All the more remarkable, given that you appear to have three eyes.....!

Okay, okay Nazdravie - I'll stop calling SV Slappertown.

Perhaps Penelope is right, and in a couple of years we'll all be gasping at the huge customer base and thousands of downloads.

But they haven't exactly got off to a whizzing start have they; I agree it's too early to invite the guests to dinner, all the more so as it seems SV doesn't even own a stove yet...

First impressions count a lot.  SV is making itself the laughing stock of the microstock industry.  I think we could have (rightly) expected better from Corbis.

Penelope - where did you see that announcement about 125,000 images?

"Net income for the third quarter of 2007 was $25.7 million with earnings per diluted share of $0.43, or $0.47 excluding the restructuring charge, compared to $37.3 million and $0.62 in the third quarter of 2006."

ie: Net income fell from $37m to $26m, a drop of 30%.  And EPS fell from $0.62 to $0.47, a drop of 24%.

"We have made tremendous progress expanding beyond our traditional creative stills imagery business on our way to becoming a complete digital media company," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive officer. "During the last few months, we have re-engineered search with the launch of the new gettyimages.com, cemented our leadership position in the fast growing entertainment imagery business, expanded our multi-media and editorial footage offerings, launched an innovative new web-resolution product, entered the music industry, and launched our new Soundtrack digital music service. We are seeing tremendous growth in many parts of our business, have excellent potential in large addressable markets for music licensing and consumer, and are realistic about the challenges as we lead our industry forward through a time of change and opportunity."

Revenue increased 5.5 percent to $208.9 million from $197.9 million in the third quarter of 2006. Excluding the effects of changes in currency exchange rates, revenue grew 2.1 percent. Revenue growth came from increasing licenses for editorial and micropayment imagery, digital asset management, photo assignments, and publicity distribution. This growth was partially offset by lower revenues in the company's traditional creative stills business.

As a percentage of revenue, cost of revenue was 26.9 percent, compared to 25.4 percent in the prior year due to changes in the composition of the company's royalty free business. Other royalty free revenue is growing fast and has a lower gross margin than the traditional single image royalty free collections.

Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) totaled $84.0 million or 40.2 percent of revenue for the third quarter of 2007, compared to $73.6 million or 37.2 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2006. The increase over the prior year is directly attributable to recently acquired companies, the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates and investments that the company is making in areas that will drive future growth. The company undertook a restructuring during the quarter to reduce certain expenses resulting in a charge of $4.2 million.

Income from operations was $39.8 million. Excluding the restructuring charge of $4.2 million, income from operations was $44.0 million or 21.1 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2007 compared to $54.2 million in the third quarter of 2006.

Net income for the third quarter of 2007 was $25.7 million with earnings per diluted share of $0.43, or $0.47 excluding the restructuring charge, compared to $37.3 million and $0.62 in the third quarter of 2006.

Cash balances were $303.0 million at September 30, 2007. During the quarter, the company paid down $40 million on its senior credit facility from existing cash balances leaving $80 million outstanding. Net cash provided by operating activities during the third quarter of 2007 was $56.9 million.

Business Outlook

The following forward-looking statements reflect Getty Images' expectations as of November 1, 2007. The company currently does not intend to update these forward-looking statements until the next quarterly results announcement.

For the full year 2007, the company expects revenue of approximately $850 million. This implies revenue of approximately $210 million for the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company expects full year diluted earnings per share of approximately $2.10, which includes about $0.10 per share for non-recurring items, comprised of the costs associated with a terminated acquisition in the first quarter of 2007, professional fees associated with the stock option review in the first and second quarters, and the restructuring charge in the third quarter. Excluding these items, the company would have expected diluted earnings per share of approximately $2.20.

Assuming fully diluted shares of approximately 60 million for the fourth quarter and the full year, the implied guidance for diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2007 is $0.48.

For 2008, the company expects revenue of approximately $900 million. "

Impossible question to answer.  Some photographers upload lots and lots of similars and seem to flourish by it.

However, note that at least two agencies (Istock and StockXpert) have dl/month as a very important part of their search algorithm; if you have too many good images in a series so that sales are spread pretty evenly amongst them, you'll get a lower dl/month ratio for every picture which will eventually mean that they all slip down to search results.

The alternative is to upload them all but divide them into 'keyword sets' so that different pictures come up in different keyword searches (instead of them all appearing in all searches).

Here's the Getty share price chart.  Tells its own story.



It's quite clear that the 'old model' of stock photography has been destroyed by microstock.  Getty is trying valiantly to repair the damage, with 'new products' such as the $49 web special.  But all they seem to do is drive more and more customers to iStock.

According to Compete.com, visitors to istock's site are growing at a huge rate.

The big question for Getty shreholders is: how are they going to replace the 'lost profits'.

Yes, Getty are trying to diversify into other areas such as music.  But it seems to me that they have to work out a way of replacing lost photo income by increasing profits from iStock.  And that must mean much higher prices in due course.

Istock increased prices twice this year.  Next year I expect a further 20% rise (perhaps not all at once) and a more significant rise for the smaller images.

We'll see what happens.

Nor can I.  How embarrassing.....

I've stopped uploading to SV, and in fact I don'y even bother to look there any more.

Last blog news seems to have been weeks ago.

Has it died?  Or am I overlooking something?

I have a file at FT showing a download.  But no transaction is shown and no credits show up.  Nonetheless it shows one download in the file list page.

I wrote to FT asking them to clarify.  They sent an immediate respeonse asking for the 'transaction code'.  I can't give them a transaction code because the transaction doesn't yet show - this of course is the problem.

I don't know whether to write to them again, because I suspect I am simply wasting my time.

I agree with Patrick completely - there is no evidence to suggest that including a clipping path boosts sales.

.... notice how the watermark is completely ineffective.......

... I don't know whether to laugh or cry......

Yes, they appear to have changed it again. *sigh*

It now looks like 7/100.

How people keep track of all these things is beyond me.  Perhaps its best just to have one's head in the sand and hope for the best......

123RF now appear to have 1.6 million images.

I'm pleased with progress at 123RF (in a modest way) - they do seem to be developing their business and attracting customers.