Take a ride on Valueline

Looks like the photo stock industry is about to launch a new roller coaster called Valueline. But, before you jump on board, or jump overboard, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.

As most of you are well aware, the photo stock industry has been changing for a number of years – rights managed vs. royalty free, subscription services, micro payment options, mergers, acquisitions and consolidation of companies. These have been the trends for the last 10 years. In response to these trends, innovative entrepreneurs have developed business models to create new ways of offering their products to accommodate the buying habits of new and existing customers.

Among these emerging models is the micro-payment sites, including the Getty owned, iStock, which in part is possibly responsible for its recent price slashing. On the surface, these sites seem to be the better value, pushing a trend for all companies to launch their own micro-payment option. This is evident in the recent proliferation of new micro-payment sites popping up in the industry, like weeds after a spring storm. However, when you factor in the higher resolution images and large quantity of image downloads that a subscription service allows, the lately overlooked subscription service is a much better value.

In Getty’s own micro-payment site, the price for a high resolution image is $10.00. Using simple math, the advantage greatly shifts to support the subscription model. If the subscription customers download just 30 high-resolution images in one year, they far exceed the cost of the subscription. For these customers, the benefit lies in downloading whatever they need whenever they need it without the worry of how many credits they have available. I think that one dollar downloads are a great option for the customer that needs a small quantity of low-res images. But, if the customer needs images for print or a large quantity of images at a great value- under a dollar per day, not a dollar per download-then the subscription model is well worth considering.

As Getty releases its new site, Valueline, take a moment to remember gettyworks.com, a product released by Getty in early 2001 and dropped a little after a year of operation. Getty, like all companies, is concerned with the bottom line and will use its large customer base to test new products and services as they have done in the past. Will this new venture succeed? Who knows. Right now it’s 100,000 mostly outdated images. These images might be over priced at $19-$49 per image. But, with Getty’s marketing muscle and position in the industry, all I can say is fasten your seat belts and get ready for a ride.