The third
ACSIL Global Survey of Stock Footage Companies (AGS3) reports a rapidly growing business for companies who have set up dedicated units to market and sell footage. The $550 million global business in 2014 represents a 40% increase in the three years since 2011 when the market was estimated at
$394 million.
The 167-page report, by the
Association of Commercial Stock Image Licensors (ACSIL) and
Thriving Archives, provides 50 pages of analysis and 101 charts that visualize results from the 53 questions asked in the survey, conducted over a two-month period in late 2014 and completed by a group of 90 stock footage companies. The analysis covers 11 separate categories, including: Business Conditions; Company Types; Footage Holdings; Headcount; Order Processing; Order Volume; Digitization; Customer Types; Pricing; Marketing; and Threats & Opportunities.
"This increase in the global stock footage marketplace comes at a moment when footage prices have been falling, when fair use has been more frequently cited to bypass the licensing process, and when digital technologies have created a threat to the protection of copyrighted works," said Matthew White, ACSIL's Executive Director. "The demand appears to be coming from the new customer base of Internet video and from increased production in TV, theatrical, non-broadcast corporate, and advertising."
"Big companies are getting bigger and smaller companies are growing too," remarked Clara Fon-Sing, the VP of News Archives Sales & Strategy at NBCUniversal and a Co-President of ACSIL. "While the industry is in transition with increased demand for footage on one hand and democratization of content on the other, the vast majority of companies surveyed are expecting revenue to grow and are planning to expand."
Since their publication, both ACSIL Global Surveys have been widely used and highly valued by business leaders both inside and outside the footage industry. The first survey was published in 2007 and the second in 2011. The ACSIL Global Survey 3 consolidates and compares findings from all three surveys, showing trend lines over time.
"It's very exciting to see the progress the footage industry has made since 2007 when we published the first ACSIL Global Survey," said David Seevers, Thriving Archives president and principal author of all three ACSIL Global Surveys. "And while the evolution has touched every area of the business, strides in digitization and the shift to online footage order processing and delivery are especially pronounced."
The AGS3 provides two distinct analyses of the current findings. Considering that the Top Ten companies represent approximately 50% of the global business, the survey tracks the segregated results of the Top Ten companies as a companion to the analysis of the sample group as a whole.
"This increase in the global stock footage marketplace comes at a moment when footage prices have been falling, when fair use has been more frequently cited to bypass the licensing process, and when digital technologies have created a threat to the protection of copyrighted works," said Matthew White, ACSIL's Executive Director. "The demand appears to be coming from the new customer base of Internet video and from increased production in TV, theatrical, non-broadcast corporate, and advertising."
The Survey was paid for by ACSIL's membership fees, and is free of charge to all ACSIL members. ASCIL and Thriving Archives will be making the report for sale to non-ACSIL members in early March.
An Executive Summary of the Report is available on request. More information about the report and its costs will be available at the ACSIL website:
www.acsil.org