Getty Images (GETY) Q3 2025: Premium Access Grows 17%, Offsetting Editorial and Agency Drag
Premium access subscription strength and new AI licensing deals cushioned editorial and agency weakness for Getty Images in Q3. The business model’s shift toward recurring revenue and AI partnerships is visible, but ongoing regulatory hurdles and legacy segment declines remain material overhangs. Management’s 2025 outlook signals a focus on margin discipline and integration readiness as the Shutterstock merger timeline extends into 2026.
Summary
- Subscription Mix Shift: Premium access and annual subscriptions are driving a more stable revenue base.
- AI Licensing Emergence: New multi-year deals, including Perplexity, signal an evolving AI monetization path.
- Merger Delay Impact: Regulatory review pushes Shutterstock closing into 2026, prolonging integration uncertainty.
Performance Analysis
Getty Images delivered flat revenue performance in Q3 2025, with creative growth offsetting editorial and agency declines. Creative revenue rose 8.4% year-over-year, driven by a normalization of premium access allocations and a large upsize renewal, which together accounted for most of the growth. However, agency, a legacy sub-segment within creative focused on custom content for advertising and media, declined 22% year-over-year, reflecting persistent macro headwinds and the absence of major event-driven demand seen in the prior year.
Editorial revenue fell 3.7%, as tough comparisons to the Paris Olympics and the 2024 election cycle weighed on news and sports sub-segments. Annual subscription revenue now represents 58.4% of total revenue, up from 52.4% last year, with premium access (PA) making up just over one-third of total revenue and growing 17%. The company added 6,000 active annual subscribers, led by Unsplash Plus, but iStock saw some churn after the discontinuation of free trial programs. Adjusted EBITDA margin remained healthy at 32.8%, though SG&A costs rose due to SOX compliance and AI litigation expenses. Free cash flow improved to $7.9 million, aided by working capital timing, while net leverage ticked up to 4.3x, primarily due to FX impacts on euro-denominated debt.
- Premium Access Renewal Upsize: A major PA customer expanded scope and term, demonstrating continued demand for high-value subscriptions.
- Editorial Drag: Lapping the Olympics and election cycle created a difficult compare, with news and sports down double digits.
- AI Licensing Volatility: AI data licensing revenue was down from 2024’s accelerated recognition, but new deals point to future growth avenues.
Overall, Getty’s recurring revenue engine is gaining traction, but legacy and event-driven businesses remain volatile, and cost discipline is being tested by compliance and legal spend.
Executive Commentary
"Within the quarter, I was excited to realize some new opportunities within the AI landscape that more closely aligned with our traditional content licensing business. Within the quarter, we inked multiple deals to allow AI large language models and search experiences to utilize our content within their experiences to provide authentic, high-quality content in context. One of these agreements was a multi-year agreement with Perplexity, and it includes commitments for both image credits and link bags... Getty Images is doing what it has always done so well, providing high-quality content to customers to enhance their offerings at scale and on an economic basis."
Craig Peters, Chief Executive Officer
"Our Q3 results broadly reflect the quarterly cadence we anticipated, with headwinds from our comparers against a very strong editorial calendar in Q3 24, yielding an expected flattening of growth in the back half of 2025... Even as we continue to navigate declines in our agency business and a broadcast and production business that has yet to return to its pre-Hollywood strike performance level."
Jen Layden, Chief Financial Officer
Strategic Positioning
1. Subscription Model Maturation
Getty Images is actively pivoting toward a recurring revenue model, with annual subscriptions now making up the majority of revenue. Premium access, the company’s flagship enterprise subscription, is both its largest and most durable product, showing high retention and increased customer scope. This move reduces reliance on unpredictable event-driven revenue streams and supports margin stability, though smaller brands like iStock and Unsplash Plus, which target SMBs and freelancers, are more churn-prone.
2. AI Monetization and Partnerships
The company is expanding its AI revenue streams, inking multi-year licensing deals with technology platforms like Perplexity to allow their large language models to use Getty’s content. These deals are structured similarly to traditional content licenses and could become a material revenue stream as AI investment accelerates. Additionally, Getty is leveraging its custom content capabilities to create AI training datasets, opening up new B2B opportunities. AI is also being deployed internally for operational efficiency.
