This is the first time that one of the top three companies in the stock photo industry makes an investment in a micropayment stock photo community site and I think it´s an important turning point. Casually I had been the first one to report about StockXpert (Stockxpert: Run, Forrest, run!, September 26, 2005). StockXpert was launched on Sept. 11, 2005 (that´s just 4 months ago).
I always had a strong sympathy for the sister site stock.xchng, mainly because the company was growing in Eastern Europe without firing the big marketing guns:
One of the earliest (and also a "major") player had been stock.xchng. The creators of this site are also the people behind Stockxpert. The blog stainedscreen offers a nice comparison chart (iStockPhoto, stock.xchng and Stockxpert) and looks at some details.
(Stockxpert: Run, Forrest, run!, September 26, 2005)
Today Stock.xchng has over 25 million page views monthly and over 500,000 registered users (details). Compare these numbers to the numbers listed here at stainedscreen in September 2005.
Now JupiterMedia/JupiterImages has purchased a 49.7% equity investment in HAAP Media Ltd., based in Budapest, Hungary, which operates Stock.xchng and Stockxpert.com. "The two founders (Peter Hazma and Andras Pfaff) of HAAP Media built these properties while attending university in Hungary" (Alan Meckler). As far as I remember, the last time Alan Meckler visited Budapest had been the week before the last CEPIC started back in June 2005.
Back on friday last week I wrote that
Rumours have it that a company based in Seattle, WA, is talking to a company based in Calgary, Alberta, about acquiring all the assets of that company.
Some readers were asking if I was talking about Veer (obviously they have an office in Calgary) ... .
You neither don´t have to be a prophet nor an ominous insider to understand the advantages of community-based micropayment stock photo sites for at least two of the top three companies in the stock photo industry. The rest is only a question of corporate communications, though it might be a tough task. I think there will be a lot of unanticipated surprises in the near future.
Alan Meckler was right to state that:
This new relationship, combined with our many subscription, royalty-free and traditional rights-managed image offerings, distinguishes Jupiterimages from our competition as the only company catering to all levels of image buyers worldwide.
He added on his blog:
The other terrific benefit for Jupiterimages is that the community site is growing rapidly and shortly various Jupiterimage subscription brands will be advertised exclusively on the site. [...]
Community has always been part of the Jupiterimages' growth strategy. There is no ecommerce business in the world that would not gain sales by having a significant community position--many "just do not get it."
They just don´t get it? Let´s wait and listen to Jonathan Klein in two days (Getty Images to Announce Fourth Quarter and Year-End Financial Results on January 26, 2006).
Meanwhile I´m happy that I haven´t published any predictions for 2006, because this wouldn´t have resulted in lots of new friends.
Related:
- istockphoto.com: "Bringing the price down to a level where everybody can afford to buy a stock photo" (April 28, 2004)
- "Free" Stock Photography and Royalty "Free" Stock Photography Sites without Breaking the Bank (June 28, 2004)
- Paradigm Shifts In Stock Photography (July 12, 2005)
- Free High Quality Stock Photography (July 14, 2005)
- The Future Of Stock Photography And Imagery Trends For The Future (August 10, 2005)
- New Yahoo Group For Micropayment Stock Photo Agencies (August 17, 2005)
- Where to Find Free Images and Visuals for My Blog (external link, April 01, 2005)
