BME

BigStock overtaking Istock - the hare and the turtle.
SS king of the game - sprinter.
DT steady and increasing - marathon runner.
FT better than thought
"New" or renewed sites: CanStockPhoto, MP and CC dead, ZYM keeps going - the Duracell rabbit.

I never understand the point of these percentage threads since you can have different numbers for different amounts of time at different agencies.  You don't know the amount of royalties, the number of images added per month or anything.  I can't see how these stats are any use at all.

One should assume that the poster uploads the same images at all the sites around the same time,
That the ports are approximately the same,
That the port is > 500.

Your statistical noise and bias will be reduced then, but never eliminated. The use might be to pay more attention (type of images, postprocessing) to sites that underperform in comparison to the graphs of others, without neglecting the site that makes most income.

I never understand the point of these percentage threads since you can have different numbers for different amounts of time at different agencies.  You don't know the amount of royalties, the number of images added per month or anything.  I can't see how these stats are any use at all.

Yep, a total waste of time, even when portfolio size and dollar amounts are included.
I challenge everyone who contributed to this thread to describe how they've been able put this information to effective/valuable use.

And it is really amazing that people are doing well despite the bad economy. Maybe this is a sign that things are getting better!

But be assured that for the rest of the month we'll be reading how horrible things are, how sales are down, how the search algorithms are screwing us, rejections are exploding, and how site forums are censoring us.  Then at the end of the month we'll read how good things were for some people, and it's back to the whining and complaining for another four weeks. 

Makes it hard to take the constant complaining seriously when people are reporting BME and climbing sales.

ps March my sales were up and so were my rejections. Some sites I saw my photos head to the last pages because they show the most sold or most viewed first. Tough nuts, everyone gets the same deal, I don't care.

Quote from: epantha on April 01, 2009, 08:24

And it is really amazing that people are doing well despite the bad economy. Maybe this is a sign that things are getting better!

But be assured that for the rest of the month we'll be reading how horrible things are, how sales are down, how the search algorithms are screwing us, rejections are exploding, and how site forums are censoring us.  Then at the end of the month we'll read how good things were for some people, and it's back to the whining and complaining for another four weeks. 

Makes it hard to take the constant complaining seriously when people are reporting BME and climbing sales.

ps March my sales were up and so were my rejections. Some sites I saw my photos head to the last pages because they show the most sold or most viewed first. Tough nuts, everyone gets the same deal, I don't care.

I am sure the complaining will increase going in to the summer, as that is a low point in the sales cycle.  Some people don't seem to factor that in at all.

I challenge everyone who contributed to this thread to describe how they've been able put this information to effective/valuable use.

As soon as IS accounts for >60% for three or more consecutive months, I may consider becoming exclusive 

If you and Sean are not interested in such information then I challenge you to explain why you bothered to waste your valuable time clicking on the thread in the first place?

I don't normally read these, because I don't see what purpose they serve, so I thought I'd stick my head in to try and figure out what purpose they serve.

Perhaps percentages coupled with images portfolio size is more helpful:
...

Even if you included the total amount earned I still couldn't figure out a quantitative way to use this information to increase my sales.

I am not sure how many people actually use this information, by itself, to make decisions, but I find it helpful to keep an eye on basic trends.  Usually a picture does emerge. 

Certainly I have been told by a number of newbies that they consider % data from these threads in deciding if they should upload to additional sites and which ones. 

I have also been e-mailed for this information by many istock members over the years.  Apparently they consider the % breakdown of sales from multiple sites helpful in deciding whether to go exclusive or stay exclusive.

FWIW nearly everyone who e-mailed asking for my breakdown has opted to go exclusive on istock or stay exclusive.  I am assuming because in my case istock is such a large % of my income that they figure it isn't worth uploading to 7 or more additional sites to increase their income by 10-20%. 

Whatever the reasons are, these threads are certainly popular enough to justify continued participation in them. 

And of course I do notice that nearly everyone participates in the monthly reporting threads at istock.  In fact, Sean, haven't you started a number of them?