Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results that management said were boosted by record annual revenue, strong profitability, and two significant multi-year licensing agreements signed late in the year. Executives also provided an update on the company’s pending merger review in the U.K. and issued 2026 guidance that reflects a difficult year-over-year comparison tied to accelerated revenue recognition from those Q4 licensing deals.
Record 2025 revenue and a strong fourth quarter
Chief Executive Officer Craig Peters called 2025 “a strong year” for Getty Images, noting the company’s 30th anniversary and highlighting growth across both creative and editorial. For the full year, Getty Images delivered record revenue of $981.3 million, up 4.5% year over year (or 3.8% on a currency-neutral basis). Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 was $320.9 million, representing a 32.7% margin, with Peters stating both revenue and adjusted EBITDA came in “well above the high end” of guidance.
Two multi-year licensing agreements drove accelerated revenue
Management attributed a meaningful portion of Q4 results to two new multi-year licensing agreements signed during the quarter. Peters said one deal was with a “major social platform” covering display rights for pre-shot visual content across creative and editorial, and the other was with a “large AI company” covering the use of Getty Images’ data and creative content.
Chief Financial Officer Jen Leyden said Q4 results included approximately $40 million of revenue recognized from the two agreements under GAAP, reflecting “heavier accelerated revenue recognition in the quarter,” with revenue allocated across creative, editorial, and other categories based on the content included. Combined, the two deals carry an approximate $65 million total value over their multi-year terms, creating what Leyden described as a future revenue stream beyond Q4.
Leyden also detailed the cash profile: the deals have combined cash impacts of $15 million in 2025, $20 million in 2026, with the remainder spread evenly across the rest of the terms. In Q&A, management said about $10 million of recurring revenue from those deals is expected in 2026.
Because the accelerated revenue created a notable comparison effect, Leyden provided “with and without” context. Excluding the two large deals and other revenue timing elements, the company said Q4 and full-year revenue would have been down 0.7% (or down 2.1% currency-neutral) and down 1.4% (or down 2% currency-neutral), respectively.
Business trends: creative, editorial, subscriptions, and geography
In the quarter, creative revenue was $149.0 million, up 4.6% year over year (or 3.1% currency-neutral). Leyden said creative benefited from the accelerated revenue tied to the two deals as well as growth across Premium Access, Unsplash+, and custom content, partially offset by continued weakness in the agency business, which declined 16% in Q4. Full-year creative revenue was $556.9 million, up 0.7% (or 0.2% currency-neutral).
Editorial revenue in Q4 rose to $109.4 million, up 21.4% year over year (or 19.9% currency-neutral). Leyden said all four editorial verticals—news, sport, entertainment, and archive—grew year over year, supported by contributions from the large deals and strong assignments growth. Assignments revenue increased 20.1% (or 18.3% currency-neutral). For the full year, editorial revenue was $369.6 million, up 6.9% (or 6.1% currency-neutral).
Other revenue was $23.9 million in Q4, up $9.1 million from Q4 2024, primarily due to the two large deals. Full-year other revenue was $54.8 million, up 35.2%.
On subscriptions, Leyden said annual subscription revenue grew 1% year over year and was essentially flat on a currency-neutral basis. Premium Access, the company’s largest subscription product, was up 4.1% in Q4 (or 5.3% currency-neutral). Annual subscription revenue made up 48.6% of Q4 revenue versus 54.9% a year earlier, which Leyden attributed to the fact that neither of the two large deals is included in subscription revenue. Excluding those deals, annual subscription revenue mix would have been 56.6%, up from 54.9% in Q4 2024, according to the company.
Active annual subscribers were 278,000 for the Q4 trailing-12-month period, down from 314,000 a year earlier. Leyden said the decline was driven by iStock and tied to the June 2025 discontinuation of Getty Images’ free-trial acquisition program. The annual subscription revenue retention rate was 89.9% versus 92.9% in the prior-year period, which Leyden said was primarily due to the absence of major political, sporting, and other one-time events that boosted à la carte subscriber spend in 2024, along with mix factors.
Geographically, Leyden said the Americas—where most of the revenue from the two large deals was recorded—was up 20.8% in Q4 on a currency-neutral basis, while EMEA rose 6.1% and APAC declined 13%, primarily due to challenges in the agency business.
Profitability, cash flow, and leverage
Getty Images reported revenue less cost of revenue at 74.8% of revenue in Q4, compared with 73.5% in the prior year, with the year-over-year improvement attributed largely to product mix.
SG&A expense was $111.6 million in Q4, up $6.1 million year over year, but fell as a percentage of revenue to 39.5% from 42.7% due to the stronger revenue base. Excluding stock-based compensation, adjusted SG&A was $107.1 million, reflecting professional fees tied to accelerated SOX compliance efforts and higher incentive compensation tied to performance.
CapEx was $13.0 million in Q4 and $59.5 million for the full year. Adjusted EBITDA less CapEx was $91.1 million in Q4 and $261.3 million for the year.
Free cash flow was $7.7 million in Q4, down from $24.6 million a year earlier, which Leyden attributed to higher cash interest expense. Full-year free cash flow was $5.7 million, compared with $60.9 million in 2024, primarily driven by increased cash paid for merger-related expenses.
Year-end cash was $90.2 million. Total debt outstanding was $2.01 billion as of December 31, including $628 million of 10.5% senior secured notes issued in Q4 to fund the pending merger (with proceeds held in escrow). Net leverage was 4.0x at quarter-end. The company estimated 2026 cash interest, net of interest earned on escrow cash, at $188 million.
2026 outlook and merger update
For 2026, Getty Images guided to revenue of $948 million to $988 million and adjusted EBITDA of $279 million to $295 million. Leyden emphasized that the expected year-over-year declines are “entirely attributable” to the timing of revenue recognition from the two large multi-year licensing agreements signed in Q4 2025, which created a challenging comparison—particularly in Q4 2026—despite an even-year editorial events calendar.
Excluding the $40 million of accelerated revenue recognized in Q4 2025, the company said its 2026 revenue outlook would imply growth of 0.7% to 4.9% year over year (or down 0.5% to up 3.7% currency-neutral), and adjusted EBITDA would be down 2.4% to up 2.9% (or down 3.6% to up 1.7% currency-neutral). Guidance also included approximately $5.6 million of one-off SG&A increases for continued SOX acceleration efforts, with other merger-related costs excluded from adjusted EBITDA guidance as one-time items.
On the pending merger, Peters said the transaction had been cleared without condition in all jurisdictions except the U.K. He noted that the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) narrowed its concern to the U.K. editorial market in its phase two interim report. Peters said the company disagrees with the CMA’s view, but has offered remedies given what he described as the limited importance of Shutterstock Editorial to the overall transaction. The company said the CMA extended its timeline by eight weeks, and Getty Images now expects a decision in June.
About Getty Images (NYSE:GETY)
Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) is a leading global provider of digital visual content, offering an extensive library of stock photography, editorial imagery, video footage and music. The company supplies creative and rights-managed assets to a broad range of industries, including advertising, media, corporate communications and publishing. Through its online platform and licensing services, Getty Images enables customers to search, license and download multimedia content for commercial and editorial use.
Founded in 1995 by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein, Getty Images pioneered the aggregation of photographic archives into a centralized, digital marketplace.
