Getty Images is pleased to announce that we are deepening our longstanding partnership with Visual China Group (VCG) to take on the exclusive distribution of Corbis content outside of China. Corbis imagery, video, and historic archival content will soon be available alongside the existing Getty Images collections of almost 200 million creative and editorial images and videos. This will give you access to an unprecedented combined offering, all at gettyimages.com.
This partnership comes as Corbis today announced the sale of their content licensing business and assets to Unity Glory International, which is an affiliate of VCG, a leading Chinese visual communications and new media business. Under the terms of their agreement, Unity Glory will own and manage the Corbis Images, Corbis Motion, and Veer licensing brands and all their associated content. The sale does not include the Branded Entertainment Network, Splash, or Greenlight, its rights clearance and representation business.
Over the coming months, we will migrate Corbis Images and Corbis Motion content to gettyimages.com where it will become available as new collections alongside award-winning content from Getty Images’ own staff photographers, from our network of over 200,000 contributors, and from our approximately 330 prestigious image partner relationships, including NBC Universal, BBC Worldwide and AFP. This partnership brings together the best of historical photography, combining our renowned Hulton Archive, the largest privately held archive in the world with an estimated 80 million images dating back to the beginning of photography, with Corbis’ Bettmann and Sygma Archives. The Bettmann Archive is a significant historical image collection comprising of more than 16 million photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries, while the Sygma Archive holds 34 million images covering Europe’s most important historical events.
Through this partnership, you will soon be able to access an expanded and unprecedented variety of premium content via your Getty Images account. You will also be able to take advantage of industry-best licensing terms, protections, and purchasing options – including Getty Images’ newly-released UltraPacks, which offer simple licensing and built-in savings.
If you’re also a current Corbis or Veer customer, nothing changes immediately for you today. You can continue to use your existing Corbis or Veer account with the assistance of your current Corbis sales representative. Further information about the transition will be communicated over the coming months. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Getty Images salesperson with any questions, or see here for more details and answers to frequently asked questions
