At Vystock we work with a new concept in stock video, which is that of complete exclusivity, in all its dimensions. This means that our clips and videos are only for you, forever. However, the best way to delve a little deeper into the meaning of this concept is to put it in the context of what the market has been offering so far.
1. “Microstock”
The most common formula for marketing video stock is what is known as «microstock». This is the most accessible, most economical stock, with a relatively low price that varies depending on the intended use of the clip. For the most common uses (Internet and social networks) the most popular platforms offer a price of around $50 per clip, usually without any time or geographical limit. It is even possible to get clips for free (see our post «Best free stock video websites») under the same conditions.
In «microstock» what the client usually appreciates is that the image looks good or the context he needs to launch his message is appreciated, without caring too much about the quality of the image itself and/or the artistic aspect. Using «microstock» is a method like any other to save costs in the internal and external communication of companies, but it has the danger that if the absence of technical or aesthetic quality is noticeable, the company may be damaging its own image. Another danger is that the lack of exclusivity may result in your clips being repeated in those of other companies, even competitors.
Indeed, here we cannot speak of exclusivity to any degree, precisely because the model is based on volume, both for the author and for the platform, since this is the only way to compensate for the low price received by one and the other. Thus, it is common for the author to provide his material to several platforms, and for these in turn to offer it indiscriminately. As a result, it is not uncommon to see the same clips in different videos, of all kinds, from companies that are not connected to each other. Finally, another characteristic of «microstock» is that, although 4K content can be found, the most common format is HD.
2. “Macrostock”
What, so far, has come closest to a concept of exclusivity is «macrostock», which, in some cases, also offers some possibilities of exclusive assignment, albeit limited in time (see point 3 below). In «macrostock», the platform that markets the video stock obliges the author to provide exclusive content for that platform, in the sense that the same content cannot be made available to any other sales platform. Sometimes the exclusivity reaches the author himself, who is obliged to work with only one platform as long as his agreement with that platform remains in force.
This usually happens on platforms that want to provide a more specialized service to their customers, or that want to distinguish themselves from others in terms of the type of content. It tends to be stock video where the clips offered in raw are usually around $400. As a counterpart to this higher price, the general rule in «macrostock» is that the clips have been shot with good quality, with careful aesthetics, artistic, and usually present the option to buy it in «raw» format, so that you can modify them comfortably, so that they fit exactly to your needs. They are clips that are more intended for the advertising, television or even cinematographic industry.
But the fact that the content is exclusive to the platform does not necessarily translate into exclusivity for the client. It is true that the number of potential users is reduced in this format, but all clients of that platform have access to the same video stock and can use it simultaneously, with no limit on the number of clients. The larger the platform, and the higher the quality of the clip, the more this risk increases.
