Updated: Getty Images Relaunches Photos.com

UPDATE: Upon enquiring about the difference between Thinkstock and Photos.com Getty Images answers: 

‘Photos.com offers customers the most competitively priced royalty-free imagery, available as single images, image packs or subscriptions, while Thinkstock includes content that has had a greater deal of investment in terms of photo production quality and the price reflects this. Photos.com is the perfect solution for those who are looking to communicate regularly and want to continually update their content, or small businesses that previously may have not been able to afford to communicate visually.

A lot of people are now sourcing imagery online, not knowing whether the image has been cleared for licensing and Photos.com gives people peace of mind with affordable royalty-free and rights-cleared imagery.’

At the same time on the Stockphototalk blog, Andy Goetze compares the sites and says: ‘It´s again the three-tier-architecture, so Getty now offers three micro subscriptions (iStockphoto – high end, Thinkstock () – standard and Photos.com, the Walmart way of buy-and-forget).’

Getty Images is relaunching Photos.com with a new look. The site is positioned at business owners. I have not talked to Getty Images yet about how this is positioned versus the relatively new Thinkstock offer. Doing a quick comparison the prices for a one year subscription are virtually the same

• Photos.com: $988 for 100 images per week = $0.19 per image
• Thinkstock: £1499 for 25 images per day = £0.16 per image

PRESS RELEASE

New York, NY – January 11, 2011 – Getty Images, Inc., a leading creator and distributor of  digital content, from still imagery to footage, graphics, music and more, today unveils the new Photos.com. Developed for value-conscious small business owners, marketers, graphic designers, web designers and other creative professionals, Photos.com offers millions of quality images, a variety of purchase options and prices that are among the most competitive in the industry.

The completely new Photos.com provides customers with an easy way to license stock photos and illustrations for all of their creative needs and budgets. Single images are priced as reasonably as £1.29 and image packs in quantities of 5, 10, 25 or 50 are priced from £0.60 per image. Subscriptions start as low as £15 per week (or £0.15 an image) for 100 downloads per week and can be purchased in 3, 6 or 12 month packages. These subscriptions are ideal for customers who need images on an ongoing basis and at an affordable price.  Following the launch, Photos.com plans to feature new exclusive content weekly, offering customers freshly updated material to meet their ever-changing needs.

In conjunction with the launch of the new Photos.com, Getty Images conducted a global survey of more than 7,500 new and established image users, to gain a better understanding of their current needs and address usage patterns, budgets, purchasing habits and roles.  Key findings from the survey show that small businesses demonstrate a greater need for more images at a lower price:

• Demand for reasonably-priced digital content is growing due to the increased need (26%) for more images and more Web site or new product development (25%);
• The majority of image buyers surveyed (64%)  are in small businesses under 100 employees;
• Image buyers often have immediate needs for digital content.  Almost half (43%) of those surveyed download images on a daily, few times per week, or weekly basis.

“Recognising that some of today’s customers have limited budgets to bring their creative projects to life, Photos.com is a convenient way to access and license affordable imagery in an instant,” says Nick Evans-Lombe, Chief Operating Officer of Getty Images. “Photos.com offers 2.5 million images from a wide range of excellent photographers at substantial savings, enabling small businesses to enhance how they market themselves to their customers.”

For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/Photosdotcom, www.twitter.com/Photosdotcom,   or www.photos.com