CtoA 2 -Power And Leverage Of Individual Agencies

In July 2018 I did an analysis of the more than 200 Getty Creative collections to determine how many images had been added to each collection in the almost two years between August 2016 and June 2018. Overall there was a 37% increase in the number of images added, but there were wide variations in the sources of the growth.

It is interesting that despite the growth in the number of images in the collection there has been little, if any, growth in revenue generated by the collection. As best I can determine gross revenue for the Creative collection has remained at about $280 million per year for at least the last three years.

A more granular look at where image growth has come from produces some startling results. I segregated all the RM and RF collections reported in July into 4 groups.

1 – Getty Wholly Owned which includes collections Getty owns totally and those where it pays royalties to directly to image creators.

2 – Corbis Collection which includes images it acquired from Corbis after the Corbis sale to Visual Communications Group (VCG) in late 2016. Some of these images are wholly owned. In some cases Getty pays royalties to image creators directly. However it is unclear whether payments to VCG come out of Getty’s normal share of the total paid by the customer or if a VCG share comes off the top before the “gross payment” that is reported to the photographer is used to calculate the photographer’s share.

3 – Specialist Agencies – This includes the 139 agencies that have supplied images on consignment to Getty. In these cases, the agencies usually receive somewhere between 15% and 30% of the gross paid by the customer to Getty. The Specialist Agency then pays a share of what it receives to the image creator. This ends up being very small compensation for the professional creator trying to earn a living from his/her production.



4 – EyeEm/Moment/foap – The important thing to note here is that in nearly all cases the images have been supplied by photographers whose principal interest is in showing their work to others, not in making money. (There are some exceptions. Some of these image suppliers hope to earn serious money from the images they produce.)

	2016 August	2018 June	Images	Percent	Number
			Added	Growth	Total
			2 years		Collection
Getty Wholly Owned	5,000,120	8,417,296	3,417,416	68.3%	39
Corbis Collection	1,210,479	1,361,031	150,552	12.4%	12
Independent Agencies	6,024,799	6,176,038	151,239	2.5%	139
EyeEm/Moment/foap	2,756,721	7,968,105	5,211,385	189.0%	11
	14,992,119	23,922,470	8,930,592		201

What These Figures Tell Us

1 – Most of the new images have been produced by photographers who are just interested in sharing their work, not in making money. A big question that needs to be answered is are these the images paying customers want to buy for their projects? If yes, then Getty no longer needs professional creators. The amateurs will supply everything they need simply for the joy of creating images and knowing that someone liked them. They will also be happy to let Getty reap all the benefits in thanks for making their work available for others to see.



However, the fact that revenue overall has not been growing for Getty indicates that the amateur supplied images are not generating significant revenue relative to their numbers, and are not what most customers want to use.

In the last 2 years combined the specialist brands have grown the collection by only about 2.5% in terms of new images. Clearly, most of their producers have given up due to declining revenue. But, it is my bet that it is the images from photographers who have stopped supplying new work that continue to sell despite the fact that they are mostly old images. They may be selling for lower prices than they were two years ago, but in terms of number licensed my bet is that sales have not declined significantly.

All Specialist Agencies need a better understanding of whether the images they have supplied represent more than 26% of Getty's gross revenue.

2 – Specialist Agencies have added almost nothing in the way of new images in the last two-year period. Obviously, most of their photographers have decided that it is no longer worthwhile to produce and submit new images.

One big question is if there has been an overall fall off in revenue for Specialist Agencies in the last 2 years? If that is the case, to what degree has the fall off been the result of fewer sales, or lower average prices per sale. Certainly, we know that more and more images are being sold for lower and lower prices.

3 – If new images aren’t being added then the images being used are two years old, or older. Certainly, we know that a lot of the older images are ones that continue to sell. Does that mean that what is needed is more editing and analysis of demand, rather than just more images?

4 – Many of the photographers who have Getty contracts and are paid directly by Getty may still be adding new images to the collection. But it is hard to tell the role that DigitalVision Vectors and E+ play in the overall growth of Getty's collection.

5 – It is unclear how many of Getty’s contract photographers are still supplying images.

Charts

Below are four charts that divide the individual collection into the groups I defined above. I believe I have assigned individual collections to appropriate  groups in terms of their relationship with Getty, but I do not have a clear understanding of the relationships of all the smaller, lesser known collections and thus may have made some errors.

