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Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

unsplash.com

21–30 of 282 posts

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#21
I am unclear why Getty Images would be interested, unless the purchase price was less than the cost of internally building its own loss leader open source image site that allows them to try to upsell to “premium” photos.

Users have limited loyalty to any particular source of “free”. Getty presumably has a far larger library from which to pull images, so there can’t be any advantage to Unsplash’s library.

I am guessing it was a very low purchase price.

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#23
post #4

> After interacting with the team at Getty Images more and better understanding their long-term vision, we realized we shared so much alignment that going at this together could be much more impactful than going at it separately. Of course they will say that now, but isn't Unsplash a direct threat to Getty's bottom line? Unsplash images are free for commercial and non-commercial purposes with no permission needed. Th…

(Almost every website that features free images already also shows ads from websites like Getty Images and iStockphoto.) I can also see it happen that Unsplash remains free forever, but that it will be used to lead more people to Getty Images. And that's very understandable from a Getty Images point of view, right?

The nervous thing is that it would need to constantly defend its ROI to survive

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#25
I could imagine tightening collaboration with Getty which could make sense, but once you let somebody acquire you, the game is over. No promise can hold.

Can someone link me a list acquisition promises that new owners of various businesses broke in the past? There must be one.

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#28
post #4

> After interacting with the team at Getty Images more and better understanding their long-term vision, we realized we shared so much alignment that going at this together could be much more impactful than going at it separately. Of course they will say that now, but isn't Unsplash a direct threat to Getty's bottom line? Unsplash images are free for commercial and non-commercial purposes with no permission needed. Th…

(Almost every website that features free images already also shows ads from websites like Getty Images and iStockphoto.) I can also see it happen that Unsplash remains free forever, but that it will be used to lead more people to Getty Images. And that's very understandable from a Getty Images point of view, right?

My guess would be that unsplash will start adding source file size limits (that can unlocked with a Getty account) and long term quality and quantity will stagnate as its used as an acquisition funnel for their paid services

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#29
If you still want to upload your awesome shots to a community that might use them for their projects, I highly recommend Creative Market (https://creativemarket.com/kirill).

Started uploading photos there a few years ago, and I still get a payment every few months.

You don’t have to charge a lot for your photos, but this way it’s something to keep you/site going, while also sharing what you have with the world.

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#30
post #5
post #4

> After interacting with the team at Getty Images more and better understanding their long-term vision, we realized we shared so much alignment that going at this together could be much more impactful than going at it separately. Of course they will say that now, but isn't Unsplash a direct threat to Getty's bottom line? Unsplash images are free for commercial and non-commercial purposes with no permission needed. Th…

Absolutely. This is a dark day for 'open source' images.

It’s hard to find examples of acquisitions that were good for the customers or the employees.
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