A Gift To Bloggers, From Getty

The disparity of high-quality images legally available to major media outlets and small bloggers has been greatly diminished. Getty Images yesterday made millions of images available to online users.

The New Approach
Getty is making roughly 40 million images from its library of 150 million images available to bloggers, according to TechCrunch. The new embed tool allows bloggers to legally use images (for editorial, non-commercial use) with no watermarks. For years, Getty has had to contend with bloggers illegally using images obtained by right-click and save efforts.

Below is an image obtained using the right-click and save method from the Getty Images site. Further down the page, you will see the same image posted using the new embed tool.

The tool will also expand Getty’s advertising footprint. The embedded free images will sometimes be accompanied by advertising served up by Getty Images, similar to a process currently used by YouTube. CNET reports the embed tool will also allow user to click-through to the Getty site for information on how to use images for commercial use.

How It Works
The embed tools are easy to use. A blogger can simply go to the Getty Images site and search through editorial images. The user can then hover over an image, see if the image is embeddable, and (if so) get the HTML embed code. A blogger copies that code, pastes into their blog, and the process is complete.

Here’s what it looks like when you hover an image among the search results, followed by the same image using the embed tool.
Embed from Getty Images

The Bottom Line
With the new embed tool, these 4 things will happen:
1) bloggers can legally use tens of millions of high-quality images
2) Getty will modify the embed tool based on user behavior/feedback
3) allows Getty to devote less time to copyright monitoring
4) advertising revenue will ultimately grow through increased use and an expanded audience for Getty

This is a win for all involved, assuming that bloggers show a willingness to play by the copyright rules.

Featured Image: Laptop. (markusspiske/pixabay)