SmartFrame Technologies partners with action press international

SmartFrame Technologies, a UK-based tech start-up, announced a new partnership with 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 more than 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 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.

“The inclusion of action press international into the SmartFrame ecosystem is a monumental step forward in our mission to transform the digital image landscape,” said Rob Sewell, CEO of SmartFrame Technologies. “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.

The total number of SmartFrame images now available to publishers to embed for free to more than 620 million.

“With the success of our New Zealand Rugby partnership, joining forces with SmartFrame was a natural evolution for us,” added Ulli Michel, CEO of action press international. “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.”