It’s been about a month since we released our Market Performance Ranking and we are excited by all the positive feedback we have received! People have been using it to understand where they are in the big picture of things.
The new ranking has also brought some questions. Some which have been asked more often than others. We would like to share these questions and answers with everybody.
How many users have opted in?
At the time of writing this, the rankings are based on over 25 million uploads and over 65 million sales on 11 agencies. So it’s a pretty large sample. Generally we don’t publish user counts but hopefully this info helps you get a feel for the significance of the ranking. As our user base grows, as well as the agencies supported, so will the size of the sample.
Who opts in? Just paying users?
Our set of opt-in users include both paying users and free trial users.
How do I find my ranking for a particular agency only?
On the overview page you see your ranking for the current month and for all agencies combined. However, if you want to see your ranking for a particular agency only, then proceed to open up any day, month or year and then select the tab of the agency you are interested in. In that tab you will see the ranking for that agency for the time period you chose.
Here is an example of a ranking for iStock only for the month of July 2016
How do I find my ranking on a particular month or year?
If you want to see your ranking for a specific year, you can click on the year you are interested in and your yearly data will appear, including a ranking. Find your yearly sales data by clicking on “Year to date” in the overview and then navigating to other years.
If you want to see you ranking for a specific month, then open up the month you are interested in, and see your ranking data.
What does it mean when I see I am 100%?
If you achieve a score of 100% that means that nobody else was better than you! Congratulations!
For example, if you score 100% for revenue for a specific month, then nobody earned more revenue than you.
You can be number one for a specific period or for a specific agency.
Can I be 100% at the end of the month, even if I am less than 100% on individual days?
Yes you can. If you consistently score high rankings throughout the month, even if it isn’t 100%, your average for the whole month can be the top average, making you 100%.
Say you score every day a ranking of 99% whereas other people oscillate between 90% and 100%, you may well end the month as number one thanks to that consistency.
I have uploaded very few files, why am I in a high percentage range?
Our ranking focuses on how many people are above or below you. As many of you suspect, the stock business displays a classic long tail. It means that a few people concentrate most of the uploads followed by a larger group of people who only upload smaller amounts.
That is why, even if you don’t upload much, there will always be a large amount of people who upload less than you, usually very little or nothing.
Imagine there are 10 people in the ranking for a specific month. 5 people upload nothing, you upload 1 file and 4 people upload more than 100 files.
You will be ranked above the 5 people who uploaded nothing, getting a ranking higher than 50%, even if you uploaded so little.
That should help understand why you get high rankings, even if you aren’t so active.
Why am I getting such high revenue rankings even though I know I am not so successful?
This question is very similar to the one above. Somebody who makes $500 a month might not understand why they are ranked fairly high.
But the reason is also due to the long tail effect. A small group of contributors make a large amount of revenue, whereas a long tail of contributors make smaller amounts.
To give you an example of how pronounced the long tail effect is amongst the opted in users, look at the following charts for revenue, downloads and uploads.
The top 5% (from 95% to 100%) accumulate most of the downloads.
The top 5% of opted-in contributors accumulate most of the revenue tracked by Stock Performer
The top 1% of opted in contributors upload huge amounts of files compared to all remaining opted-in contributors tracked by Stock Performer. 95% of users are not even visible on the chart.
Does the ranking tell me how much more the top earner makes?
No, the ranking does not compare your revenue with the highest earning contributor. It doesn’t matter if the top earner makes $1,000, $10,000 or $100,000 more than you.
What matters is how many people lie between you and the top earner. If not many people make more money than you, then you will be ranked highly.
My ranking for this month is higher than any of my daily rankings. Isn’t this wrong?
No, this can happen. Let’s look at a simple example:
| User A | User B | User C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | $ 0 | $ 21 | $ 22 |
| Day 2 | $ 21 | $ 20 | $ 18 |
| Total | $ 21 | $ 41 | $ 40 |
In this example, user B is in 2nd place for day 1 as well as day 2. But user B’s total puts them in 1st place. We call this the “Tour de France Effect”: You can win the Tour de France without having won any of the day races. The percentages we show are based on rankings which change their order all the time. Because of this, you cannot simply compare the daily rankings with the monthly or yearly rankings.
If you have any questions or suggestions let us know via the in-site feedback box or via info@stockperformer.com
Want to know what your ranking is!? Sign up to Stock Performer and see how we can help you make more money. The first month is completely free!
Is there a chance to add the number of opt-in users, but not only % rate?
Thanks.