Glossary

File

What is it?

A file is an individual item you are selling. It is the file on your harddrive which you upload to multiple agencies. An image, a video, a vector, an audio file or any other file on sale is considered a File on Stock Performer.

Where is it used?

We differentiate between file and upload. A file is the original file you created and own. You can upload a file to multiple agencies, but it always remains one file.

Why is it useful?

Tracking files is important because you want to know how much one file makes on multiple agencies. Stock Performer uses image recognition to identify the same file across multiple agencies and merges each agency's data on that file. You get the big picture of how that file is performing overall.

How do we calculate it?

We use image recognition to identify where a file has been uploaded and we then link those uploads together. A user can always edit and change the results of our image recognition algorithm.

Upload

What is it?

An upload is a specific file uploaded to a specific agency. When we use the term "upload", we are always referring to the file at a specific agency. One file has multiple uploads, if it is uploaded to multiple agencies.

Where is it used?

We use the term "upload" whenever we display metrics specific to one agency.

Why is it useful?

It is very useful to track the performance of a file on one specific agency, as opposed to its performance on all agencies together. For instance, one upload may perform better on one agency than the same file uploaded on another agency.

How do we calculate it?

We retrieve upload data directly from the agencies we support.

Revenue

What is it?

Everytime an upload sells at an agency, you are credited money. The money you earn for each sale is what we call Revenue. Most agencies report revenue in US Dollars. Adobe Stock provides multiple currency options and we translate those into US Dollars to allow comparisons with the other agency's revenues. Revenue for one sale may be negative if it is a refund.

Where is it used?

We provide revenue information throughout the website.

Why is it useful?

Revenue is ultimately the most important metric. It defines whether your business is sustainable or not.

How do we calculate it?

We retrieve revenue data directly from the agencies we support.

Download

What is it?

A Download is an individual sale. Some agencies use the term license.

Where is it used?

We provide download information throughout the website.

Why is it useful?

Download numbers are very important, since they determine how attractive your uploads are. Even when a file does not make a lot of revenue, it is still a good file if it has a lot of downloads, since that indiciates that customers are buying it a lot of times. It is always important to check a file's or collection's download numbers to know whether it is attractive to customers.

How do we calculate it?

We retrieve download data directly from the agencies we support.

Collection

What is it?

A collection is a group of files. You can create collections yourself by determining which files should be grouped.

Where is it used?

Collections can be created with the Collection Builder. The Collection Overview shows you all of your collections in one place, along with their basic statistics. Each collection also has its own view with detailed statistics and information about its files and sales. Note that the Sparrow membership does not include any collection functionality.

Why is it useful?

While the statistics for individual files can provide some interesting insights, collections are a lot more powerful in determining how your sales are going, where your strengths are, and how trends are developing. For example, you can track your shoots by creating a collection for each shoot, assigning the shoot's costs, and tracking its profits. Or you create collections for specific keywords or keyword combinations, collections for files uploaded during a specific time period, and much more. This is where you can find out what to focus on to generate the most revenue.

RPD

What is it?

Revenue per download.

Where is it used?

We display this value for each one of your uploads in the upload's detail view. We also display it for each collection in the Collections overview and the collection's individual view.

Why is it useful?

The RPD indicates how much a customer is prepared to pay for an image. If the RPD value is high, it means that customers consistently buy larger sizes of that image. The same applies to a collection. If a collection has a high RPD, that means that customers are buying the images in large sizes, or the collection contains a good amount of premium priced images.

Some images, like landscapes and architecture images, tend to sell in large sizes, since customers buy them for print. Use the RPD to find which of your images are selling in large sizes and make sure you produce more such images, since they bring more money!

How do we calculate it?

We divide the images total revenue by the number of downloads it has. This tells us what the average revenue per download is. For collections we average the value across all images of the collection.

RPI

What is it?

Revenue per image.

Where is it used?

We display your RPI for each Collection. Go to the Collections overview or to an individual collection to find it.

Why is it useful?

Some collections have lots of images and others only have a few. To evaluate how successful a collection of image is, you want to know how much each individual image is generating. If the collection's images are good, each image will generate a lot of money. If the images are not so attractive for customers, then each image will produce low revenues. This allows you to compare collections and identify what collections are strong. You should focus your production energy on such images.

How do we calculate it?

The RPI is calculated by dividing a collection's total revenue by the number of images in that collection.

RPI/m

What is it?

Revenue per image per month.

Where is it used?

We display your RPI/m for each Collection. Go to the Collections overview or to an individual collection to find it.

Why is it useful?

Comparing two collections is difficult, since some collections have lots of images, others less, and some have been around for a long time and others are brand new. The RPI/m allows us to break down the value of a collection into a value which can be compared across collections. We find how much revenue each image generates each month on average. This value then makes it very easy to compare two or more collections.

If for example one collection generates $2 per image each month, and another one generates $4 per image each month, then you know that the collection with the higher RPI/m contains more attractive images.

How do we calculate it?

We determine how old each image of a collection is, and then calculate how much each image has produced in each month of it's life. We average it across all images of the collection thus producing the RPI/m.

STR

What is it?

Sell Through Rate. This is a common metric in the retail business (supermarkets, clothes shops, etc…). It indicates what percentage of a collection has sold at least once.

Where is it used?

We display this value on the Collections overview and in the individual collection page.

Why is it useful?

The STR indicates how attractive your collection is. If many images have sold at least once, then you know that the collection as a whole appeals to buyers. If your collection has a low STR, that means many images remain unsold and the collection is not attractive. Explore what collections have good STR values and try to produce more images like that.

How do we calculate it?

We count how many assets in a collection have at least one download. We transform that into a percentage value which indicates the percentage of assets in a collection which have sold at least once.