VSCO is now reportedly profitable thanks in large part to the income generated from its 160,000 Pro subscriptions, an offering it launched last year.
Bloomberg reports that VSCO has amassed a user base of 200 million global sign-ups in addition to the large number of paid subscriptions which has led to the company’s profitability. 25% of its revenue now comes from VSCO Pro, which costs $59.99 per year for AI-powered editing tools and access to the newly-launched Hub. VSCO says it is seeing an average of a million new user sign-ups per month, too.
The majority of those users are drawn to Spaces, the social-network-like community VSCO launched in 2022 that followed a full brand re-launch that was meant to return the platform “back to its roots” by serving more serious creators.
“Reaching profitability and serving 200 million users are monumental achievements for VSCO,” CEO Eric Wittman says. “The launch of VSCO Hub and Pro is a significant step in our mission to empower photographers and connect them with brands that value their creative vision.”
Wittman took over at VSCO last year and focused the company’s efforts on creating tools that creative professionals wanted to use. Both VSCO Pro and VSCO Hub were created under his leadership as ways of moving the company into the black. VSCO Hub, which the company describes as the “LinkedIn for Photographers,” launched earlier this month and promises to smartly match photographers with businesses who are looking to hire for their next project or campaign. It’s not a new concept, but VSCO’s implementation intertwines the connectivity with publishing to the social network aspect of the app.
“The more you post to VSCO, the more likely you are to appear in relevant searches — so keep creating!” VSCO says of Hub.
The monetization offered through Hub is starkly different from how Meta pays creators, which is through a revenue share model. On that note, VSCO says that it isn’t even advertising its pro subscription service and that it’s actually through Meta platforms like Instagram that the company is getting the majority of its sign-ups.
“That is our biggest referral source,” Wittman tells Bloomberg, referring to Instagram. “Secondly, people just finding it on the web. They are looking for alternatives, for places where they can express themselves creatively in a healthy way. VSCO is that place.”
Image credits: VSCO