Image review times - Why does it take so long lately?

[photobyDavidS]

So far in 2024 the amount of time required for image submissions to Adobe Stock to be reviewed has grown exponentially. It used to be a few days, now it takes at least a month.

For context, I DO NOT upload AI generated images and I do not mark them as such. I have seen other posts stating that the AI content takes a long time to be reviewed because some people upload 500+ at once.

I upload somewhat sporadically and only around 3-10 images at a time. I tag all the images appropriately.

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing such a delay?

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

We don't really know why review times have grown considerably in the last few months. It could be because Gen AI continues to be submitted at high rates; it could also be because Adobe has reduced headcount in the Moderation staff. It could also be because Adobe has decided to throttle the influx of new assets into the database. I've only had 5 photographs (I also don't submit AI) reviewed in the last 2 months, and some of them had waited for 2-3 months to be looked at. Nevertheless, I keep up a steady flow of new submissions, because I know they'll all get reviewed eventually.

[SpivR]

I wonder what Adobe whats to achieve with their stock collection?

I realize they have never promised a specific review turnaround time, but 8 weeks going on infinity is simply sending the message they don't care and don't really want submissions.

I think if Adobe wants to be professional and keep building their stock service, they should commit to a review time and add the resources to achieve it.

If AI submissions are slamming them, then some strategy needs to be implemented to handle it.  (I won't tell them what to do, that's for Adobe to figure out and since the whole stock review pipeline is opaque to us, we really don't have any info to make any kind of informed feedback/suggestion anyway.)

I hear a lot of chatter in general (not from Adobe), that AI is killing the stock business.  If so, just tell us and we can move on.

[Jill_C]

Adobe has nearly 521 million assets in their database, and they're adding millions more every week. They don't need to review images any more rapidly than they already are to maintain this growth level. If they felt that the ROI justified hiring more Moderators they would do so. Reviewing assets quickly doesn't mean that they'll sell more. 

[daniellei4510]

I only submit AI and I have seen a considerable slow-down as well. But that also extends to sales and even the number of posts on this forum. Everything appears to have slowed down, at least for me. I blame summer. Moderators are taking vacations. Graphic designers are taking vacations. Recent heat waves. Tropical storm Debby. Just speculation, though. That's all we have to offer.

[terrybrooks]

It's ridiculous, over 2 months so far for review of photographs, no AI, no copyright stuff, just my own landscape images
Waste of time submitting, think I'm going to pull all my images from stock agencies now

[Jill_C]

Why would you pull your existing images from stock agencies just because Adobe's reviews are running slowly lately? They will get approved eventually and will remain for sale forever. 

[daniellei4510]

From Adobe:

"We have expanded our moderation policies & platform: We are investing in both people and technology to scale moderation for the massive increase in weekly submissions. First, we have tripled the size of our moderation team."

Once the new moderators are trained, maybe review times will improve.

[daniellei4510]

" I have seen other posts stating that the AI content takes a long time to be reviewed because some people upload 500+ at once."

Adobe has set limitations on the number of assets (AI or otherwise) that can be submitted for review (51, 501, and 3001). I could be mistaken, but I doubt that someone with 501 assets awaiting review are having every one of them reviewed at once. There was a time, but I believe those days are over. I have 33 AI assets presently awaiting review, and I generally have about 7 assets reviewed each day. But not all 33 at once. 

"I DO NOT upload AI generated images and I do not mark them as such."

I DO upload AI exclusively, and I have not experienced the issue so many others have been dealing with. But we have also had AI contributors post here that they have been dealing with long review times as well.

"Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing such a delay?"

Nope. Nor do we know why some contributors have assets reviewed within a few days, while their other submissions sit and stew for weeks or even months. Me personally, my images of people are reviewed in the order submitted, while my food and animal assets are repeatedly ignored. Go figure.

[test2024]

If I upload 10 to 20 images, will they be reviewed more quickly than if I upload 50 images at once?

[daniellei4510]

Bottom line, if you have 50 QUALITY assets, properly edited, then it doesn't matter if you upload them all at once or over time. It will have no effect on getting assets reviewed more quickly in any case.

[Jill_C]

The quantity you submit at any one time does not affect the speed of review. However, Adobe has always advised that a "slow but steady" approach is preferred. Submitting a handful of images every day that have been carefully edited, titled and keyworded improves your chance of acceptance rather than submitting large batches.

[Peste65]

I don't think so... I'm Adobe Stock Contributor since 2012 (when it was named "Fotolia") and I always done the same stuff: stock of 10-20 photo every send (usually about one or two send/month) and the review time was not more than 1 week! Now I have photos pending since late may 2024 (we're at the end of October!!!): more tha 5 months?!?! That's crazy!! Actually I'm stock contributor for other sites (as here in Adobe, I'm not exclusive for nobody): the longest review time thath I faced is not more 2-3 weeks! Adobe is the only one that have this "geological" time to review! And, for the love of truth, I've never used AI and I sell more in other sites...

[Jill_C]

I didn't say that the "slow and steady" approach improved review speed. I've been a contributor since 2016 and am experiencing the same issues. Some images take many months to review while newer assets are reviewed sooner. I also have some waiting since late May/early June. Nevertheless, submitting a steady trickle of images results in a steady trickle of reviews - eventually.

[Peste65]

Some of my photo have reach more than 6 (SIX!!!!!) mounth into pending review state... I really don't think that's a normal condition... Meantime I've stopped to feed my portfolio with new content. I'm very frustrating about that ridicolous situation!

[Jill_C]

There's no need to stop submitting altogether, because all will get reviewed eventually and remain available for sale as long as you have an Adobe Stock account. I have managed to grow my portfolio by >20% this year by submitting new assets slowly and steadily and not worrying about the erratic review times.

[Abambo]

The backlog problem exists since Adobe started accepting generative AI assets. But the backlog concerns all contributors. It's just easier to submit 500 generative AI assets/day than  500 photos/day in a sustained manner. 

The problem for us is that generative AI sells... 😉

[daniellei4510]

Agreed. I submit an average of 6 AI assets per day and, aside from a few stragglers that are regularly passed over, I average 6 assets reviewed per day. I think the 501 under review limit should be reduced to at least 101 max.

[Peste65]

I really think that I'll simply, not upload new content to Adobe Stock anymore. I'll manage my items already online and dedicate my time to other stock sites... And that's it, folks!

[Abambo]

Sure, that's an option.

[terrybrooks]

Over 3 months for some now
Total waste of time and effort, my request for account deletion is going in now, income from it is pathetic compared to the time input, Hell, selling my ass on the streets would be less painfull.

[terrybrooks]

Done, no more messing around with this crap for me

[Jill_C]

You're responding to yourself ???

[Abambo]

You're responding to yourself ???

By Jill_C

I suppose that the time @terrybrooks posted this, Adobe did take down his account. There are people out there who are disapointed that they will not get rich and that buyers prefer other assets.

[Eva36887359nzz2]

Yeah, I agree with @Peste65,.  I really liked my adobe stock contributor portfolio for vector (also cause I got a higher percentage of earnings.) But uploaded new stuff exclusively to competitor. They take around 2 days(!)  rather than 3 months to approve. So not sure if  "doing all they can" is really convincing. 
For buying photos on stock, I really loved how neat the process was of easy ordering and directly importing the images to photoshop with one click. But also switched to competition for buying now to a avoid low quality ai pictures and copyright issues on professional projects. Stock has unfortunately consistently been declining in user friendliness and quality over the last year.