Getty Images brings 360° imagery to the mainstream

Getty Images brings 360° imagery to the mainstream with 360Cities partnership

New partnership spells bright future for immersive experience

Auckland, NEW ZEALAND – 24 February, 2016: Getty Images, the world’s leader in visual communications has today announced a distribution partnership with360Cities.net, the preferred publishing platform for expert panorama photographers around the globe. The new partnership will enable Getty Images to bring 360° visual media to the masses by hosting and distributing these stunning, interactive geo-located images.

As virtual reality technologies become more accessible to consumers, the world looks towards a more immersive and deeply engaging visual experience. The new partnership between Getty Images and 360Cities will allow customers’ access to 360° photography from over 10,000 of 360Cities’ producers, enabling the everyday media experience to become immersive.

The compelling collection includes thousands of spherical images, covering key events and locations around the world from iconic landmarks like the Great Wall of China, the surface of the moon, and underwater scenes, including the Atlantic Princess wreck in the Dominican Republic.

Hugh Pinney, Vice President, Editorial at Getty Images says: "This is an unprecedented partnership that will enable us to bring 360° imagery and immersive experiences to the mainstream. With Getty Images’ team of news, sport and entertainment photographers already capturing 360° content as part of our unrivalled coverage, the future of virtual reality is bright. We expect this to be a huge growth area for photography in the next five years as consumers start to expect immersive imagery and Getty Images will be at the forefront of this change – our partnership with 360Cities is testament to this.”

Bruce Pales, CEO, 360Cities adds: "We are thrilled to partner with Getty Images and believe their global footprint, alongside our renowned content, will bring high-quality panoramic photography into the very forefront of people’s media experience. Already we have seen a huge increase in the demand for our 360° imagery over the last couple of years, so this partnership will allow our members to reach a much wider customer base than ever before.”

The deal follows Getty Images’ partnership with Oculus in June last year, where it released a series of premium images available for the virtual reality platform. These images capture moments from the FIFA World Cup through to the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival. This content has to date proved hugely popular receiving millions of views, with an average dwell time of over two minutes for each image.

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