The (hidden) document you must read
The second document that I want to talk about is kept hidden from us producers; it is released only to investors.
Shutterstock is a multinational company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars. So, releasing this kind of data is mandatory, while finding them is part of the job of serious bloggers (like I hope I am).
The first important fact that you can find in the document, I would bet, you don't know. So, if you are not satisfied with what you earn, it means that you can improve a lot.
Where the buyers who use Shutterstock live
This is very important. Try to think. If you decide that your subject is food:
We all know the difference between what people eat in Europe, in America and in Asia.
If you want to make money, you should at least know whether your potential customers – even though the world has globalized the culinary industry – are more likely to buy:
- peanut butter
- spaghetti
- spring rolls
In 2017, Shutterstock customers (listed by the revenue they generated) were from:
- • North America ($218.9 million)
- • Europe ($181.7 million)
- • Rest of the World ($156.6 million)
Among these, United States represented 35% of the total and the United Kingdom 10%.
Such data must be cross referenced with those given by dropstock.io, which is currently the most useful tool for understanding the best subjects to shoot.
Knowing all of this can make the difference between:
- earning 20 dollars a month
- bringing home, at least, a second income that can improve your life.
Different television systems used around the world
If you are just a photographer and you don't want to create stock footage (which is what can turn your profits around), you may not know that North America and Europe have two different television systems and, if you produce stock footage in order to sell it on microstocks, you must decide before you start recording whether to do it for:
- the US and Canadian television system (NTSC)
- the television system adopted by most European countries (PAL)
A table like the one above will help you to decide, along with considering the type of subjects you want to shoot, as I explain on my course (learn more about my course).
In general, such choices must be based on data and must never be made in ignorance, because in the modern world you can find those data easily and it is crucial to understand them if you want to make more money.
