Getty Images, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced a new long-term agreement, with Getty Images serving exclusively as the official photographic agency of the IOC and as the official imagery supplier to the IOC.
“Getty and the IOC have worked together for over 25 years and we are honoured to be expanding our long established relationship to fit the evolving needs of the Olympic Movements and its key stakeholders,” said Ken Mainardis, vice president, sports imagery and services, Getty Images.
“Social media and the proliferation of channels through which people consume content have made a huge impact on the way we watch and experience the Olympic Games. Powerful imagery that tells a story has never been more important.
“It drives engagement and singlehandedly inspires and evokes emotion. We are delighted with this opportunity to provide riveting content that will inspire and engage sports fans all over the globe.”
Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC television and marketing services, said, “We are pleased to be able to continue our long-term agreement with Getty as the official photographic agency through to 2020.
“As a leader in the photographic industry, Getty has demonstrated its ability to capture the magic of the Olympic Games and the inspirational achievements of the Olympic athletes for many years. Through Getty’s global distribution platforms it is able to meet not only the Olympic Movement’s needs, but also support media organisations around the world with fantastic Olympic imagery.”
The extension of this long-standing relationship underlines Getty Images’ commitment to the IOC and to the Olympic Movement, including Worldwide TOP Partners, National Olympic Committees and athletes. The agreement includes rights to use Getty Images’ world-class imagery and services on the soon to be launched Olympic Channel.
“We anticipate Rio 2016 will be the most visual Olympic Games yet as we bring our photographic excellence to capture the beauty of Rio and the intensity and excitement of this world-class sporting event,” added Mainardis.
“Our photographers’ original perspective on sports, gained through years of specialist sports photography experience, will ensure Getty Images captures the best and most unique Olympic moments as they happen.”
For the upcoming Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games, Getty Images will deploy a team of over 120 people including an elite roster of award-winning specialist sports photographers. Getty Images photographers will shoot over 1.5 million images in Rio, of which over 85,000 will be distributed worldwide.
In addition to a gigapixel specialist shooting key venues and moments as 360° panoramas, all Getty Images photographers will be armed with 360 cameras, transporting viewers into the heart of the Olympic action. Overhead and underwater robotic cameras will capture coverage daily at ten athletics, gymnastics and aquatics venues.
In Rio, Getty Images will be leveraging approximately 62 miles (100 km) of state-of-the-art fiber optic cable onsite that will link the photographers from within all 32 venues back to Getty Images editors based in the Main Olympic Press Center. This enables a picture to be transferred from the field of play to the dedicated site www.gettyimages.com/olympics in as little as 120 seconds.
