Landmark collaboration sees SmartFrame’s image-streaming network now offering publishers around the world over 620 million embeddable images, free of charge

London, UK – 11 September 2023: SmartFrame Technologies, a UK-based tech provider that is redefining the digital image standard, is excited to announce a major enhancement to its offering, thanks to a new partnership with leading German-based photography agency action press international.

The partnership allows online publishers to embed all of action press international’s content into their websites, completely free of charge, which currently totals over 200 million images. It represents a significant step towards SmartFrame’s mission of redefining the digital image distribution and commercial model by transforming how digital images are published, consumed, and monetized online, ultimately creating a fairer, more transparent, and more prosperous ecosystem for all.

Following the successful launch of the New Zealand Rugby partnership earlier this summer, which saw action press international taking responsibility for capturing all official New Zealand Rugby content, action press international has now fully adopted SmartFrame’s model for its entire content archives.

Rob Sewell, CEO of SmartFrame Technologies, said: “The inclusion of action press international into the SmartFrame ecosystem is a monumental step forward in our mission to transform the digital image landscape. By combining action press international’s incredible library of images with SmartFrame’s technology, we are bettering our position to deliver unprecedented value to photographers, publishers, advertisers, and audiences alike.”

By delivering premium contextual advertisements within correspondingly premium images, SmartFrame aims to reshape the digital image ecosystem and re-empower photographers worldwide. Much like the YouTube model, SmartFrame is monetizing the audience consuming the content and paying the creators from the advertising displayed in them, as opposed to licensing the asset itself. By doing so, it’s tapping into the rapidly expanding contextual advertising market, which is estimated to grow from $178bn in 2021 to $562.1bn by 2030.

Publishers embed SmartFrame images into their editorial content completely free of charge and in a copyright-compliant way. SmartFrame images are delivered in the highest possible resolution without affecting page load times, while providing an interactive and more engaging content experience to the end user, increasing dwell times through interactive features such as full-screen viewing and the company’s proprietary Hyper Zoom technology.

Publishers also gain new image data and insights through SmartFrame’s data and analytics panel, along with new incremental revenue streams from occasional contextually targeted advertising served within these images. The ads are targeted to the metadata of the photo, the context of the page, and the viewer’s location and device, which keeps advertising relevant to the content the viewer is consuming, thus increasing engagement for the advertising brands.

Thanks to its existing partnerships with image agencies around the world, today’s announcement brings the total number of SmartFrame images now available to publishers to embed for free to over 620 million.

Ulli Michel, CEO of action press international, added: “With the success of our New Zealand Rugby partnership, joining forces with SmartFrame was a natural evolution for us. Our commitment to capturing timeless moments with photography aligns with SmartFrame’s vision for a fairer digital future for all those involved with photography. We are excited to see our rich archive of content gain renewed commercial value through the SmartFrame platform, opening new avenues for engagement and revenue generation for all stakeholders involved in online media.”

About SmartFrame Technologies: Founded in 2015, SmartFrame Technologies is a London-based software provider that’s redefining the digital image standard. Its SmartFrame platform allows content owners and brands to protect their assets and present them in the best possible way, while also allowing publishers to source and embed high-quality authenticated images for free, and for everyone involved to generate new revenue streams by way of in-image advertising.

About action press international: action press international GmbH (Hamburg) is active in 120 countries and, together with partners, relies on a network of around 5,000 photographers. Together with ddp Media GmbH, also based in Hamburg, it is part of action press AG, which is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. The photo agency group has one of the largest databases of digital media assets in the world, with a stock of more than 200 million photos and videos. action press is regarded as a leading brand for news, sports and entertainment content. ddp is the cross-departmental quality provider of photos, which includes the brands ddp images, Picture Press, Intertopics and Food Centrale, as well as the photo agency Stella Pictures (Stockholm). The Management Board of action press AG is made up of Ulli Michel and Prof. Moritz Hunzinger, while Vicente Poveda is CEO of ddp Media GmbH.