Adobe financial report paints Creative Cloud as a success

 

 

Amongst the photographic community, the reaction to Adobe's Creative Cloud iniative has been all but universally negative, with many balking at having to pay a subscription to use the industry standard software. However, from Adobe's perspective, it looks like it may very well have been a success, at least based on the company's first quarter financial report.

Just how big has Cloud become for Adobe? Try 1,844,000 subscribers, up 405,000 from Q4 of last year. That's 22% growth in the last quarter. And here are some other Cloud related points from the earnings report:

• Adobe achieved revenue of $1.0 billion, at the high end of its targeted range of $950 million to $1.0 billion.
• Adobe exited Q1 with 1 million 844 thousand paid Creative Cloud subscriptions, an increase of 405 thousand when compared to the number of subscriptions as of the end of Q4 fiscal year 2013.
• Adobe Marketing Cloud quarterly revenue was $267 million, representing 24 percent year-over-year growth.
• More than half of Adobe’s Q1 revenue was from recurring sources such as Creative Cloud subscriptions and Adobe Marketing Cloud.

According to ZDNet, the Adobe earnings call also revealed that the average subscription length to the service has been around 18 months, and that more people sign up for the whole suite of apps rather than just one or two.

So, while the creative community might not think to highly of Creative Cloud on the whole, if these numbers are anything to go by, it seems to be working for Adobe.