NEW YORK, NY (September 23, 2008) – Time Inc. and Getty Images will jointly launch Life.com in 2009, the companies announced today at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference in New York City.
LIFE.com will be jointly owned and operated by Time Inc. and Getty Images, and will provide access to "the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online," the companies say.
The new Life.com site will contain millions of images from the combined photographic collections of Life and Getty. The site will supposedly launch with several million images from Life's archive and Getty says that 3,000 new photographs will be uploaded to the site daily by Getty photographers.
Andy Blau, president of Life and senior vice preisdent of Time Inc. Interactive, and Catherine Gluckstein, vice president of iStockphoto and Consumer Markets at Getty Images, will serve as CEO and CFO, respectively.
“Life.com brings together the two most-recognized brands in photography, making the defining images of our times even more accessible to people everywhere,” said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. “We are thrilled to partner with Time Inc. on the launch of this exciting new venture.”
"Life.com will offer access to thousands of new photographs from Getty Images’ award-winning photographers, including today’s news, entertainment, sports, celebrities, travel, animals and many others," the joint press release said.
"Consumers will also have access to millions of images from Life magazine, many of which have never been seen by the public. The collection contains the historic photos that Life published through the decades, in addition to many never-before-seen pictures of Hollywood stars, sports heroes, important people and events from the 1930’s though the 1990’s. Getty Images will be providing the majority of images at launch from its comprehensive archival and current collections. More than 3,000 new images will be uploaded daily from Getty Images."
Time Inc. and Getty hope to make money off consumers who want to buy photos and prints, and generate revenue from e-Commerce and advertising, and corporate sponsors will brand different collections of pictures on specific topics.
Henry R. Luce launched Life magazine in 1936 and it was America's premier weekly photography magazine until it folded for the first time in 1972. Life was then a monthly magazine from 1978 through 2000, when it folded again, and it was resurrected a third time as a weekly weekend newspaper insert from 2004 until 2007.
“Only three percent of the Life archive has been seen by the public,” says Life.com editor Bill Shapiro. “This site will put everything on display. You’ll be able to look at the biggest events of yesterday and the stories making news today with just a couple of clicks.” [Shapiro was formerly the managing editor of Life magazine during its third, and last, print version when it was a weekly weekend newspaper supplement.]
The new site was designed with Getty Images’ search technology, and when the site launches in early 2009 consumers "will be able to interact intimately with imagery, including printing select photographs, sharing photographs, and play the popular Life Picture Puzzle," Getty said.
