Magazines
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.
During the New Media Conference at the CEPIC Congress in Istanbul a panel of picture buyers offered their views on what they are looking for from stock photo collections. Lewis Blackwell moderated the discussion. Picture buyers on the panel included Peter Raffelt of Gruner +Jahr; Matt Burgess of Creature; Martin Casson of Dentsu in the UK; Alexander Karts of Die Bildbeschaffer and Paul Millen from an advertising agency in Istanbul. Two issues of particular interest to image creators and sellers revolved around the use of microstock by these large commercial customers and the lack of outstanding unique images in stock collections.
One of the themes that emerged at the “
La Fotografia In Italia” photojournalism conference in Milan last weekend was that the majority of feature stories photojournalists produce deal with tragedies. Some of the editors expressed the opinion that they were tired of seeing so much tragedy and were looking for something more positive and uplifting. A few photographers responded that they are just producing what the market asks for. Someone said that photojournalism is there to reveal the ugliness of our world and documenting various aspects of tragedies is right and proper. Read the whole story by
Enzo dal Verme on his blog and my comments here.
Recently, I posted on the “Stock Photography: buy and sell photos” group
on LinkedIn.com some of the information about photography revenue
relative to printing revenue that is found in this
story. Peter
Dean came back with a related question that deserves some careful
examination. He asked, “Approximately how many more images are used
these days in print compared to 10 years ago?” He also wanted to know
whether print revenue is Static? going Up or going Down?
Most newspaper and magazine publishers have recognized for some time
that the handwriting is on the wall and the old business model where 80%
of the cost of producing a newspaper or magazine was covered by
advertising and 20% by subscriptions is no longer viable.
The December issue of U.S. News and World Report will be the last printed on paper. Beginning in 2011 and marking a three-year transition to a new business model, the publication will go entirely digital, though it still plans to continue printing a series of print products.
“Our contention is that the iPad version of a magazine is part of the
rate base of that magazine,” said Condé Nast vice president of editorial
operations Richard Levine at the recent conference of the Picture
Archive Council of America. “A new strategy for acquiring content is
needed because it will be impossible to anticipate how imagery initially
acquired primarily for print use might be repurposed,” he continued.
This is not unique to Condé Nast issue, but rather a position other
publishers have already taken or will need to take in the near future.
Richard Levine’s keynote address at the PACA International Conference,
“The Impact of the iPad and the Future Use of Content,” raised a number
of critical issues for the stock photo industry.
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.
Traditionally, the primary uses of still pictures were in printed
products such as magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, direct mail
promotions, catalogs and—to a much smaller degree—posters and product
packages. An estimated two thirds to three quarters of all revenue
generated from stock pictures (in the range $1 billion worldwide) comes
from print image uses, but this demand has steadily declined for a number of years.
“National Geographic Interactive adapts the analog magazine to be more
easily and logically experienced in a digital form,” reads the
description of the new products. The publisher also promoted longtime
director of photography David Griffin to the newly created position of
executive editor, electronic publishing. Such changes at one of the most venerable titles may be a
preview of the publishing industry’s future—and, in turn, the future of
the images it uses.
This story provides links to some of the stories on this site that may be of interest to someone new to the stock photography business, or someone who might to have a
brief refresher course on some of the things that have been happening in the
last few years. Many of these stories will also give you some idea of developing trends and what the
future might hold.
Twenty questions to test your knowledge of the photo licensing industry and its future potential.
The opportunity to interact with editors from publishing companies, picture researchers, stock agents and photographers at the American Society of Picture Professionals' Reinvention Weekend in Boston provided a clearer picture of where the business of producing images for publication is headed.
Can the reader trust the reporting not to be biased when photojournalism projects are funded by non-profit and non-governmental organizations?
There is talk about a crisis in journalism, which generally takes
the form of angst-ridden journalists, editors and news folk in general
asking, “How do we maintain the commercial status quo without which
journalism as we know it will be gone?” The question is sincere and
extends beyond the fear of losing jobs; there is a genuine concern that
the investigative and informative roles of the news media will be lost
with a high cost to the civic health of our society. It’s not about finding new ways to do old things, but time to
radically rethink our business models by redefining out products, our
partners, and our clients. This article is about reinvention and redefining what we do.
Photography has a long way to go. Compared to other digitized creative forms, like music, it is light years behind. And, for once, that could be a good thing. Like the youngest brother of a family, it can learned from it’s elders. For once, it has not yet been touch at full impact by the whole free file sharing tsunami that hit music a while back. Certainly the dams are leaking and breaking, but we are no where near what the music industry has experienced.
With all the free information available on the Internet why would or should anyone want to pay for information?
Many consumers believe that writers should give away their work in
order to build a following of customers who will then pay them for some
other product or service they provide. Most would acknowledge that some
effort and expense is required on the part of the creator to produce
good, useful information, but often that is not deemed to be of any
economic value. Photographers tend to supply information on their blogs
as a way of getting customers to hire them for assignment work, for
paid speaking engagements or as a way of selling a book. The other way
to earn revenue is to generate enough traffic to your site that
advertisers will pay to surround your information with ads in hopes
that some or your popularity will rub off on them. Is giving away information the only way?
According to BIA/Kelsey, local advertising spend continues to shift to digital and to decline overall in gross revenue generated.
Dirck Halstead's perceptive two-part analysis of the photojournalism business is a must-read for photojournalists or anyone considering this career. It should also be a wake up call for stock and advertising photographers hoping to sell their images for use in print publications.
If you sell pictures for use in print publications, take a look at Backcast Online Magazine---not so much for the content, although it is great, but for the concept, which could be a huge new opportunity and salvation for editorial photographers.
"We have reset and won't rebound and re-grow," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on the continued decline of print as an advertising medium during the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
Traditional stock-photo sellers wonder why there does not seem to be any growth in demand for their product. The 2006 U.S. Census Bureau statistics of U.S. businesses could provide some clues.
This story provides a schedule that is useful when establishing a price for editorial usage. Prices should be based on the size of usage on the page and the circulation of the publication.