April 2, 2008 5:25 PM PDT

iStock reveals revenue, photographer payouts

by Stephen Shankland
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For the first time, iStockphoto has revealed how much money it pulled in by licensing large numbers of photos, videos, and other imagery for relatively small fees, and how much it paid out to the producers of that content.

In a forum posting Tuesday, iStockphoto head honcho Bruce Livingstone said the Getty Images subsidiary had 2007 revenue of $71.9 million, and it paid $20.9 million to those who contributed the imagery it licenses.

That's a pretty interesting illustration of what user-generated content can sell for, at least in one context.

"We are now selling an image every 1.4 seconds through this industry-changing marketplace," Livingstone said in the posting.

Getty is in the process of going private in a $2.4 billion deal announced in February.

"One thing we've always had to keep close to our chest is our financials. Maybe it's our Canadian background, but we've always found it a bit cheeky and rude to discuss money," Livingstone said. "With the recent announcement that Getty Images is going to be a private company owned by management, employees, and Hellman & Friedman, you'll see lots of numbers floating around about iStock's financials."

Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank.
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Increase prices
by abdoismx April 3, 2008 12:09 AM PDT
Although iStock remains an inexpensive choice for those who seek illustrations, images, etc; Raising prices twice last year was definitely a bad idea. The increase should have happened over longer period of time. Very disappointed.
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wow
by alias2 April 3, 2008 9:49 AM PDT
i thought it'd be much worse, that's pretty good. they are actually
paying people as well as making profit, maybe i'll join in...
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by wichitawilson January 13, 2009 8:17 PM PST
Regarding istock images: I recently purchased website templates that had numerous pirated images in them. I've reported this to the compliance department but haven't heard anything about the case. I made a video and put it on youtube in hopes of a photographer recognizing their images. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxRKKeQjEo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhU5SbISPCU

If you're an istock photographer I wish you would pass this around at the forums. I would do it but I'm not going to buy images just to post on your forums. If you're a customer of the scumbag who stole these images you need to contact the person who sold them to you and get a refund.

Dylan Jones at monetizedesign is the image pirate.
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About Underexposed

This blog sheds light on digital photography subjects such as cameras, photo editing, and Web sites. Shankland joined CNET News in 1998 after a five-year stint as a science writer. He's a lab rat who grew up in Los Alamos, N.M., and graduated from Harvard.

Contact Stephen at Stephen.Shankland@cnet.com

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