3. Regulatory and Legal Navigation
The Shutterstock merger faces a prolonged regulatory process, with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) moving the review to Phase 2 and pushing any deal closing into 2026. Management remains committed, emphasizing cost synergies as the deal’s rationale. On the legal front, Getty won a UK judgment against Stability AI on trademark infringement, confirming that responsibility for infringing AI outputs rests with the developer, not the end-user. The company is pursuing similar claims in the US and evaluating a UK appeal on secondary infringement.
4. Event-Driven Volatility Management
Getty’s business remains sensitive to the event calendar, with major sporting and political events distorting year-over-year comparisons in both creative and editorial segments. Management is transparent that Q3 creative growth is partly a normalization effect, and expects creative growth to moderate to low single digits in Q4 as agency drag persists and event comps fade.
5. Capital Structure and Cost Discipline
Getty executed a series of refinancing transactions to extend maturities and pre-fund the merger, locking in new debt at higher rates but ensuring readiness for integration. SG&A is elevated by SOX compliance and AI litigation, but core cost control is visible in margin performance. Net leverage remains above 4x, but liquidity is stable with an undrawn revolver and improved free cash flow.
Key Considerations
Getty Images is navigating a transition period, balancing the maturation of its subscription model, the emergence of AI licensing, and the uncertainty of regulatory timelines. The quarter’s results highlight both the resilience of its core offerings and the persistent headwinds in legacy and event-driven segments.
Key Considerations:
- Subscription Durability: Premium access retention remains highest, providing a stable foundation as agency and event-driven revenues decline.
- AI Licensing as Growth Option: New deals with AI platforms could become a meaningful revenue stream, though current contributions are volatile and lumpy.
- Merger Timeline Risks: UK and US regulatory reviews delay potential cost synergies and integration benefits from the Shutterstock merger.
- Event Calendar Sensitivity: Lapping major events distorts segment trends and complicates forecasting, especially in editorial and creative.
- Cost Structure Pressures: SOX compliance and legal costs are temporary but notable, impacting SG&A and adjusted EBITDA margins.
Risks
Getty faces multiple risks: prolonged regulatory scrutiny could further delay or derail the Shutterstock merger, limiting cost synergy realization and distracting management. Event-driven revenue swings and continued agency and production segment declines challenge top-line stability. Elevated leverage and higher interest costs from recent refinancing add financial risk, while the evolving AI legal landscape introduces uncertainty around future licensing economics and enforcement outcomes.
Forward Outlook
For Q4 2025, Getty Images expects:
- Low single-digit creative growth, with agency drag continuing.
- Editorial to remain pressured absent major events.
For full-year 2025, management updated guidance to:
- Revenue of $942 million to $951 million (0.3% to 1.2% YoY growth reported; -0.5% to 0.5% currency neutral).
- Adjusted EBITDA of $291 million to $293 million (down 3% to 2.3% YoY reported).
Management highlighted:
- FX tailwinds supporting reported results, with $6.5 million benefit for the year.
- SOX compliance and litigation costs totaling $8 million in 2025, with $2.5 million expected in Q4.
Takeaways
Getty’s Q3 2025 results reflect a business in transition, with recurring revenue gains and new AI partnerships offsetting legacy and event-driven volatility. The regulatory overhang from the Shutterstock merger and the legal battles in the AI space remain defining factors for the company’s near-term trajectory.
- Subscription Resilience: Premium access and annual subscriptions are providing a more predictable revenue base, critical for valuation stability.
- AI Licensing Optionality: Multi-year deals like Perplexity hint at a scalable AI monetization path, but lumpy contributions and legal risk persist.
- Merger and Margin Watch: Investors should monitor regulatory updates and margin performance as integration and compliance costs ebb and flow.
Conclusion
Getty Images’ Q3 2025 shows a company leveraging its core strengths in content licensing and subscriptions while navigating the complexities of AI disruption, regulatory scrutiny, and shifting event cycles. The next several quarters will test management’s ability to sustain margin discipline and unlock new growth from AI and merger synergies.
Industry Read-Through
Getty’s quarter highlights the challenges facing traditional content licensors as subscription models and AI licensing reshape monetization strategies. Event-driven volatility is a recurring theme for media and creative platforms, underlining the need for diversified, recurring revenue streams. The regulatory hurdles in the Getty-Shutterstock merger signal heightened antitrust scrutiny for consolidation in digital content, while the Stability AI legal outcome will set precedents for copyright and trademark enforcement in generative AI. Peers in media, stock content, and AI data licensing should expect continued legal and regulatory complexity as the market evolves.