Stock footage has been around for over 100 years, since the beginning of the film industry. But the way that footage is shot, distributed, and monetized has changed dramatically, especially in the past ten years. As demand skyrockets and online accessibility improves, videographers are realizing there is a tremendous opportunity to make money shooting and selling stock videos.
However, shooting stock footage is one thing; processing that footage for distributors is a whole other job. Stock footage sites don’t accept raw footage. So if you want to monetize your videos, you’ll have to shoot, edit, and tag that footage into ready-for-sale clips that meet the specifications of each distributor.
This is where a video monetization platform can help. Building your stock footage business is a marathon, not a sprint. And when you work with the right platform, you can focus on shooting the kinds of footage you love while letting the platform handle the rest—the stuff you don’t have the time, equipment, or training for.
Here are the five most important features you should be looking for in a video monetization platform:
1) No Editing or Tagging Needed
Editing and tagging your footage is time-consuming and highly specialized work. It’s this work that ultimately determines whether your clips get found and sold on the site. Too often, would-be stock footage millionaires try and do the work themselves and either give up before they reach a decent volume or have a high rejection/low sales rate because they’re not equipped with the expertise to get it right.
With the right platform, however, you can focus on what you’re good at—capturing beautiful footage—and let a team of professional curators, editors, and taggers turn your raw footage into ready-for-sale stock clips.
2) Ideas of What to Shoot
All the stock footage on the market started with an idea. This is why the best video monetization platforms give you a comprehensive matrix of categories and ideas of what to shoot. This lets you browse categories ranging from agriculture to aerials to timelapse with corresponding lists of shots that buyers are actually looking for.
Instead of racking your brain for inspiration, just scroll through shot lists for ideas that are evergreen, niche, or in-demand and when an idea appeals to you, put it on your shot list. This will keep you shooting with confidence.
Learn how the Clippn way can help you spend more time doing what you love!
3) No Subscription Fees or Hidden Costs
There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a service that provides you with all the tools and features you want, just to find out later that there are hidden costs or subscription fees. You want a platform that makes it easier to make money from your stock footage, not the opposite. This is why you should be looking for a commission-based pricing model that doesn’t try to “trick” you into spending more money. By getting paid only when clips sell, a service will be truly motivated to curate, edit, and tag your footage as if it were their own.
4) Easy-to-Use Upload Tool
While having a third-party act as the “bridge” between you and stock footage distributors is great, if you’re forced to use a clunky interface, then it may be more trouble than it’s worth. The goal is to spend more time shooting, not wrestling with complicated upload tools. Keep an eye out for platforms with demo videos that show you how easy it is (or isn’t) to upload your raw footage.
5) Sales Information Across Distributors
Each stock footage distributor is different, from their pricing model to their acceptance specs. To optimize sales, you need to know what kinds of footage each distributor accepts and why. The tagging is crucial here, as distributors have different formulas that influence how your clips are found and sold. The right video monetization platform should be experts in this and take if off your hands.
The ideal platform will have a sales dashboard that lets you track your uploads, clips, and sales across every stock footage site. This data will show you which of your clips are selling better than others and help you learn from that success or identify opportunities for improvement.
Let Clippn Help
If all of these features sound too good to be true, don’t worry—they’re not. Clippn’s one-of-a-kind platform is designed to remove the barriers that keep you from participating in the stock footage market. Our goal is to enable you to do more of what you love and less of what you don’t.
Become a Clippn contributor and start uploading today and experience firsthand how we can revolutionize the way you shoot and monetize your stock footage!
