In response to customer demand for smaller file sizes for Web and mobile uses, Getty Images will begin to license 170-pixel and 280-pixel images. Priced starting at $5 for royalty-free and $15 for rights-managed content, the new sizes supplement Getty’s existing $49 413-pixel product.
“We recognize that customer needs are changing,” said Andy Saunders, Getty vice president of creative imagery. “There is growing demand for Web-based and other interactive uses. Web imagery needs to be refreshed regularly, and customers of this type are not willing to pay traditional prices,” he explained.
The type Saunders is referring to is the micro buyer: “We are not taking microstock head on with this product, but we are certainly reaching out to a similar customer.”
To determine pricing, Getty consulted buyers who routinely use images for Web and mobile projects. The company also reached out to its contributor community prior to today’s announcement.
In a written statement released by Getty, contributing photographer Shannon Fagan praised the new product and expressed appreciation to the company for making his portfolio more accessible for both traditional and emerging customers. Though Fagan offered this endorsement as an individual, it is notable that he is the current president of the Stock Artists Alliance, the organization that spearheaded the industry-wide protest against Getty’s 2007 launch of the $49 Web-use license.
The SAA was not specifically mentioned in the statement, but Saunders said Getty consulted industry groups to get their take on the new product: “Their feedback has been very positive.” He added that many on the supplier side of the industry have described the new offering as long overdue.
“Yes, the $5 price is unprecedented, but it also represents an opportunity,” he said, stressing the point made by industry observers for some time: most traditional stock providers are not operating in the low-cost, high-volume market segment. The Getty product offers producers a chance to tap into this market and generate incremental revenue without compromising image value, because the size of images offered is too small to cannibalize traditional sales, and there are also time restrictions.
Saunders is certain that the expanded Web and mobile offering will bring new revenues, basing this assertion on the two-year track record of the $49 product. “We discovered that first-time $49 buyers were twice as likely to buy more expensive products and services than other first-time buyers. This indicates that the launch of such products attracts new customers, which is the entire point: gaining a whole new roster of clients in a segment currently dominated by microstock.”