If a picture speaks a thousand words and music speaks where words fail, what does a video say? With Getty Images providing all three modes of content in their library containing over 80million images, 750,000 video clips and over 75,000 pre-cleared audio tracks, we can be sure they have a lot to communicate.
Traditionally known for their iconic and ubiquitously distributed stock of still images, Getty have grown into a provider of multiple sources of content, including video. The advent of digital media has led to an increasing desire for constant content updates in all forms of media, a desire which Getty are keen to fulfill. IFTN caught up with Sales and Operations Manager at Getty Images Ireland, Marek Wystepek, to find out how Getty Images Ireland has adapted to deal with the country’s evolving industry.
IFTN: Can you give a brief outline of what Getty has to offer to Irish customers?
Marek:Getty Images has evolved and expanded hugely over the past five years and we feel sometimes clients don’t realise what we can actually offer now. Outside of the traditional areas of creative imagery (both Royalty Free and Rights Managed), editorial imagery across news, sport, entertainment and archive, we now have creative and editorial video as well as a comprehensive library of rights cleared music from a content perspective. We also have developed digital asset management systems to manage and store digital content, have a web development tool in Daylife, can deliver content via an API and can offer a rights and clearance service on any content, not just Getty Images content. We have developed key partnerships with content creators and most notably Flickr which is proving a hugely beneficial resource for expanding local content.
And as we saw our customers’ needs evolve in Ireland, with more customers wanting to communicate in a cost-effective way, we launched a creative subscription service called Thinkstock, which will have around 10 million images available by the end of this year and which enables customers to have access to a wealth of content at an affordable subscription package.
An area which we see growing is the use of archival content. Getty Images’ Hulton archive is one of the largest in the world and dates back to 1849. As the trend for nostalgia continues to be seen in advertising, the desire for iconic moments in time and everyday life continue to be seen from our customers in Ireland. We have over 80 million images in the archive with 1m online and we offer a free research facility to help with projects.
And our video offering is now 6% of our overall offering and includes almost 750 000 video clips, which is over 50 000 hours of content.
IFTN: Why should Irish customers choose Getty Images?
Getty has a huge array of high quality content and we have evolved our offering to now bring content at all price points to customers. We realize that our customers sometimes only need low res files and may be looking to rotate their content regularly across different platforms, so we now offer content to meet all needs and budgets. We are based in Ireland (Sandyford) and we do understand the market pressures we work in and as a result will always strive to offer all the services mentioned at the correct levels. I am finding more and more that once conversations begin, we can usually find the correct workflow and content to suit our customers’ needs.
IFTN: How often is new content added to the Getty database and how do you ensure the quality of all Getty content?
We constantly add new content to our site; as customers look for imagery that speaks to today’s visual communication needs, our content has to meet these needs. Our partnership with Flickr, for example, has provided a great avenue for photography enthusiasts from around the world to capture and share their images. This is an amazing source of locally relevant, current content and has proven to be highly successful with customers. We have a global creative team that looks at and selects the content that is showcased on our site; we work closely with a group of over a thousand contributors who regularly contribute to the suite and whose work has won hundreds of awards over the years.
IFTN: With such a vast array of content, how does Getty counteract the difficulty in finding a particular or specific image/video?
We are conscious that customers do not want to search through millions of images to find what they need! As a result, our leading search platform enables customers to quickly find what they are looking for, through features such as ‘More like this’ or ‘Find similar images’. Additionally, we created ‘catalyst’ – a search tool that recognizes that creatives think differently, using the right side of their brain! This search tool enables customers to search conceptually, so should you be looking for an image that conveys spirituality or togetherness, for example, you can build your search results based on concepts and not just keywords.
IFTN: In the world of new digital media, companies are constantly seeking new ways to provide compelling content to their customers, how can Getty provide this?
Providing not just still imagery but video and music gives us a unique perspective into how our customers’ needs change and what their requirements are. Trends we have seen include the growth in video content being licensed; customers know that to create engagement with your key audiences is harder than ever and moving imagery is a strong way to capture your customers’ attention. The rise of multiple platforms to communicate across has also contributed to stills and video now being key components of the communications mix.
IFTN: Getty Images has been around for over 15 years and during this period there has been massive changes in any content provider industry (music, images, videos etc) since then, and in particular, problems with piracy and intellectual property rights have emerged. How does Getty manage and cope with these issues?
The content world, as you rightly say, has evolved significantly in recent years – from how people create and share content and how it can be licensed. And the number and types of customers who want to use content has also rapidly changed, as businesses from small start-ups to digital agencies all look to engage their audiences.
This has also meant that there are many new users and customers wanting to license content – who may not understand that not all imagery is free on the internet! We have done a lot to help support new customers, such as our website, www.stockphotorights.com> which helps to take the confusion out of how to license content and how to ensure you have the right license. Our business is based on copyright and collaboration with our contributors - we work with thousands of contributors whose livelihood depends on us protecting their copyright and we constantly work to ensure they are compensated when their work is licensed.
IFTN: Has the use of cellphones/mobile phones and citizen journalism changed or influenced the business of Getty Images?
It’s clear to see that nowadays, it’s easier than ever for anyone to become quite proficient at capturing great pictures! Handheld devices have come a long way in the last few years and you no longer need to have expensive camera equipment to take a great picture. The time when citizen journalism is most valuable, however, is when an unusual event happens that you cannot plan for. The 7/7 bombings are a good example of this. People who were trapped underground on the tube were able to document what was happening and share a situation and event that a decade ago would have been impossible to record visually.
However, the demand for high quality content from newspapers, magazines and agencies means that professionally shot content, whether Editorial content such as sporting events, red carpet or news stories to creative content that will be licensed for advertising, is as important as ever – if not more so.
IFTN: Have you noticed a rise of serious amateurs in photojournalism, if so, how has this influenced your business?
You are right, we have seen a rise in this type of content and so this year, we launched the Flickr Select collection. Flickr Select is a meticulously curated rights-managed collection of real moments. It showcases some of Getty Images’ most creative imagery and offers a different perspective to the more constructed, art-directed content available across collections such as Stone or Amana.
The Flickr Select collection debuted with nearly 6,000 images and additional content will be added on a monthly basis. Its content will be chosen by Getty Images’ editors based on their expertise in licensing digital content and insights into customers’ visual communication needs.
IFTN: Is it still possible customers to obtain unique content (video/photo/music) on Getty?
Yes, it is! Despite more customers wanting to communicate more frequently, with thousands of websites changing their content several times a day now,
We know that some customers still want to have exclusivity on an image. We still have our Rights Managed collections and high-end, art-directed content is still being used for campaigns that require original, dynamic content.
For more information and to search the content of Getty Images Ireland, please visit www.gettyimages.ie.
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