Independent Specialist Agencies

	2016 August	2018 June		Images
				Added
360cities.net		4,058		4,058
ABSODELS	9,151	20,423		11,272
age fotostock	84,306	112,895		28,589
All Canada Photos	90,463	107,363		16,900
amana images	199,933	225,932		25,999
America 24-7	1,856	1,847		-9
arabianEye	47,053	52,796		5,743
Arcaid Images	5,774	29,423		23,649
Archive Photos	24,954	38,713		13,759
Art Images	1,159	1,150		-9
ArtBox Images RF	4,573	4,572		-1
Asia Images	15,740	8,032		-7,708
Asia Selects	10,604	10,508		-96
AsiaPix	10,282	24,108		13,826
Aurora	39,917	40,326		409
Aurora Open	18,789	28,805		10,016
AWL Images	130,547	142,878		12,331
Axiom Photographic Agency	18,792	19,383		591
Best View Stock	29,602	30,951		1,349
beyond fotomedia	10,583	10,431		-152
Biosphoto	1	39,809		39,808
Bloomberg Creative Photos		3,563		3,563
BLOOMimage	41,182	39,507		-1,675
blue jean images	41,880	48,145		6,265
Caiaimage	26,332	35,594		9,262
Car Culture ® Collection	4,767	9,860		5,093
Cavan		93,364		93,364
CGIBackgrounds	5,336	5,336		0
Chic Sketch		119		119
China Span	9,809	10,657		848
CSA Images	25,037	28,580		3,543
Cultura	164,301	230,617		66,316
Da Vinci Codex Atlanticus	2,238	2,238		0
De Agostini Picture Library	217,630	314,261		96,631
Design Pics	64,653	73,825		9,172
Dex Image	16,978	16,994		16
DisabilityImages	10,557	11,100		543
Dorling Kindersley	96,074	99,793		3,719
Evok Images	385	843		458
F1online	21,307	20,880		-427
First Light	46,750	60,655		13,905
Folio Images	7,449	21,074		13,625
Foodcollection	26,133	63,416		37,283
Fotosearch	104,032	92,216		-11,816
Fototrove	1,147	1,110		-37
fStop	40,112	46,312		6,200
Gallo Images	162,351	183,113		20,762
Gallo Images ROOTS RF collection	18,615	38,094		19,479
Genuine Japan		0		0
GeoNova Maps	1,154	1,154		0
Gulfimages	5,788	5,788		0
hemis.fr	70,504	72,350		1,846
Hero Images	41,317	56,828		15,511
HEX	2,796	4,681		1,885
Historic Map Works	42,078	42,074		-4
Hoxton	709	3,983		3,274
Ikon Images	11,831	14,461		2,630
Illustration Works	8,112			-8,112
Image Source	107,814	122,653		14,839
imageBROKER	80,439	199,995		119,556
Imagemore	29,917	27,246		-2,671
imagenavi	68,909	70,831		1,922
Images Bazaar	11,206	13,014		1,808
Imagewerks Japan		9,322		9,322
Imagezoo	23,827	23,739		-88
ImaZinS	968	10,708		9,740
IndiaPicture	19,929	28,017		8,088
Ingram Publishing	9,570	9,514		-56
Inmagineasia		9,275		9,275
IZA Stock	6,348	6,348		0
Johner Images	21,127	2,459		-18,668
Johner Images Royalty-Free	42,376	76,517		34,141
Juice Images	22,889	72,995		50,106
LatinContent	5,743	731		-5,012
LOOK	64,946	67,656		2,710
Loop Images		2,673		2,673
Maskot	22,313	32,203		9,890
MedicalRF.com	11,900	11,901		1
MILATAS	8,099	9,047		948
Minden Pictures	210,854	123,160		-87,694
Mint Images	4,648	4,420		-228
Mint Images RF	13,923	27,760		13,837
MITO images	1,192	2,913		1,721
MIXA	36,943	36,922		-21
Mondadori Portfolio	11,364	11,375		11
National Geographic	223,188	197,341		-25,847
National Geographic Magazines		58,240		58,240
Nativestock	1,458	1,458		0
Nature Picture Library	11,940	16,038		4,098
Nordic Photos	7,042	5,955		-1,087
ONOKY	22,367	25,569		3,202
Oxford Scientific	62,075	60,876		-1,199
Panoramic Images	52,564	55,471		2,907
Perspectives	69,192	110,093		40,901
PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections	79,607	85,196		5,589
Photononstop	52,038	66,673		14,635
photosindia	34,096	34,096		0
Picture Press	39,564	50,021		10,457
PictureIndia	8,323	121		-8,202
Pixta		718		718
Popperfoto	1,922	2,298		376
Purestock	33,029	33,022		-7
Radius Images	34,223	33,707		-516
redchopsticks	10,351	10,353		2
Refinery29		1,170		1,170
robertharding	87,697	101,924		14,227
RooM	27,447	45,081		17,634
Rubberball Production	35,208	35,324		116
SambaPhoto	7,607	6,932		-675
Science Faction	21,412	21,260		-152
Science Photo Library	93,188	90,453		-2,735
Science Source	99,544	98,698		-846
Score by Aflo	34,342	34,340		-2
Silkroad images	1,860	163		-1,697
Sino Images	18,966	47,092		28,126
Snapwi.re	778	777		-1
Stock4B	23,131	23,673		542
STOCK4B-RF	12,236	12,642		406
StockFood Creative	35,110	34,448		-662
Stocktrek Images	23,875	26,509		2,634
SuperStock	39,525	38,893		-632
Tetra/Blend Images	435,228	295,524		-139,704
The LIFE Picture Collection	905,678	11,965		-893,713
TongRo Images	63,478	49,690		-13,788
Topic Images	29,197	31,365		2,168
UFO RF	4,353	4,890		537
Universal Images Group	59,226	59,486		260
Untitled X-Ray	2,061	2,932		871
UpperCut Images	8,262	28,003		19,741
View Stock	28,681	57,199		28,518
VisitBritain		67,226		67,226
Visuals Unlimited	32,756	31,193		-1,563
VStock	90	4,487		4,397
WaterFrame	35,797	39,994		4,197
Westend61	149,011	265,648		116,637
WIN-Initiative	18,709	19,352		643
XiXinXing	5,984	5,978		-6
Yann Arthus-Bertrand	4,441	7,848		3,407
ZZVE Illustrations	6,275	6,251		-24
	6,024,799	6,176,038		151,239

