Why is Getty Images, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock video (and photo) footage so expensive?
Pro Tip: Use BLACKBOX.global instead!
If you’ve ever needed to license photos for your small business, enterprise brand or even for editorial or internal use, you find out very quickly that licensing stock footage - especially 4K stock footage - is very expensive. So expensive, you might not even be able to afford it within your project’s budget.
So what’s the alternative? Is there even a cost-effective, much cheaper, budget-friendly alternative to these big name brand stock video footage sites? Yep. So I want to tell you all about BLACKBOX.global…
According to Blackbox, “BlackBox handles professional grade stock footage, we don’t handle photos.
We have plans to expand our capabilities soon to include short form video, long form video, music, games, and educational content. Our goal is to have a global community of content creators, making great content and using the tools that allow for creator freedom.”
Blackbox is a similar licensing model to stock photo archives, Twenty20, Pexels, Unsplash and Snapwire - but for videos. They source what’s generally referred to as UGC (User-Generated Content) or content-on-demand from independent, freelance creators just like me. The reality is that the quality of the content is not a whole lot different - but the price it cost to produce it definitely is.
Here’s a general look at Getty Images stock video footage pricing:
If you’re a small business or fledgling brand just trying to get your product or services in front of potential customers, you really just have two choices: You have to either bite the bullet and license someone else’s footage - or just go shoot some yourself. But if you don’t have an in-house content creation team or access to content creators, you’re still going to have to outsource those projects and then license the assets.
Moving On: You already know it’s expensive - the point of this article is WHY?
So let’s dive a little deeper and use Getty Images stock footage of California’s Big Sur Coast as an example. If you look through their video footage gallery you’ll find a myriad of options. Among the highest quality are a series of videos offered for license from NBC Universal. Needless to say, the production units that shoot NBC’s television shows and social media content are really costly to hire and operate. After all, they have a bunch of big white trucks to drive around and dozens of PA’s to feed all that tasty craft services to! So basically, that cost gets filtered through to you - YOU are literally paying for their gourmet breakfast burritos…
Now let’s take a peek at the various licensing costs to use this footage for your outdoor adventure or 4x4 overlanding / van-life outfitter video…
Web & Digital Licensing: For a 30-second clip, this is a ton of money! Especially because chances are, you’re probably only going to include a few seconds of this video clip in your final video edit. Yet you have to license the entire asset to use any portion of it on your website or social media posts. NOTE: This does NOT include any product or service advertising.
Now let’s take a peek at the Advertising Licensing Fees for the same clip…
Yikes. As you can see, the prices go up exponentially for commercial-use. Just for fun, let’s look at Shutterstock and Adobe’s stock video footage rates as a comparison for the exact same sort of footage for California’s Big Sur Coast…
Shutterstock Video Footage Pricing
Adobe Stock Video Footage Pricing
The bottom line is, if you’re a major enterprise brand or movie studio, streaming service or just a really discerning commercial production company, these expensive assets may be just the ticket for your project because they are really great quality. Nobody doubts that. But if you’re an individual content creator, boutique marketing company or small business, you need to find more cost-effective stock video and photo resources.
Here are a few I highly recommend - they are much cheaper alternatives for stock photo and video footage and they support the artists who create them, not huge companies with tons of overhead:
Conclusion: That’s why I suggest BLACKBOX and these other guys because I upload my own footage on their platforms so it’s easier to find. But if you really want to score an even more killer deal, you can just license it directly from me ;)