Are Media announced the launch of contentshop.com.au, a library with hundreds of thousands of images produced by Australia’s best magazine editors, art directors and stylists.
The library draws on Are Media’s market-leading brands, including The Australian Women’s Weekly, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Country Style, Belle, Australian House & Garden, Inside Out, Home Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens and more.
With the launch of contentshop.com.au, marketers, creative directors, designers, PR agencies, social media managers, and other publishers will, for the first time, have access to Are Media’s most beautiful images across the food, home, interiors, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle categories.
Joe Revill, Are Media head of ePublishing and Syndication, spoke to Mediaweek about launching the platform to the creative community, what to expect from the library and what the new venture means for its business
Revill on why Are Media launching contentshop.com.au
Revill said he was extremely excited for the project to be launched and out there for the creative community to use. He explained that Are Media saw a need for creators and creatives in the media industry to have access to their content.
“We have this amazing archive of content produced, created, and touched by our editorial team – the best in the business in terms of magazine, creatives, photographers, designers, editors – that hadn’t been readily available to other parties.
“We realised we have something very different that can stand apart from those other, more standard stock libraries. We could bring that to the industry and to designers out there who can get their hands on an image that is professionally put together and styled just from the pages of the magazines,” he said.
Revill noted that the project was in the works for a good couple of years. He said: “We wanted to make sure that we were selecting the best content for images for people to be able to licence and ensure this filled that gap and was easy to use for our customers.”
Joe Revill
Contentshop.com.au as a new revenue stream for Are Media
Revill acknowledged that the platform is a new revenue stream for Are Media but also streamlines the conversation and process of licensing an image.
“It is a new revenue stream. As a company, we are evolving into an omni-channel business. So, this is just another string in the bow to help us reach that journey,” he added.
Revill explained that in the past, if someone had reached out to them requesting to want to license an image, it was possible but involved a very long conversation.
“The fact that we now have something that external users can choose an image, and with literally a couple of clicks and a credit card, they can download the high res and work with it in their project,” he said of the platform.
Revill noted that the image comes with all the metadata that provides the photographer, which magazine it appeared in, and all the keywords.
What creatives and content creators can expect on contentshop.com.au
Creatives and content creators accessing the platform can find archived and new images from their wide range of publications, such as food, homes, lifestyle, and travel. The curated library is updated with a selection of new photos from the pages of their magazines.
“We’re not saying we are the ultimate library for every category. We’re very much playing to our strengths and licencing that content that you would know and love for and have been for so many years. From Australian Women’s Weekly, Better Homes and Gardens, Australian House and Garden will be available for our lovely creative community,” he said.
The library currently has 200,000 images and is growing. Revill said: “Every time a magazine goes out, more images will come in.
“The library will keep growing and growing and growing, and it’s just a small part of curated images from our overall library. The overall system that we have is talking millions and millions of assets there,” he added.
Revill added: “What we’ve done is taken a lot of the heavy lifting out of the creative process from the retouching and the styling. That’s all done.
“It’s more than stock. We all need those stock image libraries, and they’re super important to the industry. But contentshop.com.au stands alone, and it’s had that extra bit of work done.
Why the platform is only available to Australia and New Zealand
Revill noted that the ultimate dream for contentshop.com.au would be “world domination.” Are Media’s plans to stick to providing accessibility to creative agencies, PR agencies, design houses, creative sole traders or people building ad sales decks in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
“That’s not to say we won’t open up contentshop.com.au outside of those territories. I think for now, we wanted to give our community the first look at this,” he said
Revill also noted that the content will be very Australian-centric, particularly with home, lifestyle and good – highlighting the summer Christmas as a festivity people in England would not relate to.
“If the demand is there, we’ll look into it,” Revill added.
–
Top image: Joe Revill