The CMA has heard ‘widespread concerns’ from stakeholders across the UK, it said.
The UK competition watchdog is conducting an in-depth investigation into the proposed merger between Getty Images and Shutterstock over concerns that it might lead to higher prices and lower quality content for consumers.
The in-depth ‘Phase 2’ investigation follows an initial ‘Phase 1’ probe that concluded late last month.
Getty and Shutterstock are two the biggest players in the multibillion-dollar licensed digital content market, competing with the likes of giants such as Adobe, Alamy and Canva.
These businesses offer up both editorial content, such as licensed photographs from political events widely used by news publications, as well as stock images, videos and other visuals used for marketing and other creative purposes. Market estimates place the stock images market alone at around $7.3bn.
The newly merged business between Getty and Shutterstock – which would be come to known as ‘Getty Images Holdings’ – would have a market value of more than £3bn. Getty’s current CEO Craig Peters is set to lead the new merged business.
In its initial ‘Phase 1’ investigation, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) heard “widespread concerns” from the UK media and the creative sector about the potential impact of this deal in the supply of editorial and stock content. This included the News Media Association, which consists of around 900 media titles publishing in the country, it said.
According to the CMA, the two companies offered up a “complex package” of remedies, but these failed to adequately address the watchdog’s concerns. The CMA has not disclosed details of the remedies offered by the two businesses.
The ‘Phase 2’ investigation has commenced, with the CMA’s decision on the probe expected by April 2026. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the Getty-Shutterstock merger deal is also under review by the US Department of Justice.
Last week, the AI web browser Perplexity announced a multi-year partnership with Getty to display its content across Perplexity’s AI search tools.
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