Free From JupiterImages . . .
Stock Asylum Staff Report
January 24, 2006
Updated
January 25, 2006
The third largest stock photography distributor in the world says it
has invested heavily in a Hungarian company best known for operating
a free stock photography web site. JupiterImages said on this date that
it will promote the free photography site and a companion "micropayment"
site throughout the world.
The Darien, CT, stock photo supplier said it has purchased 49.7 percent of Haap Media, Ltd., of Budapest, a division of Dream Interactive. Haap Media operates the popular stock.xchange free photography web site and the stockxpert micropayment web site. Financial details were not released.
Jeffrey Burke, JupiterImages' vice president of product strategy, admitted that he expects complaints from photographers who supply images to other, more expensive JupiterImages brands like Botanica, Nonstock and Foodpix.
He argued, however, that inexpensive and free brands will not undermine sales of the high-priced brands. "If someone is willing to use a $3 image for a certain use, they were never going to buy a $500 image," Burke contended.
"This is something we (in the photographic community) have to deal with," Burke said. "This is not necessarily a popular model but it makes sense. To a certain portion of the market this makes sense and it is generating a lot of business."
Stock.xchange was established in 2001 as an image-sharing web site for designers and others. The web site claims it has 187,920 images online. It said it has provided more than 30 million free image downloads to users. JupiterImages said the site records 25 million page views a month from 500,000 registered users.
The web site encourages participants to "Share your photos with fellow designers." It says, "SXC is a friendly community of photography addicts who generously offer their works to the public free of charge. If you have some nice photos that you'd like to share with others, join us."
Alan Meckler, chairman and CEO of JupiterImages parent company, said in his blog January 25 that, "various JupiterImages subscription brands will be advertised exclusively on the site (heretofore competitive micropayment brand ads were displayed). We believe this will further advance our worldwide sales."
"Community has always been part of the Jupiterimages growth strategy. There is no e-commerce business in the world that would not gain sales by having a significant community position -- many just do not get it," Meckler asserted.
Stockxpert appears to be a new, but rapidly-growing entry into the micropayment stock photography market segment.
Web sites that track internet activity show little traffic at Stockxpert before September of 2005, but the web site has grown rapidly. Alexa now ranks the site at 34,394th in the world. However, Alexa rankings are considerably less than perfect, partly because little is known about the demographics of participating internet users.
Stockxpert charges buyers a dollar or less for each image downloaded. Participating photographers are paid 50 percent of the licensing fee. Many images on the web site show subjects photographed against seamless paper backgrounds.
The brand is among a growing number of micropayment web sites that license images for a few dollars or less. Istockphoto, the category leader, says it attracts more web traffic than stock photography giant Getty Images.
The emergence of micropayment stock distributors has angered many photographers who believe such companies undercut professional photography while taking advantage of amateur shooters who don't understand the value of their best images.
Micropayment advocates claim participating photographers make many more sales from micropayment sites. The advocates contend shooters can make a considerable amount of money because of the higher sales volume.
JupiterImages, a subsidiary of Jupitermedia, has been aggressively buying stock photography distributors for more than two years. It has become the third largest supplier of stock imagery in the world after Getty Images and Corbis.
The company's growth in the industry has been so rapid that it only recently launched a web site integrating all its rights-managed and royalty-free brands under a single search engine.
JupiterImages originally planned to position itself as the largest provider of inexpensive stock photography. Meckler once compared the company's approach to that of the Walmart discount stores.
The company partially abandoned this approach last year when it purchased Creatas and PictureArts, both of which license some high-end rights-managed photography.
However, the acquisitions of Stock.xchange and Stockxpert clearly reaffirm the company's intention of holding on to its place as the low-price leader in the stock photo industry.
Meckler said Stock.xchange and Stockxpert should grow through exposure to the 20 million people who visit JupiterImages web sites each month.
"I think this is a great thing for our company and I think it is what Jupiter does. We adopt the best of new business models," Burke said. "This is a growth area."
"We have to compete wherever we can," Burke asserted, noting that his company is going up against industry giant Getty Images.
"We have to compete with Getty at the high end and in areas they are not playing in yet. We have to see how much of the world we can put our arms around."
JupiterImages can be found at: http://www.jupiterimages.com
Stock.xchange is at: http://www.sxc.hu
Stockxpert is at: http://www.stockxpert.com
Istockphoto is at: http://www.istockphoto.com
Alexa is at: http://www.alexa.com
Alan Meckler's blog is at: http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler
