,000 69,000 71,000 72,000 73,000 2,000
E hypergon 49,777 57,000 64,000 69,000 71,000 72,000 73,000 2,000
E Elerium 58,341 62,000 67,000 69,000 71,000 71,000 72,000 1,000
E Pinopic 55,014 60,000 66,000 69,000 70,000 71,000 72,000 2,000
N klikk 47,235 54,000 62,000 67,000 70,000 71,000 72,000 2,000
E susaro 50,704 55,000 61,000 66,000 70,000 71,000 72,000 2,000
N FreeTransform 46,777 52,000 58,000 64,000 69,000 71,000 72,000 3,000
E Nic_Taylor 44,654 52,000 61,000 67,000 69,000 70,000 71,000 2,000
E claylib 53,540 58,000 64,000 67,000 68,000 69,000 70,000 2,000
E bonniej 49,868 55,000 62,000 66,000 68,000 69,000 70,000 2,000
E bkindler 44,048 51,000 59,000 65,000 68,000 69,000 70,000 2,000
E groveb 44,336 51,000 59,000 65,000 68,000 69,000 70,000 2,000
E Akirastock 49,815 54,000 60,000 65,000 67,000 68,000 69,000 2,000
N keeweeboy 46,584 52,000 59,000 64,000 67,000 68,000 69,000 2,000
E StanRohrer 52,905 56,000 60,000 63,000 64,000 65,000 66,000 2,000
E zoomstudio 44,516 50,000 57,000 62,000 64,000 65,000 66,000 2,000
N mecaleha 49,150 52,000 57,000 60,000 63,000 65,000 66,000 3,000
E laartist 46,619 51,000 57,000 60,000 62,000 63,000 64,000 2,000
E wolv 49,522 52,000 56,000 60,000 62,000 63,000 64,000 2,000
N AngelGILD 49,498 52,000 56,000 59,000 60,000 61,000 62,000 2,000
N aykuterdogan 48,373 53,000 56,000 59,000 60,000 61,000 62,000 2,000
E dreaming2004 48,433 51,000 55,000 58,000 60,000 61,000 62,000 2,000
N Tolchik 50,570 52,000 55,000 56,000 57,000 58,000 59,000 2,000
E Dizzo 46,130 49,000 53,000 56,000 57,000 58,000 59,000 2,000
N highhorse 47,914 50,000 52,000 53,000 55,000 55,000 56,000 1,000
N prawny 48,262 50,000 52,000 53,000 54,000 55,000 56,000 2,000
E alwyncooper 45,059 45,000 47,000 49,000 50,000 51,000 52,000 2,000
E Skashkin 43,398 45,000 48,000 49,000 50,000 50,000 51,000 1,000
E Flutter_97321 44,616 45,000 47,000 48,000 48,000 48,000 49,000 1,000
                   
    17,973,944 20,775,000 24,918,000 28,417,000 30,292,000 31,331,000 32,954,000  

Copyright © 2013 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.  

Comments

  • Christopher Futcher Posted Oct 23, 2013
    I would definitely say that I am one of iStockphoto's most productive photographers. I have WAY more downloads than lots of those guys. I know of others that aren't on the list who do really well too.

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