Today, the biggest problem for professional photographers is how to get their images seen by potential customers. Most photographers would agree that the way to get the widest possible exposure for their work is to get their images on gettyimages.com.
Sources at Getty Images tell me that 96% of the company’s sales come from images customers find on the first three pages of the search returns. Customers have a choice as to how many thumbnails they want to see on any given page -- with a maximum of 100 allowed -- so three pages of images would be a maximum of 300.
The Creative section of gettyimages.com currently has a total of 3,532,317 images. Of these 1,828,042 are RM and the rest RF. A quick search of almost any subject reveals way more than 300 images. Just a few examples: couple on beach, 15,199; senior couple on beach, 945; Chinese couple, 5,597; Istanbul, 2,827 and Koi fish, 401. Thus, if all the customers are going to look at is 300, is there anything photographers can do to insure that their images will be among that elite group.
The first step is to understand how the Getty search engine determines which images from which brands to show customers, and in what order. It is important to recognize that there are 163 brands on gettyimages.com. Each brand is given a certain number of slots in the search return order. The list below is organized in the priority that the brands are given. In our search we used the keyword “people.” There are 1,936,760 images on the site (55% of the total) that have people as a keyword.
The brands are always organized in the same sequence, but if a brand does not have any images in its collection with the keyword requested then it is skipped and the search engine goes to the next brand. Thus, with many searches for specialized niche images there will be a number of brands that have no images and the search engine will work its way through the entire list of brands in many fewer than 300 images. Then it repeats the process.
Let’s look at what might happen to a photographer who has recently submitted three great images of Istanbul to his agency. As best we can tell, the only way images are shuffled within a brand is by the date they are added with newest first.
For example, in a case where many brands don’t have any images on the subject a particular brand that does have images might end up with slots 20, 47 and 86 on a search for that subject matter. And the rotation begins to repeat at 101. As long as the photographer’s images are the newest images submitted all three will be seen when anyone does a search for Istanbul.
But, then another photographer from the same agency brings in 10 new images of Istanbul. Regardless of how well the first photographer’s images have sold or the quality of the any of the images, if they all have the same keyword that the customer used in the search then the 10 new images will always be shown in the sequence in which they were uploaded ahead of the older images belonging to the first photographer. Thus, the first photographer’s first image (the 11th available) will be in slot 347 and probably never seen by the customer. Once an image is pushed below the 300 point there is less than a 4% chance that it will ever be seen again.
Of the 168 brands in the Getty database only 115 have at least 1 image shown in the first 300 returns. 71 only have one image leaving 44 brands with 2 or more images that will be shown in the first 300.
29 of the 163 brands on gettyimages.com are Getty owned and 48% of the images on the site are in these brands. There are 134 Image Partner brands on the site with 52% of the images. As might be expected, 170 of the first 300 slots are assigned to the Getty brands That leaves only 130 to the 134 Image Partners with images in one of the first 300 slots. For a number of the Image Partners with people images their first image shown is unlikely to be among the first 300.
One surprise is that Flick has 20 slots in the first 300 and Flickr Select has 2. This means that Flickr photographers have 22 times as many chances to have their images seen as photographers represented by most of the Image Partners. Many people have been recommending that if you want to get your images on the Getty Images web site the best way to do that is to upload them on Flickr. This would seem to be good advice.
Stone has 18 slots in the first 300. Digital Vision, Stone+, Taxi and The Image Bank each have 11 slots. Photographer’s Choice RM and RF combined also have 11 slots. The Image Partners with the most slots are: National Geographic, 13; OJO Images, 7; Blend Images, 6; Image Source, 5 and CSA Images, 4. iStockphoto and Vetta combined have a total of 6 images in the first 300.
On my chart the number in the first column called “Slot” is the position in the sequence where the first image of the brand will appear. The gaps in the numbering are where the 2nd, 3rd and in some cases more images from the brands higher on the list will appear before any of the images from brands lower down will be seen.
Some photographers have been concerned that the new Getty Images contract allows Getty to move RM images that have been in the database for at least three years into other licensing models. But images that have been in the system for that long – unless they have very unique keywords – probably have no chance of ever being seen by a customer searching the Creative collection.
