Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 29, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Fotolia, a source of low-cost royalty-free images, launched microstock video sales, adding more than 10,000 royalty-free clips to a portfolio of over five million images.
“For several years, Fotolia has been one of the world’s most popular sources of high-quality, affordable, royalty-free photos, graphics and illustrations,” said Oleg Tscheltzoff, co-founder and president of Fotolia LLC. “In January, responding to overwhelming customer demand, we invited video submissions and accumulated more than 10,000 videos within a few weeks. That showed us Fotolia could attract some of the world’s best video artists to license their work through our agency.”
The collection covered animation, stop motion, cartoons and conventional video. Material was offered at resolutions from 320×240 to 1920×1080, frame rates from 24 to 30 fps and durations from five to 60 seconds. Clips, including HD material, started at €10. Producers could upload and sell clips at http://de.fotolia.com/Info/Contents/Videos.
Since launching in November 2005, Fotolia had developed into one of the internet’s largest collections of low-cost royalty-free images. It enabled professional and amateur photographers to offer content to 500,000 media buyers worldwide, ranging from small businesses and design agencies to major brands and international companies. Fotolia positioned inexpensive microstock footage as an economical alternative to conventional stock-video services and a way to expand into new markets.
