Despite a decline in high-end film and TV production over the past couple of years, and perhaps in part because of it, stock footage houses report healthy sales. The main reason is the proliferation of new specialty outlets and diginets requiring numerous but inexpensive shows.

‘There’s a desperate need for programming, and it’s not necessarily your traditional high-end documentary programming,’ says Chris O’Hearn, head of content development for stock giant Associated Press Television News Library in London. ‘It’s programming that fills hours on TV.’

Of course, this is good news for APTN, which estimates that ’03 sales were up about 20% over last year.

‘It was a good year for very current events,’ he says. ‘It was very much on people’s minds and we’re one of the prime sources for that sort of material.’

APTN’s major clients are TV producers and broadcasters such as Discovery Channel, BBC and A&E.

Demand for war footage increased this year, as has demand for stock footage staples including aerials, nature shots, lifestyle and time-lapse imagery. O’Hearn and Toronto’s Canamedia, which represents the U.K.’s ITN News Archive, agree that war footage – from Iraq to Rwanda – is currently their most requested material.

O’Hearn says the most important new offering from APTN this year was its live service launched during the War in Iraq. At one point, APTN had eight uplinks from Iraq pumping out live material from Baghdad, press conferences and military bases.

Most of the material available from APTN is shot in-house, though it does license material from the likes of ABC News, ABC Australia and Vatican Television.

The danger of covering world events is something of which everyone at APTN is very aware. ‘That doesn’t stop us covering the material,’ says O’Hearn. ‘That’s what we’re expected to do for our clients. Obviously we take all the safety measures we can.’

On the local scene, Canadian stock shop Time Image also reports an especially good 2003. ‘This year has been the biggest year ever,’ says president Richard Boddington, a former CTV producer. ‘It has far exceeded my expectations.’

Time Image, based in Horseshoe Valley, north of Barrie, ON, claims more than 5,000 American clients, including 250 U.S. TV stations such as ABC, CBS and Cartoon Network.

Time Image’s success south of the border is exemplified by its shot of the Statue of Liberty appearing in last year’s Super Bowl opener. The irony isn’t lost on Boddington. ‘They had a Canadian company supplying them with a shot of their most famous monument,’ he says.

Canamedia steps in

Anne-Marie Leger, Canamedia’s head of sales and business affairs for the ITN News Archive, says that for her firm, despite ebbs and flows, overall sales have been fairly stable.

‘One month can be just overwhelmingly busy and the next it just slows down,’ she says.

Canamedia, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a TV distributor and production company, moved into the stock footage arena when it acquired the Canadian distribution rights for the ITN News Archive and the Natural History New Zealand Images library in June and October, respectively. NHNZ contains footage exploring the natural world as well as health, science, adventure and people.

Clients that have purchased ITN material through Canamedia include independent documentary producers such as Montreal’s Ad Hoc Films, as well as CBC’s the fifth estate and Disclosure.

The Internet has become crucial for these stock companies in terms of attracting and servicing their clients. The capabilities of searching by keyword and seeing shots online and reading detailed shot descriptions saves clients on time and research fees.

Clients can order the clips directly over the Internet, and stock houses send material by overnight courier. Both Time Image and Oregon’s Artbeats will also let clients download a couple of clips from an FTP site for immediate use. ‘[Our website] is our number one marketing tool,’ says Artbeats president Phil Bates.

Online descriptions are limited because a client can’t see how a shot is framed or how it moves, which is why APTN is in the early stages of uploading most of its motion material to the Web. O’Hearn says he expects digital libraries to become the standard over the next few years.

The Internet has also opened up the global market to regional players, which is a good match, as stock footage, although often requiring format conversion, can be a popular sell internationally. Says Time Image’s Boddington, ‘You don’t need any translation on a flower opening in time lapse or on a shark or butterfly.’

-www.aptnlibrary.com

-www.canamedia.com

-www.timeimage.com