Investors Oppose Getty's $49 Web Use Price

Posted on 9/12/2007 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (1)

Not only are photographers and agents upset about Getty Images recent move to lower the price for Web use of virtually all of its images to $49, but many in the investment community look at it as a bad idea as well.

Media analysts Jeff Shelton of Natixis Bleichroeder has changed his company's rating from a Buy to a Sell and has set a new target price for the GYI stock at $24.50. (The stock closed yesterday at $30.35.)

Shelton said: "Of particular recent concern to us is Getty's just-introduced Internet-use-only $49 pricing model for almost all of its RM and RF single images. We believe that any existing Internet-use single-image sales will quickly be cannibalized by this move and do not see much success in upselling existing microstock buyers who are comfortable buying photos at $2 apiece. It is also unlikely to attract market share, in our opinion, as other image owners/distributors will be forced to match Getty's pricing."

"We now believe that despite best efforts, the royalty-free market will continue to deteriorate and do so at an accelerating rate, affecting all players and across all geographies," he added. "While we believe that the rights-managed market is more immune to cannibalization, we think there could be some tough times ahead in this area as well."



This move was designed to increase Getty's revenue, but maybe even Getty's CEO Jonathan Klein doesn't believe that will happen. Shelton points out that Klein's new employment contract calls for performance-based stock awards to vest if revenue is at least $806.4 million during the next 12 months. "This represents a 3% decline on a year-over-year reported basis, but after we adjust for F/X and acquisitions, we believe it represents a 10% decline."

Given the universal disagreement with this strategy, the toughest question is: What Klein hopes to achieve with this move?

At the end of 2005, Klein told analysts that approximately 10% of the RM units licensed were for Web use. It was also believed that Internet users would use a lot more RF, given its lower price; thus, the RF use was probably higher. Unfortunately, there is no data available that would enable Getty to make a real determination of RF Internet use. There have been rumors that Getty's percentage of images used on the Web has been growing. But the opposite may be true.

If Getty has seen Internet use of RM fall from say 10% of units licensed to 2% or 3%, then the And if it is losing RM sales in this category, Getty may be losing a lot more RF sales. This could be a major reason for the overall decline in RF images licensed in the last few quarters.


Copyright © 2007 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

Comments

  • Frank Chmura Posted Sep 13, 2007
    Wasn´t that obvious ?

Post Comment

Please log in or create an account to post comments.

Stay Connected

Sign up to receive email notification when new stories are posted.

Follow Us

Free Stuff

Stock Photo Pricing: The Future
In the last two years I have written a lot about stock photo pricing and its downward slide. If you have time over the holidays you may want to review some of these stories as you plan your strategy ...
Read More
Future Of Stock Photography
If you’re a photographer that counts on the licensing of stock images to provide a portion of your annual income the following are a few stories you should read. In the past decade stock photography ...
Read More
Blockchain Stories
The opening session at this year’s CEPIC Congress in Berlin on May 30, 2018 is entitled “Can Blockchain be applied to the Photo Industry?” For those who would like to know more about the existing blo...
Read More
2017 Stories Worth Reviewing
The following are links to some 2017 and early 2018 stories that might be worth reviewing as we move into the new year.
Read More
Stories Related To Stock Photo Pricing
The following are links to stories that deal with stock photo pricing trends. Probably the biggest problem the industry has faced in recent years has been the steady decline in prices for the use of ...
Read More
Stock Photo Prices: The Future
This story is FREE. Feel free to pass it along to anyone interested in licensing their work as stock photography. On October 23rd at the DMLA 2017 Conference in New York there will be a panel discuss...
Read More
Important Stock Photo Industry Issues
Here are links to recent stories that deal with three major issues for the stock photo industry – Revenue Growth Potential, Setting Bottom Line On Pricing and Future Production Sources.
Read More
Recent Stories – Summer 2016
If you’ve been shooting all summer and haven’t had time to keep up with your reading here are links to a few stories you might want to check out as we move into the fall. To begin, be sure to complet...
Read More
Corbis Acquisition by VCG/Getty Images
This story provides links to several stories that relate to the Visual China Group (VCG) acquisition of Corbis and the role Getty Images has been assigned in the transfer of Corbis assets to the Gett...
Read More
Finding The Right Image
Many think search will be solved with better Metadata. While metadata is important, there are limits to how far it can take the customer toward finding the right piece of content. This story provides...
Read More

More from Free Stuff