MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: Thinkstock's Image Offering Has More Than Doubled Since Launch  (Read 11001 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: January 24, 2012, 04:55 »
0
Press release from Getty on The Wall Street Journal's 'MarketWatch' site;

"NEW YORK, Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Getty Images, Inc. today announced the expansion of Thinkstock ( www.thinkstock.com ), an image subscription product that provides one of the most complete offerings available in the marketplace, to include 19 new image collections which now includes content from Purestock, Eyecandy Images, Ron Chapple Studios, TongRo Images, Fogstock, Wavebreak Media and Zoonar. With the addition of the new collections, Thinkstock has more than doubled the total amount of available images through their subscription service since launching in February 2010, to 7.7 million images, and is expected to reach 10 million images in early 2012. ......"

Read the full spiel here;

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/thinkstocks-image-offering-has-more-than-doubled-since-launch-2012-01-19

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?


« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2012, 05:23 »
0
I hope they will be selling soon but I don't see how Thinkstock is going to attract buyers?  It looks like they have ruined istock and that was potentially their best asset.  I still don't see how pushing istock buyers to Thinkstock and rival sites is going to make Getty stronger.  Wont that be a big negative for potential buyers?

wut

« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2012, 05:24 »
0
Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

I sure hope so, it probably can't go for the worst. Although you never know with these speculators, they all have only short term gains on their mind

« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2012, 05:51 »
0
I hope they will be selling soon but I don't see how Thinkstock is going to attract buyers?  It looks like they have ruined istock and that was potentially their best asset.  I still don't see how pushing istock buyers to Thinkstock and rival sites is going to make Getty stronger.  Wont that be a big negative for potential buyers?

Well yes, Istock should have been the jewel in Getty's crown ... but unfortunately they broke it. The fact that they're having to rely on TS for some good news demonstrates just how desperate they are to find any.

Having thought about it I'm virtually certain that Getty is now being actively marketed for an upcoming sale. I don't see any glimmer of hope for Istock in that scenario either. Any new owner would almost certainly leave the Getty team in charge for the foreseeable future and so nothing can be expected to change to the benefit of Istock. Istock is still f**ked.

Microbius

« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2012, 06:58 »
0
I would certainly see this as a prelude to selling off or floating the company. No other reason to be promoting it on MarketWatch.
I notice they haven't said how they grew the collection so quickly, by backing their contributors into a corner.

helix7

« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2012, 07:26 »
0
Maybe it's going to be one of those "istock was great, but now we've got ThinkStock!" deals, trying to spin it like istock is past success, but ThinkStock is the future.

Which of course I find extremely debatable anyway, as ThinkStock has yet to show anything that would lure away the established base of buyers from other subscription properties. The only way I see TS ever becoming a real threat to SS or anyone else is if they can offer a competitive price. And as we all know, ThinkStock is owned by a company that is very averse to dropping prices and typically prefers to always increase them.

Hopefully they take TS down the same road they took istock and price themselves out of the market.

rubyroo

« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2012, 07:43 »
0
What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world.

Yes indeed.  Very interesting.

« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2012, 10:29 »
0
Given this rather odd PR pat on the back for themselves, I find it amusing that I still have a grand total of 18 images out of over 2,500 of my port on TS/photos.com. Having pissed off indies (those of us not voluntarily in the PP anyway, and possibly those who were in at the prospect of a reduced share of the take in the future) by forcing us into the PP they then can't get the content migrated.

Perhaps they'll have that 10 million total when Logos go live, PNG support is added and ....

lagereek

« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2012, 10:36 »
0
So much for that!  our images are hardly selling at IS, going to be mirrored at TS, at this snail-speed I will be dead before its happening. Cant they get anything right?
so far, 8 shots of a port of 1800.

« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2012, 10:59 »
0
Given this rather odd PR pat on the back for themselves, I find it amusing that I still have a grand total of 18 images out of over 2,500 of my port on TS/photos.com.

dont remember when but back in 2011 I had to "remove" all my files from PP (waited a week and add them again once they had somekind of bug) after that files were migrated quite fast but still dont have all of them there.. perhaps you need to do the same, if you want to of course

« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2012, 11:53 »
0
Given this rather odd PR pat on the back for themselves, I find it amusing that I still have a grand total of 18 images out of over 2,500 of my port on TS/photos.com.

dont remember when but back in 2011 I had to "remove" all my files from PP (waited a week and add them again once they had somekind of bug) after that files were migrated quite fast but still dont have all of them there.. perhaps you need to do the same, if you want to of course

And how would I remove my files from the PP now there are no options for independents?

