Author Topic: IS regular downloads killed by Vetta? (Read 5430 times)

PixelBytes · « **on:** July 09, 2009, 12:34 »

My sales on istock this month have been pretty sad. Okay, there was the US holiday weekend, but even on the regular weekdays I am down 25-40%.

Near as I can figure from a few sample searches, my files' visibility in the best match have been drastically reduced because of pushing Vetta images to the front. Can't tell for sure if there is also an increased bias against independents or not.

I get that it's summer, but since my June sales at IS were good, and my sales at other sites are still holding steady I don't think this big istock sales drop in July is only the summer slow down.

Would like to know the experiences of other people who don't have vetta files (exclusive or not). Have your Istock sales died out in July too?

disorderly · « **Reply #1 on:** July 09, 2009, 13:01 »

Mine are a little better than June, even with the holiday weekend. Plenty of time for things to change, either for better or for worse, but I'm not seeing sign of deterioration due to Vetta.

gostwyck · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2009, 13:10 »

I'm down a bit on last month but then June was actually BME for me so that's not surprising particularly when you consider the 4th July holiday, summer season, etc. If anything I'm delighted just how well things are holding up this summer together with the economic situation.

I don't think I'm being hit badly by the Vetta files either. Sure, they've stuck about 8-10 or so in the first fifty but otherwise my search order placement seems much as it was before.

jsolie · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2009, 13:19 »

July seems pretty normal so far...maybe down a little bit, but not very much.

ichiro17 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 09, 2009, 13:22 »

about average as an exclusive, can't complain, especially with 2 major summer holidays (1 in Canada and 1 in the US)

Freedom · « **Reply #5 on:** July 09, 2009, 13:25 »

Sales are strong in July. I hope that those who cannot afford Vetta will buy more from the non-exclusives.

MichaelJay · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2009, 13:26 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on July 09, 2009, 12:34

Would like to know the experiences of other people who don't have vetta files (exclusive or not). Have your Istock sales died out in July too?

(exclusive without Vetta images) My sales have suffered before from the best match changes in spring and BM2 but I can't see major changes between June and July.

A friend of mine who has some Vetta images has a bit lower downloads than June which can easily be attributed to summer slowdown but it's currently compensated with a few but valuable Vetta sales each day.

I'd expect the summer drop in general to be much lower than the last years due to many companies sending their employees into vacation and closing down completely for one or two weeks. And marketing money that is left will be saved for the holiday season. If you are seeing steady sales on other sites I'm a bit surprised but it might also be that the American market (where iStock is strongest) is taking vacations earlier than Europe (where others are relatively stronger). I'd say this year we all can only judge if it was a good year end of November.

PixelBytes · « **Reply #7 on:** July 09, 2009, 14:36 »

Thanks for the replies. I thought it was weird that there weren't any threads on IS forums complaining about downed sales. Usually when sales drop dramatically on istock people can be counted on to scream bloody murder

Looks like it is mostly me with the big drop then. I can't figure how to account for it.

MichaelJay, your comments make a lot of sense. Particularly the ones about companies closing down for a week or so and American businesses taking holidays in July. Maybe my portfolio is particularly geared toward American buyers and taking a bigger hit than some...?

Whatever it is, I hope it improves. Looks like the first week since payouts became weekly that I won't meet my target payout goal by the time I have to request