Getty Images Collections

I have searched each of the different RM and RF collections on the Creative section of www.GettyImages.com to determine the number of images in each collection. Collection sizes vary greatly from EyeEm with 4,558,201 RF images to Silkroad Images, PictureIndia, Chic Sketch and Corbis Historical, all with fewer than 200 images each.

Currently Getty Images has 23,922,471 images in its Creative Collection divided among 195 different brands and companies. Seventy-three percent of the images in the collection are RF for a total of 17,316,741. There are 6,605,730 RM images representing 27% of the total collection. The percentage of RM continues to decline.

About 54% of total images are either wholly owned by Getty, or included in collections where Getty pays royalties directly to the contributors.



The other 46% of images have been supplied by stock agencies or production companies. In these cases, Getty pays a percentage of the gross license fee to the agency and the agency pays a percentage of what it receives to the image creator.  

I believe the combined gross revenue from the Creative Collection (both RF and RF) for the last four quarters was about $280 million Thus, when we divide that number by 23,922,471 the average gross annual revenue Getty receives per-image in its collection is about $11.70.



Some RM photographers receive 40% of that $11.70 or an average of about $4.68 per-image in the collection. The majority of RF contributors receive 20% or $2.34 per-image.

Return Per Image In The Collection

Image creators or agencies may be able to use these numbers to compare their annual earnings with those of the average image creator or agency. Given that the average image currently earns $11.70 for Getty simply multiply that number by the total images you have in the collection to determine Getty’s average earning from your images. Then multiply your royalty percentage by that result.



For example, if you have 2,000 images in the collection times $11.70 then Getty’s average annual earnings from your images is $23,400. If you are receiving a 20% royalty then the average photographer would earn $4,680 annually from Getty sales. If your results are higher than the average then you are probably photographing the right subject matter. If your average is lower then there is probably less demand for the subjects you have been photographing.

Return Per Image Licensed

I also estimate, based on sales reports I have examined from some of Getty’s major contributors, that Getty licenses rights to somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,500,000 images annually. Thus, the average gross license fee to Getty would be about $62.22. If you receive a 20% royalty, then the average gross revenue to you would be $12.44 per image licensed. I estimate Getty licenses about 1 images annually for every 5.3 images in its collection. That would mean that at least 82% of the images in the collection are never licensed during the year. But since many of the images that are licensed are often licensed by multiple different customers the number of unique images that are never licensed is much higher than 82%.

It is interesting to note that back in 2006 when Getty had a collection that was much more tightly edited than is the case today. They had a total of 1,767,214 RM and RF images in their Creative Collection. That year they licensed 1,661,696 separate uses for an average return per image licensed of $381.59.

Chart

The chart below shows the collection name, the number of RF and RM images for each collection along with the combined total of RF + RM. In the final two columns I separated out the Getty owned brands from the other agencies that distribute their work through Getty.