Getty Wholly Owned

	2016 August	2018 June		Images
				Added
AFP Creative	3,811	55,887		52,076
Allsport Concepts	2,594	2,584		-10
Altrendo		2,330		2,330
Brand X Pictures	37,396	36,981		-415
Collection Mix: Subjects	65,414	92,250		26,836
Conde Nast Collection		1,344		1,344
DigitalVision	150,510	197,231		46,721
DigitalVision Vectors		1,065,823		1,065,823
Discovery Channel Images	4,387	4,387		0
E+	892,753	2,450,306		1,557,553
Glow		26,972		26,972
Glowimages	53,194	49,042		-4,152
Hola Images	8,634	8,629		-5
Hulton Archive	44,026	44,456		430
Iconica	42,614	40,064		-2,550
iStock		0		0
iStock Unreleased		309,706		309,706
iStock Unreleased +		0		0
Lonely Planet Images	734,694	804,970		70,276
Lonely Planet RF		0		0
OJO Images	53,702	53,076		-626
OJO+	3,867	3,865		-2
Photodisc	558,184	680,492		122,308
Photographer's Choice	235,567	259,157		23,590
Photographer's Choice RF	183,934	203,838		19,904
Photolibrary	496,271	526,003		29,732
Photonica	18,586	18,594		8
Photonica World	11,558	11,579		21
Publisher Mix		11,113		11,113
Retrofile	8,056	2,363		-5,693
Retrofile RF	7,276	12,485		5,209
Riser	2,007	1,918		-89
Stockbyte	666,225	669,292		3,067
Stockbyte Unreleased		20,355		20,355
Stone	76,555	80,304		3,749
Taxi	57,056	64,107		7,051
Taxi Japan	16,344	15,804		-540
The Image Bank	463,143	530,822		67,679
Vetta	101,762	59,167		-42,595
	5,000,120	8,417,296		3,417,176

Corbis Collection

	2016 August	2018 July		Images
				Added
Alloy	10,708	52,101		41,393
Bettmann	903	3,434		2,531
Canopy	48,254	56,320		8,066
Corbis	468,113	569,770		101,657
Corbis Unreleased		6,826		6,826
Corbis Documentary	590,642	600,766		10,124
Corbis Historical	3	7		4
Fuse	30,984	4,259		-26,725
Ivary	7,234	7,231		-3
Luxy	85	9,484		9,399
Passage	53,553	46,285		-7,268
Passage Unreleased		4,548		4,548
	1,210,479	1,361,031		150,552

EyeEm/Moment/foap

	2016 August	2018 June		Images
				Added
EyeEm	253,328	4,542,663		4,289,335
EyeEm Premium	2,824	14,538		11,714
EyeEm RM		0		0
foap		111,772		111,772
Moment	453,639	1,725,673		1,272,034
Moment RF & RM	637,599			-637,599
Moment Mobile	29,703	45,749		16,046
Moment Open	1,346,112	1,354,911		8,799
Moment Select	13,731	12,946		-785
Moment Unreleased	410	159,854		159,444
Flickr (added to Moment)	19,375			-19,375
	2,756,721	7,968,106		5,211,385