Buyer Survey 2008

One of the founding motivators of the PhotoShelter Collection was that buyers were unhappy with the stock imagery industry, in terms of both insufficient content and reports of unfair treatment of photographers. In marketing the PhotoShelter Collection to high-end buyers over the last 7 months, we’ve had literally thousands of conversations with habitual stock image buyers about their feelings on the state of the industry, and this dialogue has proven these frustrations to be very real.

In order to quantify this sense of general discontentment, we created a survey and sent it out to several thousand people who use stock photography every day. The result was a summary of image buying habits that was completed by 700 people, which demonstrated that the PhotoShelter Collection is more needed than ever.

Let’s start with the most telling statistic:

We asked buyers how they felt about the following statement: “When it comes to the images I search for most often, I think I’ve seen all of the content available within the major stock houses.”

Three-quarters of the buying population (399 of 536 people) agreed with this statement.

They went on to specify a number of major categories in which the “availability/quality/diversity (usefulness) of images typically found” was “poor to average”. The following categories were pinpointed as the top 10 weakest (% indicates share of responders who indicated dissatisfaction with this particular area):

1. Healthcare. 88% (391 people)
2. Multicultural/Diversity. 86% (380 people)
3. Seniors. 86% (334 people)
4. Technology & Products. 85% (371 people)
5. Interior Décor. 84% (316 people)
6. Eco-Friendly. 81% (361 people)
7. Business Situations & Settings. 72% (422 people)
8. Celebrity. 72% (271 people)
9. Sports/Activities. 71% (340 people)
10. Children/Young Adults. 72% (283 people)

BUYER SURVEY 2008 – DETAILED RESULTS
Image Categories

Buyers provided us with tons of great information on their habits and opinions on particular image categories. Please check out the following info graphics for a detailed look at their responses.

In the last 90 days, within which of the following image categories have you licensed or searched?

Please rate the availability/quality/diversity (usefulness) of stock images typically found in your key image categories.

Please list the TOP FIVE image subjects that you search for but can never find, or constantly wish there were more of, if any. (Consider all possible stock photography sources!)

We’ve organized buyer responses to this question by category. Please see below for the breakdown:

A few notes on Lifestyle (General):
We hear it constantly. Buyers really want pictures of real life: candid, non-posed imagery that depicts its subjects behaving naturally (and not waiting for the camera to snap). The quality must still be professional – read: no snapshots! – in order to be used in a stock context.

A few other interesting trends we saw in this category:

• Responses in the “non-posed action” category often referred to walking or jogging (with and without dogs). Multiple buyers referenced a need for subjects walking in non-urban settings.
• There aren’t enough pictures of people drinking water (particularly men!) in a non-workout context.
• It’s difficult to find images that don’t paint obese subjects unfavorably.
• Many end clients, particularly in the healthcare sector, prefer normal or average-looking subjects instead of professional models. “People with flaws” was another repeated request.

A few notes on Technology & Communications:

• Technology pictures date quickly, so any stock of the most current models will sell quickly. It has a shorter shelf life but often a higher immediate payout.
• Buyers are actively seeking images that depict technical support in new ways. (The friendly guy with the headset isn’t cutting it anymore!)
• Many buyers indicated a need for women using technology, particularly computers.
• Stories on the Nintendo Wii are popular.
• Again, any imagery that appears non-posed is very much in need!

Who are these buyers, anyway?

Please see below for profile stats on the 700+ buyers who responded to our survey.