by The Stock Photography Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 3.3 Bn in 2022 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights.
Market Overview:
Stock photography refers to photographs licensed for publication by businesses and individuals. It provides a wide range of royalty-free or rights-managed photos that can be used for commercial or personal projects. Key advantages of using stock images include accessibility to a large collection of images, time-saving as compared to hiring photographers, and cost-effectiveness for small budgets. As small businesses extensively use stock images for marketing collateral, the demand is expected to rise steadily over the coming years.
Market key trends:
One of the major trends fuelling the stock photography market growth is the increasing usage of stock images by small businesses for their marketing and communication needs. Small companies operate on tight budgets and do not always have in-house design teams. Hence, easily available stock images provide a cost-effective solution to create visual content for social media, websites, brochures, presentations, etc. Furthermore, the work-from-home model adopted during the pandemic has boosted the need for high-quality remote work images. Various stock image providers have curated work-from-home collections to cater to this emerging demand. The rising influences of visual content in branding and storytelling are also propelling businesses to incorporate more stock photography in their strategies.
Porter’s Analysis
Threat of new entrants: Low- The stock photography market already has major players dominating most of the market share. New entrants need significant capital investment to build high quality content libraries and develop distribution channels making the entry difficult.
Bargaining power of buyers: High- Stock photography buyers can choose from a variety of sources and numerous players offering similar images with different pricing models. Buyers can negotiate on better rates and demand new features.
Bargaining power of suppliers: Low- There is abundant supply of photographers and content creators. Suppliers have less influence on pricing as they can be easily replaced.
Threat of new substitutes: Medium- Alternatives like user generated content from various social media platforms pose a potential threat.
Competitive rivalry: Intense- The market is fragmented with both global and local players competing on the basis of content quality, pricing, brand image and technological capabilities.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths: Vast libraries of high resolution stock images and videos. Established global distribution networks and brands.
Weaknesses: High content production and licensing costs. Growing number of royalty free images affecting pricing.
Opportunities: Leveraging emerging technologies like AI, predictive analytics, AR/VR. Expanding into other creatives categories like illustrations, 3D assets.
Threats: Privacy issues related to stock images. Scaling user generated content and open source platforms. Intensifying competition from tech giants.
Key Takeaways
The Global Stock Photography Market Growth is expected to reach US$ 3.3 Bn by 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period. Increasing demand for visual content across industries along with growing digitization is driving the market. The US dominated the market in 2020 holding around 35% of the share owing to strong presence of key players and early adoption of stock images among publishers and advertisers in the region.
The Asia Pacific region is anticipated to be the fastest growing market for stock photography between 2023 to 2030. Countries like China, India, and Japan are generating higher sales volumes due to rising internet and smartphone penetration, growing digital publishing industry and increasing marketing budgets of brands. China alone contributes over 15% share of the global market currently.
Key players in the stock photography market are Adobe Stock, Getty Images, Visual China Group (VCG), Shutterstock, 123RF,Agence France Presse (AFP), Agefotostock, Alamy, AP Images, Artlist, Coinaphoto, Depositphotos, Dissolve, Dreamstime, East News, Envato, Fotosearch, ImagineChina, Masterfile, The Mega Agency, Newscom, Photofolio, Pixta, Pond5, PR Photos, Redux Pictures, Reuters Images, SilverHub Media, Stock.
*Note:
1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
