Hi and welcome to the last Brutally Honest Stock earnings report for 2024. This will be a short report as I’m busy preparing another epic year-end report with a detailed recap of the year with goals for next year and beyond. Let’s get started!
Monthly Highlights – Travel in Portugal
December was a month of travel in Portugal despite the days being cold and short. A friend visited for a few weeks and we ventured towards Obidos, Fatima, Aveiro, Porto and Serra da Estrela.
The cherry on top was visiting Serra da Estrela – see below a 1-minute reel that I put together.
You can follow my adventures over on my Instagram pages:
Other highlights
Blog posts published that are worth taking a quick look:
- Key insights from 2024 microstock contributor survey. Part 1: Earnings analysis over the Xpiks blog
Now, let’s break down my earnings for the month.
Monthly Earnings Breakdown
Image Earnings (USD)
| Agency | Number of Images in port (new images Dec) | Net Revenue Dec | Avg Return Per Download |
| Alamy | 16,464 (120) | 50 | 8.33 |
| Arcangel (RM-exclusive) | 4,952 (49) | Nil | Nil |
| Adobe Stock | 4,775 (9) | 71 | 0.71 |
| DepositPhotos | 8,520 (9) | 14 | 0.32 |
| Dreamstime | 9,492 (74) | 18 | 0.40 |
| Etsy | 9 (0) | 0 | 0 |
| Freekpik | 1,184 (2) | 3 | 0.06 |
| iStock (Nov 2024) | 9,158 (6) | 57 | 0.53 |
| MotionArray | 361 (27) | 10 | 0.16 |
(Q3 2024 monthly average) – RM/RF exclusive | |||
| Shutterstock | 12,561 (75) | 75 | 0.40 |
| Wirestock | 3,066 (0) | 13 + 59 for Dataset Deal Program | N/A |
| Total | 372 |
Clip Earnings (USD)
| Agency | Number of clips in port (new clips Dec) | Net Revenue for Dec | Avg Return per Download |
| Adobe Stock | 1,351 (37) | 21 | 5.25 |
| Pond5 | 3,006 (81) | 71 | 0 |
| iStock (Nov 2024) | 1,029 (9) | 10 | 0.90 |
| Shutterstock | 2,363 (69) | 8 | 4 |
| Total | 105 |
Grand Total: $477
Getty / iStock has finally begun paying out “AI Services”
Dmitry pointed out that under the obscure column of “AI Services”, Getty / iStock have begun to payout contributors for their machine learning training. I checked my earnings and earned a whopping $4.43.
More info on how they calculate:
Hope the amounts improve as only earning $4/month from AI training on over 9,000 images and 1,000 clips is really disappointing.
Get ready for another epic Year-End Report out soon!
That’s it for this report, back to drafting the year-end one which is becoming massive with over 7,000 words and multiple charts/graphs showcasing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that occurred in 2024…as well as goals and predictions for next year.
Update! It has been published:
About Alex
I’m an eccentric guy. I am based in Lisbon, Portugal. I am on a quest to visit all corners of the world. I want to capture stock images & footage. I’ve devoted ten years to making it as a travel photographer / videographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others by showing an unique insight into a fascinating business model while shaming scammers.
I’ve gone all in on submitting book cover images to Arcangel Images. I was also flying a DJI Mavic 2s drone regularly. It crashed into Botafogo Bay on NYE – here is the story. I’ve upgraded the drone to a Mini 3 Pro and the Air3.
I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography
Alexandre Rotenberg's Brutally Honest Guide to Stock Photography & Footage 
Good luck and best wishes for the New Year Alex
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Just a little clarification – the iStock payment for AI services is not a monthly, but an annual one – it is stated in their memo (it covers the period from Oct 1, 2023 to Sept 30, 2024)🤦🏻♀️
Happy new year!
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So I earned $4 for the whole year?! Haha
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