Big Changes at iStock

On September 2, 2014, all microstockers and buyers working with the iStock photo bank received a notification about radical changes in the operation of the photo bank. Since the letter was in English, some may not have been able to familiarize themselves with its contents, and others may not have read it at all, though it would have been worth it.

I have translated this letter, and I invite you to familiarize yourself with it:

Since we began operating ten years ago, many millions of buyers have chosen iStock for their projects, thanks to the unique combination of high-quality content, affordable prices, and ease of use of iStock. Over the years, we have improved many things to further benefit our cooperation with our clients.

We introduced premium collections, were the first to offer new types of content such as video and music, and we led our industry with innovations in search and user experience. These developments have been highly appreciated by our buyers and the author community and have allowed iStock to be a leader in the microstock universe, which, as you know, was invented by iStock.

We eagerly look to the future and plan the next stage of iStock’s development and market leadership, inspired by a world where an increasing number of buyers need more visual content for an ever-growing number of projects distributed in many ways across various formats and platforms.

All these components provide a solid foundation for further development of iStockphoto. This also means that we must adapt iStock to the needs of these new buyers, satisfy the increasing demands of existing ones, and meet the requirements of new high-quality projects.

The introduction of iStock’s new subscription offering in April this year, along with the corresponding support from the sales department of Getty Images, were very successful steps in this direction.

The new iStock subscription provides customers who download large volumes access to high-quality files for their projects. Customer feedback has been very positive and exceeded all our expectations.

In just a few months, this type of subscription has captured a significant share of all our sales and increased the value of spend per customer. This result also demonstrates the strength of unique and exclusive content, with more than three-quarters of all subscription sales generated by iStock Signature offerings.

The return from the iStock subscription has shown the power of what we have understood for a long time — customers value quality!

We have only one payment method – credits:

• The size of the credit package and its cost will be simple and clearly aligned with the number and type of files a customer can download.
• Credits will be revalued to make it easier for customers to see how much they are paying for an image.
– The cost of credits will change: 5 current credits will be equal to 1 credit after the changes take effect. The conversion rate for existing credits will ensure that customers receive an equivalent or better package of credits of the new type. For example: if there are 50 old credits in the account, they will be converted to 10 credits in the new system;
– After credit conversion, the use of the new type of credits by the customer will be reflected in the totals of Redeemed Credits as 5 x the number used by the customer (i.e., their previous cost);
– Since we will be recalculating the cost of new credits in terms of old ones for the totals of Redeemed Credits, the changes will not affect the values in metrics or reporting.

All files will be divided into two collections based on work quality:

• Signature/Author (premium) and Essentials/Basic (standard), according to our subscription offering:
– We will maintain a 3:1 price ratio between author and basic images.
– We will unify prices for photos, vectors, and audio:
▪ 1 new credit = 1 basic image, vector, or audio file;
▪ 3 new credits = 1 author image, vector, or audio file;
▪ 6 new credits = 1 basic video file;
▪ 18 new credits = 1 author video file.

No more price differences based on file size.

• Buyers will pay one price for one file. They will also be able to choose the size of the image needed for their project.

Simplifying into two collections, two types of files means:

• Images in the Vetta and Signature+ collections will move to Signature, our premium collection for single sales and subscription sales;
• Main will become Essentials, our standard collection for both single images and subscriptions.

Details on file types:

– Photographs:

▪ Images from the Vetta and Signature+ collections will move to the Signature collection and will be included in the subscription offering;
▪ Selection criteria will remain the same;
▪ Selected photographs and those currently in the Signature+ and Vetta collections will retain their Signature+ status and search preferences;
▪ Downloading images from the Signature+ collection (including former Vetta images) via subscription will be charged at the subscription rates of the Signature+ collection;
▪ Commission rates for the Vetta collection will no longer apply; all files will be paid at standard rates;
▪ Images previously in the Vetta collection will continue to appear in the Vetta collection on Getty Images;
▪ Existing and new images in the Signature+ collection will appear in the E+ collection on Getty Images.

– Videos:

▪ Videos from the Vetta collection will move to the Signature collection;
▪ Commission rates for the Vetta collection will no longer apply; all files will be paid at standard rates;
▪ Videos previously in the Vetta collection will continue to appear in the Vetta Video collection on Getty Images;
▪ Exclusive videos will be displayed on Getty Images in the renamed Creatas Video collection (formerly known as iStock Footage).

– Vectors:

▪ Vectors from the Vetta collection will be moved to the Signature collection;
▪ Commission rates for the Vetta collection will no longer apply; all files will be paid at standard rates;
▪ All existing and new exclusive vectors, including former Vetta vectors, will continue to be displayed on Getty Images in the renamed Digital Vision Vectors collection (formerly known as iStock Vectors).

– Audio files:

▪ Exclusive audio tracks will remain in the Signature collection;
▪ Exclusive sound effects and basic-level loop melodies will be moved to the Essentials collection to keep them competitive in their price segment in the market;
▪ All non-exclusive audio files will remain in the Essentials collection.

Overall, these changes significantly improve the usability of the iStock site, searching, and messaging. At the same time, they greatly enhance consumer value and transparency for buyers while maintaining the uniqueness of all types of files of exclusive content on iStock.

Together with your excellent works, cross-merchandising from Getty Images, and the support of the global sales team of Getty Images, we are confident that these changes will help iStock remain a market leader in the years to come.

We have prepared discussion topics for the iStock forums, but we also want you to pay attention to the address from Brad Ralph, Director, Content Developer, and Co-founder of iStock.

Supplement from September 3, 2014: the cost of credits will vary from $8 to $15 depending on the size of the credit package purchased. The larger the package, the lower the per-credit cost for the buyer.

The original can be found at: istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=362716&page=1&sp_rid=&sp_mid=7029526