What is Stock Footage?

Stock Footage is a piece of video content, clip or photo that is made by someone else and uploaded on a third party website, where it can be available for free or for a modest fee. In the past years, it has become a trend for videographers and photographers to create stock footage for the sole purpose of generating passive income.

Who uses Stock Footage?

Stock Footage is widely used by content creators of all types, from vloggers and news agencies to advertising agencies and web designers.

How to earn passive income from Stock Footage?

Many believe that Stock Footage is a “Money Tree” that you have to build. The problem is that, just like growing a tree, it takes time for your content to be indexed and found by others before it can generate revenue. Most Stock Footage creators generate passive income years after they have uploaded their content on a third-party website. The ones who uploaded Stock Footage content to these websites have an advantage, however, there is always room for a different approach.

Tips to earn passive income from Stock Footage

1. Be different

Competition is tough and there is a lot of Stock Footage available on all websites. However, you can always have a different approach than the ones before you. Even a candle can be filmed or photographed from different angles, you just need to get creative

2. Be consistent

You cannot achieve great results if you give up after only a few attempts. Results will start to come if you don’t give up and keep creating content. Make a routine to upload something new every week, or every month. After a few years, that one short clip that you uploaded a while ago might become your main source of passive income from Stock Footage.

3. Quality matters

The quality of your footage matters. Your image needs to be clear and of high quality if you want others to pay you to use it.

4. Create footage from your city/country

Sometimes, the little town you live in might be an advantage. The architecture of the buildings, local traditions or festivals, local people or clothing might be exactly what others are looking to include in their projects.

I never thought other people might be interested in my local traditions. I live in Thailand, here we have so many cultural events. I should give it a try. 

I also used stock footage for a few projects I worked on. It's very helpful and reduces so much time.