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 sets itself apart from other platforms through curation and higher revenue per image. This means you earn between €50 and €100 per image.
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.
Source: Trace - How much I make on Adobe Stock with 15,000 photos
Adobe Stock Premium Sales 2024
Why Our Images Sell
Understanding why images sell isn’t always straightforward—especially with only 28 downloads a year. The foundation, of course, is a good image. But your images need to show up in the first place. So keywording it is!
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 exact 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
Recap - The main points of our strategy
1.) Recycle - sell content you already created. Don't create specifically for stock sites. We only sell 3D renderings and digital paintings. Creating quality 3D renderings or paintings takes a lot of time—often days. You will almost certainly never recoup that time through stock sales. It’s a different thing with photos. 2.) Use keywords for very specific use cases. Include keywords related to a specific scenario, but also add broader terms to help your content appear in more general searches. 3.) You'll earn far more selling one product a single time for 250€ than selling it 50 times for mere cents—and it's often easier to sell premium than to chase a cheap bestseller. Adobe Stock Premium is invite-only, but rumor has it you can email them and ask. While there's no formal application, submitting consistently high-quality work to their standard collection might just get you noticed.
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.
