Alamy has reported gross revenue of just under $31.2 million for all of 2008. This was broken down by currency, with $10,703,000 in U.S. dollars, 2,904,000 in euros and 8,974,000 in English pounds.
Approximately $24 million (77%) of total Alamy revenue came from editorial sales, while the rest of the licensed usages were commercial. In the fourth quarter, revenue was $6.5 million, down about 16% from the same quarter a year earlier and 21% from the previous quarter. (For a detailed quarter-by-quarter breakout of Alamy 2008 revenues, converted to U.S. dollars, see “Alamy Revenues Shed Light on Subscription Plans.”)
For the first time, the figures provided offer an indication of the size of various market segments on a regional basis. The U.K. market represents about 52% of the company’s total revenue. Countries that pay in euros generate another 14%, leaving about a third of the total to the countries that pay in U.S. dollars. Dollar revenue includes the U.S. and Canada, but may also include most Asian and South American countries where the national currency is something other than euros or pounds.
In the fourth quarter of 2008, the average return per rights-managed editorial use dropped to $98 from $129 the previous year. The average return for a commercial rights-managed image dropped to $308 from $350. Currently, Alamy offers 15.45 million images, up from last December’s figure of 14.28 million.
Fourth-quarter revenue from rights-managed editorial sales was $4.7 million, with $1.8 million coming from rights-managed commercial and $1.8 million from royalty-free sales. Based on these numbers and average licensing fees, Alamy licensed 36,760 rights-managed images for editorial uses, 3,494 rights-managed images for commercial uses and 9,427 royalty-free images during the fourth quarter.
Forth-quarter editorial sales were lower by 2,000 images than the previous quarter, which totaled 38,747 such licenses). At the same time, commercial rights-managed sales have increased since the third-quarter total of 3,330. Thus, commercial sales are growing while editorial sales are in decline.