How Getty Images Is Evolving for a New Era of Content

In 2025, the media landscape continues to undergo a rapid transformation.

Entertainment and social platforms like TikTok and Instagram are constantly driving new forms of content, cultural conversations shaping the zeitgeist, and a demand for immediate, behind-the-scenes access to events, brands and individuals. Meanwhile, technological advancements in spaces like generative AI, and virtual and augmented realities (VR and AR) are transforming how content is created and media users engaged.

With this in mind, visual media platform Getty Images — which creates and represents editorial, creative and commercial content across Getty Images, iStock and Unsplash — is transforming its offering.

An integral part of Getty Images’ new approach is its consultative work with brands on the creative and strategic aspects of content production, acting as a co-creator and advisor to brands on storytelling. For example, Getty Images’ teams worked with L’Oréal and Chopard in the editing suite of Cannes, while its archival experts collaborated with Gucci’s team on a documentary.

Now, BoF sits down with Getty Images’ senior director of entertainment content partnerships, Lisa Marie Rae, to further explore the evolving suite of opportunities Getty Images offers its creative partners.

How is Getty Images evolving its offering to meet its partner needs today?

We are often still perceived as a stock image company or news agency — but that‘s only a fraction of what we do. We are evolving into a creative and strategic partner to brands, offering full-service content creation, distribution and archival access.

Our role today is about capturing moments and helping brands craft compelling visual narratives. The way content is consumed has changed — everything is faster, more visual and more immersive. So, our focus is on creating content that is not only beautiful, but performs — it travels, it engages and lasts beyond the event.

Whether we are working on a fashion show, a film festival or a cultural launch, we are looking at how we can tell a bigger story with a brand — through editorial, branded content and everything in between. With over 30 years of experience working across platforms, brand content and global audiences, we know how to meet those moments.

What does that look like in practice when working with brands and organisations?

It depends on the brand’s needs — but increasingly, it is about co-creation.

For example, at the amfAR Gala Cannes, we launched a roaming social video studio to capture cinematic, intimate content that felt true to the glamour of the evening. Once guests entered Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, we were on the lawns — not just on the red carpet — capturing moments that were elegant and personal, available to amfAR during the event in near real time and distributed exclusively by Getty Images to global media. It was a way of telling the story of the event in a more elevated, human way.

When Gucci appointed Sabato De Sarno as its creative director, we consulted with the brand on content and licensing for the documentary, “Who Is Sabato De Sarno?” We brought in our archive — one of the largest in the world — and worked closely with the team to curate and license fashion history that contextualised his creative vision. On top of that, we produced content from his debut fashion shows and events and managed their global distribution. It was a great example of how we can offer support — from heritage to live content.

Our crown jewel is facilitating brands in creating multi-layered experience — through digital, physical and historical content. For example, we also worked with Dior‘s heritage team, who visited our archive to uncover material that supports their brand story.

How do you help brands track the performance and impact of their visual content?

We are developing a proprietary data and insights product that helps brands understand how their content performs: through what is resonating, what is being shared and what generates engagement. We use that to inform everything from pre-production to distribution strategies, so that the content we create isn‘t just beautiful, but purposeful.

Our focus is on creating content that is not only beautiful, but performs — it travels, it engages and lasts beyond the event.

At Paris Fashion Week, for example, our team pulls coverage across all access points — runway, backstage, street style and front row. We give brands a multi-dimensional view of their presence and then help them decide how best to use it.

Ultimately, our role is to ensure that the content lives on — whether through editorial platforms, brand channels or social media. We are connecting the dots between capture, creativity and distribution. The content isn‘t just seen — it becomes part of the culture.

How are you meeting the demand from clients for speed-to-market?

Events today are social-first and we work with brands to facilitate this: as demonstrated with L’Oréal and Chopard at Cannes, who are in the edit suite with us during Cannes, cherry-picking the best shots in real-time. Our ability to push content live is essential.

When we talk about talent-led or creator-led content, that‘s where our partnership with Greenfly really shines. Greenfly is a content collaboration platform that enables brands, sports teams and organisations to easily collect, organise and distribute media through their networks of creators and influencers. It allows us to distribute content in real time, so talent is able to share it straight to their own channels while the moment is still live.

We build our international team based on client briefs. We understand the full scope of what‘s needed — from different formats to platform-specific content — and we‘re poised to stay ahead of what our clients are seeking. Instead of reacting to a shift in culture of aesthetics after the fact, we‘re already building a roster that reflects those evolving needs.

What new technologies is Getty Images investing in for physical event coverage?

We are constantly experimenting with new ways of bringing our content to life. Our portable video studios are a great example as they allow us to move beyond the red carpet and capture more intimate — and cinematic — moments. The gear is lightweight and flexible, so we can be in spaces we were previously held back from. This makes a huge difference in how we capture talent and the kind of stories we can tell.

A few years ago, we did a cool video for Roberto Cavalli with Eva Herzigova — it followed her whole journey at the Cannes Film Festival, from getting in the car, and getting dressed, to arriving at the red carpet. With these beautiful shots looking out over the city, we created a cinematic piece that worked brilliantly across multiple platforms.

We are connecting the dots between capture, creativity and distribution. The content isn’t just seen — it becomes part of the culture.

We are also using robotic cameras more strategically. They have always been a part of our sports coverage, but now we use them at major entertainment events to capture differentiated access points and creative angles. At the Met Gala, for example, robotic cameras give us sweeping, elevated perspectives of the carpet. It is perfect for those huge fashion moments where scale and drama matter.

How are you facilitating brand needs for meeting consumers in the virtual event space?

We are seeing brands lean into advancements in AR and VR to create new and exciting immersive experiences.

Take Travis Scott‘s collaboration with Fortnite, for example. He released a new track during the virtual performance and it reached across demographics. It‘s multi-layered and lives beyond the moment, and connected directly with the consumers who‘ll actually go out and buy it.

Another great example is Louis Vuitton, who offered an immersive experience called “Asnières Immersive” that transported users to the company’s historic family home and atelier in Asnières, France, through a VR journey into the history and craftsmanship of the brand. The hours of incredible footage captured combined heritage storytelling with modern tech, pop-up experiences, a première and a party that followed. It extended the life of that campaign in a really smart way.

We have also seen this happening with eSports. Our Formula 1 coverage is world-class, but when e-gaming started to boom, we asked ourselves: “How can we capture what‘s happening in-game?” The same goes for the Metaverse and fashion events — we need to be in those spaces, creating content that feels as real and meaningful as anything happening IRL.

That‘s really where we see immersive technology thriving — you have the digital storytelling happening on one level and the in-person activations that bring it to the community on another. Capturing the live activations to create content for use across immersive and traditional storytelling is where we can support brands in connecting both worlds and taking the experience to the widest possible audience.

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Getty Images as part of a BoF partnership.