| Slot |
|
1st Pg. |
2nd Pg. |
3rd Pg. |
Total in 300 |
| 1 |
Digital Vision |
6 |
4 |
1 |
11 |
| 2 |
Lifesize |
3 |
2 |
|
5 |
| 3 |
Stone+ |
4 |
4 |
3 |
11 |
| 4 |
PhotoDisc |
6 |
2 |
|
8 |
| 5 |
The Image Bank |
6 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
| 6 |
Photographer's Choice |
4 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
| 8 |
Stone |
9 |
7 |
2 |
18 |
| 10 |
Flickr |
12 |
5 |
3 |
20 |
| 13 |
OJO Images |
5 |
2 |
|
7 |
| 14 |
Photonica |
3 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
| 15 |
Photographer's Choice RF |
3 |
|
|
3 |
| 17 |
Riser |
1 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
| 20 |
Vetta |
2 |
|
1 |
3 |
| 22 |
Taxi |
6 |
5 |
|
11 |
| 28 |
Iconica |
4 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
| 32 |
FoodPix |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 35 |
Blend Images |
2 |
|
1 |
3 |
| 37 |
The Agency Collection |
2 |
|
|
2 |
| 38 |
StockImage |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| 42 |
Stockbyte |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| 46 |
Blend X Pictures |
2 |
1 |
|
3 |
| 49 |
Comstock Images |
2 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
| 52 |
PhotoAlto Agency RF |
2 |
|
|
2 |
| 53 |
Retrofile |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
| 67 |
Botanica |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
| 72 |
Image Source |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
| 73 |
National Geographic |
2 |
3 |
8 |
13 |
| 76 |
Cultura |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
| 82 |
CSA Images |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 83 |
iStock Vectors |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
| 86 |
Flickr Select |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
| 89 |
Reportage |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
| 95 |
Altrendo |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
| 98 |
Workbook Stock |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 107 |
Taxi Japan |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 111 |
Robert Harding |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 122 |
GAP Photos |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 129 |
LOOK |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 131 |
Johner Images |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 137 |
Visuals Unlimited |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 139 |
Gallo Images |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 147 |
iStock Exclusive |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 148 |
Fuse - Zefa/Corbis |
|
2 |
|
2 |
| 150 |
momentimages |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 152 |
Stock 4B RF |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 154 |
Lonely Planet Images |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 155 |
Stock 4B |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 160 |
Retrofile RF |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 161 |
Time Life Pictures |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 166 |
Gulfimages |
|
2 |
|
2 |
| 168 |
Image Bazaar |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 171 |
All Canada Photo |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 173 |
PhotoAlto Agency RM |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 177 |
Axion Photographic Agency |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 178 |
hemis.fr |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 179 |
Archive Photos |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 181 |
Imagezoo |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 183 |
Art Box Images |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 184 |
Asia Images Group |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 185 |
Asia Images |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 188 |
amanaimages RF |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 190 |
Science Photo Library |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 191 |
Photosindia |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 193 |
Rubberball |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 194 |
Indeed/Aflo |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 195 |
Imagemore |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 196 |
Cory Docken |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 197 |
Bloomimage |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 198 |
Dorling Kindersley |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 200 |
amanaimages |
|
1 |
|
1 |
| 202 |
Collection: Mix |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 203 |
Stock Food Creative |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 205 |
Glow Images |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 206 |
Discovery Channel |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 207 |
First Light |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 208 |
Westend61 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 209 |
Popperfoto |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 212 |
Allsport Concepts |
|
|
2 |
2 |
| 214 |
Hola Images |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 215 |
Latin Content |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 221 |
Antenna |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 223 |
Science Faction |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 226 |
Estnine Inc. |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 227 |
DeAgostini Picture Library |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 229 |
Radius Images |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 230 |
ABSODELS |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 231 |
Arabian Eye |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 234 |
PhotoLibrary |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 235 |
Design Pix/ Ron Nickel |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 236 |
Minden Pictures |
|
|
2 |
2 |
| 238 |
Bridgeman Art Library |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 240 |
Onoky |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 245 |
Superstock |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 246 |
Panoramic Image |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 247 |
NordicPhotos |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 248 |
Dex Images |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 249 |
America 24-7 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 251 |
BJI |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 252 |
Aurora |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 253 |
FoodCollection RF |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 254 |
imagenavi |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 255 |
Illustration Works |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 256 |
Tango Stock |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 259 |
Japan Images |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 260 |
Hulton Archive |
|
|
2 |
2 |
| 266 |
Gorilla Creative |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 269 |
MedicalRF.com |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 270 |
Samba Photo |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 273 |
Purestock |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 284 |
Upper Cut |
|
|
2 |
2 |
| 291 |
RedChopsticks |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 292 |
Gallo Images, ROOTS RF |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 293 |
imagewerks |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 294 |
WIN-Initative |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| 296 |
MIXA |
|
|
1 |
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Totals |
100 |
100 |
100 |
300 |
Also See:
Getting Images Seen At Getty: Revisited
http://www.selling-stock.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=10b45082-7186-4d55-b841-88006c6c469f