Last Footage Sold

You need THOUSANDS of files over several agencies to get a regular income.

Stock portfolios also never go viral or "suddenly take off" like a youtube channel or instaprofile.

It is a slow steady grind and gradually you have sales, very slowly they grow.

It is not a reliable source of income, those who make money are usually professional videographers/photographers that upload stock between work for hire jobs.

There is a lot of disinformation on the internet from people promising magic money and "passive income", trying to sell their books and classes.

Please don't give the scammers your money.

A realistic expectation is 50-300 dollars average monthly income after 2-4 years and after uploading thousands of files over SEVERAL platforms.

Or the same amount after 6 years if you upload slowly, only during vacations etc...

It is not a get rich quick thing and absolutely not a reliable income source because sales can vary greatly.

But if you do it casually as a hobby or as a pro you upload some leftover files clients don't need or do some test shoots between real work, it is ok.

Less money than a few years ago, but often still easier than trying to sell directly from your own webshop.

Hi Yousuf

Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see your post earlier.

My pigeons clip was priced at 39 USD by pond5 (it used to be 60 USD when we could set our own prices).

Sold for 22.22 USD (License: "Global Market Earnings").

My earnings (after 60% commission for pond5): 8.89 USD.

That footage was shot in 2018 with an old camcorder (Panasonic AG-AC30), 1920x1080, 25p.

Surprisingly, the full HD shots seem to sell more often than the 4k footage I got.

Currently, I got 1586 videos in my portfolio and haven't uploaded in over a year.

My sales are lower than ever now, and I never made a living or just break even on the equipment I bought over the years. To give you some context: I never tried as hard to build up a large portfolio as I had planned initially, cause I lack the time now and have lost hope, that this would have as much potential as I thought in the beginning.

Considering the changes to how pond5 operates now and the impact of AI generated footage on the entire industry, I think it will be quite a challenge nowadays to make a living on stock footage, even if you build up a way larger portfolio.

But I still believe that if you love videography, enjoy the process, and can be happy about an occassional sale, it still makes sense to start.

All the best to you!

Tony

Hello Tony Caulfield,

I am very happy and truly appreciated the way you beautifully shared your experience with me. I was waiting for your reply, my friend, and I still have a few more questions that I would love to ask you.

Which types of videos have sold the most for you when you were actively uploading, and even now, which categories are selling the best? And during the long break of more than a year when you did not upload, how were your overall sales?

I know this is a personal matter, but I was very curious to learn from your journey. The reason is, I have decided to upload 10,000 videos to Pond5 within six months. After that, just like you, I may also take a long break from uploading. I wanted to understand whether sales can still continue without regular uploads.

I am working from Bangladesh, and if I can sell even 4–5 videos per month, it would be enough to live a modest life in a village here, since the value of the US dollar is very high. Alongside microstock, I also plan to build my YouTube channel, and I hope both together will support my living.

Thank you so much, my friend, for your kind guidance

Hello Yousuf,

The types of videos I sold the most are footage of birds (in flight, taking flight, etc.), some of them in slow motion. I also sold shots of insects, details of plants and landscapes. What sells seems pretty random. It's still hard for me to predict what will sell.

My sales dropped from about 1 sale on average per month during the first years to no sale for up to 8 months, but I'm not even sure it's solely because I stopped uploading at some point, cause there are other factors I cannot influence, like increased use of AI, pond5 changing, etc.

I want to try again and see how it goes, when I have more time, cause I still enjoy doing that, but i will try to spend less time on describing and tagging the videos (that can take most of the time spent on the whole process).

If you upload 10,000 videos you might get the 4-5 sales, but there is no guarantee. Seems unpredictable how much and what will sell.

I hope that helps.

Tony Caulfield, I really enjoyed your response. Once again, you analyzed my message in detail, and I truly appreciate it. Let’s see what happens when I give it a try. This journey comes from a genuine passion, and I want to keep working on it.

From the information you shared, I’ve gained a clear understanding of the process. If I upload 10,000 videos from Bangladesh, I believe I will achieve good results, InshaAllah.

From my personal experience, I’ve noticed that AI software is still not very skilled in creating videos on certain subjects. Those types of videos seem to have higher sales potential for now.

$6.40