Getty Images has supplied selected investors with its third quarter revenue figures. Indications are that revenue continues to decline. For the year ending June 30, 2013 revenue was $897 million. For the 4 quarters ending September 30, 2013 indications are that the revenue is less than the $897 million, but we have been unable to determine exactly how much it has declined.
Unit sales in the Midstock division of the company (iStock, Thinkstock and Photos.com) have increased since Q2 2013, but sources indicate that revenue has remained about the same at around $300 million.
One of the big reasons for increased unit sales was the
50% price reduction in early July of all non-exclusive images on iStock. The price reduction is still in effect, although they have stopped promoting it as heavily as they did during Q3.
To counter the potential loss of revenue from the price reduction, in July Getty adjusted its search-return-order so it favored the higher priced exclusive imagery even more than had been the case previously. This made it more difficult for customers to find the discount priced images.
Indications are that may have worked, at least for exclusive contributors, if not for Getty’s overall bottom line. We have been told that before July 2013
70% of iStock revenue came from Exclusive images. That appears to have jumped to around 75% in Q3. However, it seems unlikely that a 5% growth in revenue from exclusive sales would have been enough to offset the 50% price cut for the use of non-exclusive images. Thus, non-exclusive unit sales may have grown as well, although not enough for many non-exclusive contributors to have seen revenue growth.