I thought selling stock images was dead! - Selling on Adobe Stock Premium

With the rapid rise of generative image AI, especially in 2023, one thing seemed certain: stock photography was obsolete. Why would anyone pay for stock images when they can generate exactly what they need with a few keywords—and in mere seconds? That’s exactly the question we asked ourselves. But our experience with Adobe Stock Premium surprised us.

Premium Vs Regular Stock - Selling less for more

In 2020, we were invited to join Adobe Stock Premium. Initially skeptical, we uploaded unused images from client projects, rejected concepts, or personal work. Our hope was to generate a small side income from this “recycling.” Today, we have 65 images in our portfolio.

Adobe Stock Premium stands out from other platforms through curation and higher earnings per image. Contributors earn between €50 and €100 per image.

An Unexpected Success

Then came the surprise: 2024 turned out to be our most successful year on Adobe Stock Premium. Although we still don’t produce stock-specific content, the sales of our small collection have multiplied. It won’t make us rich, but the income is enough to cover a vacation fund or pay for a subscription or two. From the information we gathered from other stock footage sellers our earnings compare to someone with a 15.000 images portfolio¹ on regular stock sites.

¹ Source: Trace - How much I make on Adobe Stock with 15,000 photos

Our Adobe Stock Premium Sales 2024

Download - List showing all our sales

Why Our Images Sell – Our Strategy

Understanding why images sell isn’t always straightforward—especially with only 28 downloads a year. The foundation, of course, is a good image. But the key to selling lies in keywording.

We tailor our keywords to very specific use cases.

Here’s an example:

A journalist wants to write an article about a board meeting. But how do you visualize that? A stock photo with random models might not fit, especially if the company’s board members are recognizable. Instead, an abstract representation could be the better choice. For this use case, we uploaded an image and tagged it accordingly:

Title: Board Meeting - Presenting Data

Keywords: board meeting, review, project review, meeting, data analysis, data, data icon, statistics, analysis, growth, 3D rendering, sales, trend analysis, overview, presentation, reporting, chart, diagram, economic growth, documents, icon, symbol, business, finance, success, infographic, trend, information, secure data

Conclusion

We’re still not overly optimistic about the long-term future of stock platforms. After all, the fundamentals haven’t changed. Stock sites are increasingly flooded with AI-generated images, much of which is substandard. This trend, however, could provide an advantage for premium providers in the coming years. Premium platforms still offer what people are looking for - high quality photos and artwork.

Additionally, the issue of “usage rights” remains unresolved. Until legislation sets clear guidelines, many may continue to rely on human-created content — better safe than sorry!

We’re definitely excited to see how our portfolio will perform in 2025.