On January 7th, in a significant move for the stock photography industry, Getty Images and Shutterstock, two of the largest players in the global stock content market, have announced a merger to create a single, unified $3.7 billion dollar company. While the full impact of this merger remains to be seen, it is clear that it will have profound effects not only on the stock photography industry and the customers we all serve.

What does this mean?

The merger or more like an acquisition of Shutterstock by Getty Images brings together two massive companies that already dominate the global stock photography market. As of 2023, Shutterstock held around 31% of the global stock photo market share with over 400 million images, while Getty Images held roughly 18% with over 500 million images. This combined new entity will hold nearly half of the entire global market share with a library of approximately a billion stock images. The combined company will operate as Getty Images.

The ramifications and opportunities for smaller companies like ours will become clearer in the months and years ahead, but we see the opportunities. We have new opportunities to innovate, dig deeper into our niches to create more value to our customers, and align our products and pricing to meet the new the cost dynamics as the global content markets begin to shift.

Big opportunities ahead for smaller niche stock content companies like pocstock

This merger will be a game-changer for the stock photography industry for sure, but for many years, some of these larger companies have been challenged to address the growing need for culturally diverse and inclusive content. Approximately 93% of the world’s population are people of color and smaller niche-focused companies like pocstock, Tonl, Nappy, PichaStock, MochaStock and others have emerged to address various content challenges around images that reflect the cultural diversity of the global majority.

We plan to continue to focus on building and deepening relationships with clients who seek authentic, inclusive and culturally sensitive imagery from the lens of diverse creators, and offering curated collections that even AI might never fully understand how to replicate in an authentic way.

How can we all maximize this opportunity:

• Double down on diversity & inclusion – Companies focusing on diverse and inclusive content like pocstock can double down on creating and licensing the types of content that the larger agencies have had challenges in leading.
• Leverage technology to innovate – Invest in the adoption of emerging technologies, like AI to improve photo curation, image recognition, and create Ethical and Inclusive AI datasets.
• Form strategic partnerships – The consolidation of these two giants will create new opportunities for smaller companies to also merge and partner to keep up the new paradigm.
• Provide added value to customers – As price models inevitably change it could create economies of scale that smaller niche companies may find it more difficult to compete with. Creating flexible new ways to service our customers is always a priority, but even more so going forward.

This merger is another signal that increased consolidation across various markets will undoubtedly create new opportunities for smaller agencies. As customers seek new, easier, and more innovative ways to find the authentic content they need to communicate with multicultural audiences around the world, we become more relevant.

The future of the stock photography industry remains both uncertain and exciting, but one thing is clear – we’re on the verge of a major transformation, and pocstock will be ready to embrace whatever changes may come.

Let’s talk about how to partner!

Sources:

• Getty Images and Shutterstock to Merge – Getty Images
• Statista, “Market share of stock photo agencies worldwide as of 2023” – Statista