	RF	RM	RF + RM		Getty	Agencies
					Owned
360cities.net		4,058	4,058			4,058
ABSODELS	15,861	4,562	20,423			20,423
AFP Creative	52,101	3,786	55,887			55,887
age fotostock		112,895	112,895			112,895
All Canada Photos		107,363	107,363			107,363
Alloy	52,101		52,101		52,101
Allsport Concepts		2,584	2,584		2,584
Altrendo		2,330	2,330			2,330
amana images	147,733	78,199	225,932			225,932
America 24-7		1,847	1,847			1,847
arabianEye	5,244	47,552	52,796			52,796
Arcaid Images		29,423	29,423			29,423
Archive Photos		38,713	38,713		38,713
Art Images		1,150	1,150			1,150
ArtBox Images RF	4,572		4,572		4,572
Asia Images		8,032	8,032			8,032
Asia Selects	10,508		10,508			10,508
AsiaPix	24,108		24,108			24,108
Aurora		40,326	40,326			40,326
Aurora Open	28,805		28,805			28,805
AWL Images		142,878	142,878			142,878
Axiom Photographic Agency		19,383	19,383			19,383
Best View Stock	30,951		30,951			30,951
Bettmann		3,434	3,434		3,434
beyond fotomedia	10,431		10,431			10,431
Biosphoto		39,809	39,809			39,809
Blend Images	197,431	3,265	200,696			200,696
Bloomberg Creative Photos	3,563		3,563			3,563
BLOOMimage	39,507		39,507			39,507
blue jean images	48,145		48,145			48,145
Brand X Pictures	36,981		36,981		36,981
Caiaimage	35,594		35,594			35,594
Canopy		56,320	56,320		56,320
Car Culture ® Collection		9,860	9,860			9,860
Cavan	93,364		93,364			93,364
CGIBackgrounds		5,336	5,336			5,336
Chic Sketch	119		,119			119
China Span		10,657	10,657			10,657
Collection Mix: Subjects	85,032	7,218	92,250			92,250
Conde Nast Collection		1,344	1,344			1,344
Corbis	335,764	234,006	569,770		569,770
Corbis Unreleased	6,826		6,826		6,826
Corbis Documentary		600,766	600,766		600,766
Corbis Historical		7	7		7
CSA Images	28,580		28,580			28,580
Cultura	202,988	27,629	230,617			230,617
Da Vinci Codex Atlanticus		2,238	2,238			2,238
De Agostini Picture Library		314,261	314,261			314,261
Design Pics	73,825		73,825			73,825
Dex Image	16,994		16,994			16,994
DigitalVision	197,231		197,231		197,231
DigitalVision Vectors	1,065,823		1,065,823		1,065,823
DisabilityImages	11,100		11,100			11,100
Discovery Channel Images		4,387	4,387			4,387
Dorling Kindersley	20,044	79,749	99,793			99,793
E+	2,450,306		2,450,306		2,450,306
Evok Images	843		,843			843
EyeEm	4,542,663		4,542,663			4,542,663
EyeEm Premium	14,538		14,538			14,538
F1online	9,338	11,542	20,880			20,880
First Light		60,655	60,655			60,655
foap	111,772		111,772			111,772
Folio Images	17,026	4,048	21,074			21,074
Foodcollection	63,416		63,416			63,416
Fotosearch	92,216		92,216			92,216
Fototrove		1,110	1,110			1,110
fStop	46,312		46,312			46,312
Fuse	4,259		4,259		4,259
Gallo Images		183,113	183,113			183,113
Gallo Images ROOTS RF collection	38,094		38,094			38,094
GeoNova Maps	1,154		1,154			1,154
Glow		26,972	26,972			26,972
Glowimages	49,042		49,042			49,042
Gulfimages	5,788		5,788			5,788
hemis.fr		72,350	72,350			72,350
Hero Images	56,828		56,828			56,828
HEX	4,681		4,681			4,681
Historic Map Works		42,074	42,074			42,074
Hola Images	6,888	1,741	8,629		8,629
Hoxton	3,983		3,983			3,983
Hulton Archive		44,456	44,456		44,456
Iconica		40,064	40,064		40,064
Ikon Images		14,461	14,461			14,461
Image Source	122,653		122,653			122,653
imageBROKER	129,797	70,198	199,995			199,995
Imagemore	27,246		27,246			27,246
imagenavi	70,831		70,831			70,831
Images Bazaar		13,014	13,014			13,014
Imagewerks Japan	9,322		9,322			9,322
Imagezoo	21,778	1,961	23,739			23,739
ImaZinS	8,582	2,126	10,708			10,708
IndiaPicture	28,017		28,017			28,017
Ingram Publishing	9,514		9,514			9,514
Inmagineasia	9,275		9,275			9,275
iStock Unreleased	309,706		309,706		309,706
Ivary	7,231		7,231		7,231
IZA Stock	6,348		6,348			6,348
Johner Images		2,459	2,459			2,459
Johner Images Royalty-Free	76,517		76,517			76,517
Juice Images	72,995		72,995			72,995
LatinContent	136	595	731			731
Lonely Planet Images		804,970	804,970		804,970
LOOK		67,656	67,656			67,656
Loop Images	2,673		2,673			2,673
Luxy	9,484		9,484		9,484
Maskot	32,203		32,203			32,203
MedicalRF.com	11,901		11,901			11,901
MILATAS	9,047		9,047			9,047
Minden Pictures		123,160	123,160			123,160
Mint Images		4,420	4,420			4,420
Mint Images RF	27,760		27,760			27,760
MITO images	2,913		2,913			2,913
MIXA	36,922		36,922			36,922
Moment	1,539,729	185,944	1,725,673		1,725,673
Moment Mobile	45,749		45,749		45,749
Moment Open	1,354,911		1,354,911		1,354,911
Moment Select		12,946	12,946		12,946
Moment Unreleased	159,222	632	159,854		159,854
Mondadori Portfolio		11,375	11,375			11,375
National Geographic	65,290	132,051	197,341			197,341
National Geographic Magazines		58,240	58,240			58,240
Nativestock		1,458	1,458			1,458
Nature Picture Library		16,038	16,038			16,038
Nordic Photos		5,955	5,955			5,955
OJO Images	53,076		53,076		53,076
OJO+	3,865		3,865		3,865
ONOKY	25,569		25,569			25,569
Oxford Scientific		60,876	60,876			60,876
Panoramic Images		55,471	55,471			55,471
Passage		46,285	46,285			46,285
Passage Unreleased	4,548		4,548			4,548
Perspectives		110,093	110,093			110,093
PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections	85,196		85,196			85,196
Photodisc	680,492		680,492		680,492
Photographer's Choice		259,157	259,157		259,157
Photographer's Choice RF	203,838		203,838		203,838
Photononstop	8,501	58,172	66,673			66,673
Photolibrary		526,003	526,003		526,003
Photonica		18,594	18,594		18,594
Photonica World		11,579	11,579		11,579
photosindia	34,096		34,096			34,096
Picture Press		50,021	50,021			50,021
PictureIndia	121		121			121
Pixta	718		718			718
Popperfoto		2,298	2,298			2,298
Publisher Mix	11,113		11,113			11,113
Purestock	33,022		33,022			33,022
Radius Images	33,707		33,707			33,707
redchopsticks	10,353		10,353			10,353
Refinery29	157	1,013	1,170			1,170
Retrofile		2,363	2,363		2,363
Retrofile RF	12,485		12,485			12,485
Riser		1,918	1,918			1,918
robertharding		101,924	101,924			101,924
RooM	43,287	1,794	45,081			45,081
Rubberball Production	35,324		35,324		35,324
SambaPhoto		6,932	6,932			6,932
Science Faction		21,260	21,260			21,260
Science Photo Library	81,207	9,246	90,453			90,453
Science Source		98,698	98,698			98,698
Score by Aflo	34,340		34,340			34,340
Silkroad images	163		163			163
Sino Images	47,092		47,092			47,092
Snapwi.re	777		777			777
Stock4B		23,673	23,673			23,673
STOCK4B-RF	12,642		12,642			12,642
Stockbyte	669,292		669,292		669,292
Stockbyte Unreleased	20,355		20,355		20,355
StockFood Creative		34,448	34,448			34,448
Stocktrek Images	26,509		26,509			26,509
Stone		80,304	80,304		80,304
SuperStock		38,893	38,893			38,893
Taxi		64,107	64,107		64,107
Taxi Japan		15,804	15,804		15,804
Tetra images	94,828		94,828			94,828
The Image Bank		530,822	530,822		530,822
The LIFE Picture Collection		11,965	11,965			11,965
TongRo Images	49,690		49,690			49,690
Topic Images		31,365	31,365			31,365
UFO RF	4,890		4,890			4,890
Universal Images Group		59,486	59,486			59,486
Untitled X-Ray		2,932	2,932			2,932
UpperCut Images	19,753	8,250	28,003			28,003
Vetta	59,167		59,167		59,167
View Stock	51,204	5,995	57,199			57,199
VisitBritain		67,226	67,226			67,226
Visuals Unlimited		31,193	31,193			31,193
VStock	4,487		4,487			4,487
WaterFrame		39,994	39,994			39,994
Westend61	240,423	25,225	265,648			265,648
WIN-Initiative		19,352	19,352			19,352
XiXinXing	5,978		5,978			5,978
Yann Arthus-Bertrand		7,848	7,848			7,848
ZZVE Illustrations	6,251		6,251			6,251
	17,316,741	6,605,730	23,922,471		12,847,508	11,074,963