Everyone knows that many images are being licensed for very low prices. Many feel that the people paying these low prices are small, start-up businesses that are so poor they can’t justify paying fees high enough to cover the costs of creating the image. It is hoped that if photographers help these businesses succeed in the initial stages, eventually when they are profitable they might be able to pay enough to enable image creators to actually profit from their efforts.
Recently I have examined some Getty Images sales reports. I was able to determine that included among the “struggling companies” that get the images they need for between $5.00 and $10.00 are:
| Forbes Web Properties |
Between $9.00 and $4.00 |
| Coldwell Banker Real Estate |
$8.50 |
| Strayer Education Inc. |
$8.45 |
| Samsung Electronics |
$8.33 |
| NBC Artworks, NYC |
$8.00 |
| Universal Health Services |
$8.00 |
| Media Group of America |
$7.76 |
| Yahoo Entertainment |
Ranging from $7.61 to $5.61 |
| Sony Mobile Communications |
$7.45 |
| Conde Nast Digital PA |
$7.34 |
| RTL Netherlands Interactive |
$7.18 |
| Axel Springer |
$6.87 |
| Microsoft |
Ranging from $6.67 to $2.37 |
| Telegraph Media Group |
$6.52 |
| NBC Universal Digital CNBC |
$6.48 |
| Express Newspapers |
Ranging from $6.27 to $5.57 |
| Kaiser Family Foundation |
$6.00 |
| Cambridge University Press |
$5.83 |
| Boeing Shared Services Group |
Ranging from $5.27 to $4.58 |
| Discovery Communications |
$5.15 |
| Time Inc. |
Ranging from $5.08 to $3.43 |
These are only some of the companies in this category, not a complete list. Keep in mind that image creators receives 20% to 30% of these gross sales figures.
Then there is another category of companies that need more help. They get the images they need for less than $5.00.
| Cleveland Clinic – Marketing |
4.76 |
| Microsoft Bing API |
Ranging from $4.75 to $1.58 |
| Exxon Mobil Corporation |
Ranging from $4.50 to $4.25 |
| The Daily Beast |
4 |
| About.com |
Ranging from $3.83 to $3.72 |
| Lockton |
Ranging from $3.60 to $3.50 |
| TI Media |
3.54 |
| Gallup Organization |
3.33 |
| McClatchy Group |
Ranging from $3.20 to $1.29 |
| ESPN |
3.18 |
| Hearst Espaa S.L. |
2.86 |
| Hearst North America |
2.83 |
| Hearst – Hong Kong & UK |
2.78 |
| Hearst Media/CCO |
Ranging from $1.93 to $1.82 |
| Thomson Reuters Markets |
2.26 |
| Cargill Corporate Affairs |
1.85 |
| American City Business Journal |
1.5 |
| Mondadori Education |
1.15 |
Many of these organizations use lots of images. Some argue that volume users should get discounts. if the volume is great enough then lower individual prices may be justified.
One-third of all the
images Getty licenses are for prices below $5.00 and 55% are for prices below $10.00. I estimate that Getty is likely to license about 9,500,000 image uses in 2018, or about one license annually for every 3 images in its Creative collection. The percentage of Editorial images licensed is much lower. Volume is certainly not enough to off set the low prices.
It would be interesting to know what kind of salaries these companies are paying their employees. Do the employees find it necessary to have second jobs to supplement their income? It is also interesting to track the stock values and the profits paid to investors of many of these companies.