I was never voluntarily part of it, so my files were just part of the great indie migration (that is apparently at the moment a dribble) enabled by the Sept 2011 changes in the ASA

lisafx

« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2012, 12:08 »
0

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

Oh wow.  Very interesting choice of venue.  It seems they are targeting buyers, but not stock image buyers...

« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2012, 12:08 »
0
And how would I remove my files from the PP now there are no options for independents?

right....

« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2012, 12:22 »
0

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

Oh wow.  Very interesting choice of venue.  It seems they are targeting buyers, but not stock image buyers...

Actually, the press release was distributed all over the place via PRNewswire, and there are image buyer type websites that picked it up. 

« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2012, 14:43 »
0
What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world.

Hundreds of websites and blogs have  the same press release according to Google. Though when you go to the pages often the press release is not there. Why ? Probably because the content from Market Watch or some other aggregator  has been syndicated on a feed or ticker which has appeared on those websites at some point recently and as been indexed. Many of those sites are design blogs etc - in some cases the feeds will syndicate pertinent content. The PR has worked.

I don't believe you can draw any other conclusions. Market Watch themselves may have picked up the PR from a feed. Like everyone else they depend on free content. This is how information propagates now.

ETA: jumped right in and posted without noticing that the poster above had sketched out a similar scenario. Sorry.

 
« Last Edit: January 24, 2012, 14:45 by bhr »

RacePhoto

« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2012, 15:21 »
0
Press release from Getty on The Wall Street Journal's 'MarketWatch' site;

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

How many years have you been predicting this sale coming any day now?

As for the increase in files, it's kind of sad that the truth wasn't told. iStock independents played a large role in the increase as their option for leaving files out of the partner program was dismissed and they were held hostage, financially blackmailed into submission, while their portfolios were moved to Thinkstock. Yes we did have an option, have everything moved to ThinkStock and take a cut in pay to 15% or LEAVE! That's not much of a choice, was it?

Come on Gostwyck after five years or more of you saying, they are going to turn over IS soon, this is just a way of preparing it for sale. You aren't going to say, I told you so if they finally do? I mean, I predict an Earthquake in California... The Yankees will win the world series again, and some day Getty will be sold.

Considering the consolidation, the gobbling up of more agencies, the partner program expansion, it's bound to happen. But not until there's a profit and something to sell. The drop in sales on IS and fall of Getty, isn't exactly making it a hot property? Only way the sale will be soon is if they take a loss and get out of it.

« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2012, 15:40 »
0
Press release from Getty on The Wall Street Journal's 'MarketWatch' site;

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

How many years have you been predicting this sale coming any day now?

...
Come on Gostwyck after five years or more of you saying, they are going to turn over IS soon...

H&F acquired Getty in July 2008 (announced Feb 2008) - so they haven't even owned them for five years yet. Many articles suggested a 3-5 year time frame, typical for private equity to hold the company. The late-2010 dividend recapitalization ($500 million to H&F) was a little cash to soften the blow that they couldn't sell Getty yet. I don't know who would buy Getty from H&F, but I'm sure they want to keep the image of the company nicely polished in case someone comes along who's interested.

RacePhoto

« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2012, 16:04 »
0
Press release from Getty on The Wall Street Journal's 'MarketWatch' site;

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

How many years have you been predicting this sale coming any day now?

...
Come on Gostwyck after five years or more of you saying, they are going to turn over IS soon...

H&F acquired Getty in July 2008 (announced Feb 2008) - so they haven't even owned them for five years yet. Many articles suggested a 3-5 year time frame, typical for private equity to hold the company. The late-2010 dividend recapitalization ($500 million to H&F) was a little cash to soften the blow that they couldn't sell Getty yet. I don't know who would buy Getty from H&F, but I'm sure they want to keep the image of the company nicely polished in case someone comes along who's interested.

Someone forgot to tell them to keep things polished. Looks like all they have done is throw mud on it, and forget to keep it clean and lubricated.

« Reply #18 on: January 24, 2012, 16:13 »
0
Come on Gostwyck after five years or more of you saying, they are going to turn over IS soon, this is just a way of preparing it for sale. You aren't going to say, I told you so if they finally do? I mean, I predict an Earthquake in California... The Yankees will win the world series again, and some day Getty will be sold.

