As part of the process of selling Getty Images Goldman Sachs was provided detailed information relative to Getty's operations and on November 28, 2007 they produced a report that projected revenue for 2008 and 2012. The following are those figures. Getty Images was later sold to Hellman & Friedman.
| Getty Images Revenue and Estimates (in millions) |
|
|
|
| |
2007 |
2008 |
2012 |
| Creative Stills |
$560.94 |
$461.00 |
$348.00 |
| Editorial |
$138.34 |
$180.00 |
$289.00 |
| iStockphoto |
$72.00 |
$122.00 |
$262.00 |
| Footage & multimedia |
$42.88 |
$47.00 |
$83.00 |
| Other |
$43.44 |
$77.00 |
$159.00 |
| B2B music |
|
$14.00 |
$46.00 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total |
$857.60 |
$901.00 |
$1,187.00 |
Note the decline in Creative Stills (RM and traditional RF) revenue in the next five years. In 2007, RM was $305.26 and RF was $255.68. RF will take the biggest hit in the next five years, but both will lose significant revenue if marketing strategies remain as is.
Bill Bachmann said, “I do not sell RF and won’t.” Licensing images as RM has worked very well for him. But dramatic changes in the market are developing. We’re going to see a steady decline in the use of RM images for big budget print projects, while photographers pump an increasing number of images into RM.
Tim McGuire points out are “plenty of new distribution outlets offering 50+% for RF licensing.” But unit sales through these outlets are so comparatively low that even with their higher percentages, they don’t produce the gross revenue for photographers that the lower percent operations do.
Traditional photographers don’t like to hear it, but the market is headed toward lower priced uses, not higher. Volume will be the critical issue, not price or percentage. Look at the anticipated iStockphoto and multimedia growth. Multimedia uses will be online video, not still images, and at very low prices. Much of the editorial growth will be online as well as for personal uses on digital devices. Photographers need to view these options as real markets.
To be successful in a changing marketplace, David Liddle, of U.S. Venture Partners, said, “To a large degree, it’s the willingness to move on and abandon something. It’s the ability to let something go and move on to the next big thing.”