Considering the consolidation, the gobbling up of more agencies, the partner program expansion, it's bound to happen. But not until there's a profit and something to sell. The drop in sales on IS and fall of Getty, isn't exactly making it a hot property? Only way the sale will be soon is if they take a loss and get out of it.

Wrong on all counts matey-bollocks. They haven't yet owned Getty for 4 years and it wasn't me that said it anyway. Actually it was Klein in his interview with The Times that predicted 3-5 years. You want to change that dodgy diet you're on __ it is clearly affecting your memory and grasp of basic facts.

Anyway (and you can quote me on this) H&F will sell Getty during 2012 and they will take a substantial kicking on it. Their capital is wasting away whilst better opportunities pass them by.

RacePhoto

« Reply #19 on: January 24, 2012, 16:22 »
0
Press release from Getty on The Wall Street Journal's 'MarketWatch' site;

What I find interesting about this PR is where they've chosen to release it __ to the financial world rather than to the image buying world. Is their real objective to advertise 'Getty the business' itself? Could this be the start of a series of good news stories as H&F attempt to offload Getty during 2012?

How many years have you been predicting this sale coming any day now?

...
Come on Gostwyck after five years or more of you saying, they are going to turn over IS soon...

H&F acquired Getty in July 2008 (announced Feb 2008) - so they haven't even owned them for five years yet. Many articles suggested a 3-5 year time frame, typical for private equity to hold the company. The late-2010 dividend recapitalization ($500 million to H&F) was a little cash to soften the blow that they couldn't sell Getty yet. I don't know who would buy Getty from H&F, but I'm sure they want to keep the image of the company nicely polished in case someone comes along who's interested.

Someone forgot to tell them to keep things polished. Looks like all they have done is throw mud on it, and forget to keep it clean and lubricated.

My mistake it just seems like five years, in fact Gostwyck has only been here since July of 2008 also. OK I'll revise it to, "this is a sign that getty will be sold soon..." and we've been reading that, over and over, for four years? Is that better? Predicting the inevitable isn't much of a feat.

You know well that I'm no IS blind supporter. I was never part of the Horay gang, still don't know what a Lypse really is (or why?) and I haven't really followed the forum soap opera of who's who up top, writing us BS messages this month, or what mod is a dirty rotten scoundrel for closing a thread.  ;)

I just prefer the facts, perhaps a somewhat unbiased attack on their behavior for the way they treat contributors. The habit of every thread becoming hijacked into "Why I hate IS thread" or every move they make gets turned into why the big H&F BTards are screwing the little guys, takes away from the credibility and value of the actual reasons why Getty has been in a downward spiral, heading for a crash, no landing.

I also don't resent the Exclusives, they are more US than they are Them.

With that, I try to only write in forums where I have images at that agency. Doesn't mean anyone else can't have their opinion of a site, even though they don't have images there or any interest financially. Doesn't stop me from posting now and then in some places where I dropped out, but I don't spend my day, looking for reasons to write hate messages about site "X" just because I'm a jilted lover. And that's where some of the IS people are coming from. Anger over IS turning on us when all we did was care and feed them.

Wrong on all counts matey-bollocks. They haven't yet owned Getty for 4 years and it wasn't me that said it anyway. Actually it was Klein in his interview with The Times that predicted 3-5 years. You want to change that dodgy diet you're on __ it is clearly affecting your memory and grasp of basic facts.

Anyway (and you can quote me on this) H&F will sell Getty during 2012 and they will take a substantial kicking on it. Their capital is wasting away whilst better opportunities pass them by.

I see you've run out of rational things to say, so you've gone into name calling and speaking in tongues?  :o


Occupy Getty
« Last Edit: January 24, 2012, 16:27 by RacePhoto »


 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
8 Replies
5477 Views
Last post August 20, 2007, 14:57
by jeancliclac
1 Replies
4572 Views
Last post May 21, 2009, 21:28
by helix7
28 Replies
15102 Views
Last post December 16, 2010, 13:35
by RacePhoto
13 Replies
3590 Views
Last post March 12, 2016, 04:16
by Cider Apple
16 Replies
3432 Views
Last post May 27, 2020, 03:40
by photographybyadri

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors