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Ten years of sublime aerial images, in 6 minutes?
Here we are: February 2014 / February 2024. HOsiHO has turned 10!
We got there, against all odds, thanks to you, our customers, thanks to you, our aerial artists. A very warm thank you for your trust and loyalty, because without them, we would not be here, still offering the most beautiful drone images produced legally by professional pilots from around the world!
To mark this important milestone, we invite you on a World Tour in 180 aerial shots, taken from our 60,000+ images available online!
This six-minute video, entitled Above Our World, we designed as an aerial journey above the most beautiful places on Earth, filmed by our passionate and creative aerial videographers and photographers, of whom we are very proud to represent!
Video Above Our World, by HOSIHO.com - Special 10 Years, 2014-2024
A bit of history
To think that ten years ago, we launched the first HOsiHO collection in the Provence region only! A year later, given the popularity, we expanded it to France seen from above! Remember our visual from then, 2014-2015!Then, in 2016, the idea of opening HOsiHO to contributors from all over the world emerged for three reasons:
Subsequently, in November 2017, and in order to compensate for the lack of images in our very young France collection, we created the very first Drone Pilots Network in France. With a new dedicated site for our HOsiHO Drone Network, we were able to easily direct our customers towards tailor-made services, provided by our best HOsiHO french drone pilot contributors.
New Platform, for New Horizons!
Opening up to the world was very ambitious for our small company. We had to make ourselves known outside France without denying ourselves.
Reassure clients accustomed to large Anglo-Saxon image banks.
Attract new talents to supply images to the growing needs of customers.
Offer new services and new features on the website.
In 2018, our first platform was already showing its limits.
We then had to rethink, from A to Z, the design of a new platform, in order to create a powerful, scalable and long-lasting tool.
In April 2019, we launched it with a large number of new features for our clients and a dedicated portal for authors, to facilitate the ingestion of the many new media that were offered to us.
Internationalization rhymes with Communication!
From then on, we internationalized our presence and therefore our communication.
First by participating in trade shows such as SATIS in Paris, the Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, the Footage Market in London, the NAB in Las Vegas.
Trade shows where we were able to show the sublime images of the rapidly growing collection, and above all to meet, discuss and listen to the needs of prospects from all over the world.
Then, by affiliating HOsiHO with large image indexing sites like PixPalace (France), Footage.net (Usa), PictureMAXX (Germany), Stock Footage Online (United Kingdom) which then introduce us to professional audiovisual documentalists and researchers of each of these countries.
To complete this, we have joined the professional association FOCAL International (London), both for networking and for legal advice or image searches that they send to their members.
Partnership with the INA
All in all, these actions made it possible to establish the offer and the seriousness of our agency, which was then approached by the INA during a trade show where we were exhibiting in London in May 2019. The (french) National Audiovisual Institute seeking to expand its offering via its INA MediaPro platform by representing a few specific image collections, including HOsiHO.
For us, it was an honor and a new turning point. Also a confirmation of the right direction that we had taken 5 years earlier.
Sandrine Saccarère, international sales manager, at the origin of this partnership, explained this choice as follows:
World lockdown
Clients flocked, as did new talents, but international recruitment was more laborious. Then in 2020/2021, the pandemic accelerated our sales of stock images, audiovisual productions could no longer go to filming sites, so they turned to image banks.
It should also be noted that we launched, in March 2020, a call to our contributors encouraging them to film their confined cities, in order to keep a visual memory of this historic moment that the whole world experienced, and to also take the opportunity to fly over places that are usually crowded, normally restricted to drone flights.
The collection was thus expanded with more than 5,000 aerial sequences, and numerous media and production companies were able to talk about it and use these images in news reports, documentaries, series and feature films.
During these calm and timeless moments, we published our Image Bank Survival Guide, aimed at all visual artists, then we wrote our Manifesto explaining the agency's philosophy.
Diversification avec Dronestag
In 2022, we acquired the drone image sharing platform, Dronestagr.am, in order to to open up even more internationally and reach drone imaging enthusiasts and professionals from all over the world, through this site, known worldwide as the first drone social network, created in 2013!
At the end of 2023, we launched the Dronestag Directory, listing drone pilots and services, worldwide.
Since then, we have continued on our merry way, in the niche market of aerial & drone images, with more and more contributors and clients, but also more and more competition, in particular from large generalist microstock image banks, who now offer large aerial collections at prices far too low for us to consider aligning ourselves.
Notwithstanding, in November 2023, all prices for HOsiHO collections have been reduced by 20%.
Quality, Originality, Legality
We are always moving forward on the legality of images taken by professional pilots with the required authorizations, and favor quality over quantity.
This has been the DNA of HOsiHO since its creation, there is perhaps no question of denying itself, nor of sell off. Because let's remember one essential thing: these images only exist because their contributors earn a decent income from it. Without this income, there would be no more new images, therefore less choice for customers.
By purchasing on HOsiHO, or at one of the macrostock agencies, customers encourage authors to produce again. A virtuous circle, because the entire chain benefits.
Our only fear is that this wish remains pious, and that the race to the lowest bidder continues. How far?
Thank you for your continued support!
2024 is here, and we realize that we're already 10 years old and still have new projects in mind, to bring even more services to the drone industry, of which we are an active member, more than ever!
Thank you for your loyalty and trust. Your feedback always helps us to improve.
In the meantime, we'd like to offer you two gifts to celebrate our tenth anniversary:
- a 20% discount code on all images in the collection, valid until 29/02/2024: HO10Y20
- a World Tour video, in 180 aerial shots and 6 minutes on the clock!
So fasten your seatbelts and see you soon on HOsiHO.com, the HOsiHO.net network or the Dronestagr.am directory!
Here's what our customers have to say about us. Thank you for playing the game.
Catherine Paoli - Manager and Researcher - Le Chainon Manquant: "We are extremely satisfied with Hosiho thanks to the exceptional quality of the images supplied and the diversity of the videos. We manage to get very good results for our searches, thanks to the very clear site. In addition, Sami Sarkis' fast and efficient availability has greatly facilitated our customer experience."
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Marianne Lafontaine - Audiovisual Documentalist - Fairplay France: "These are the best videos available for searches of French landscapes or towns, better quality, lots of choice, which is less present in classic image banks. What we appreciate most is the possibility of exchanging with you and having access to offline videos, launching requests to your drone artist or even obtaining a video upon request. What's more, exchanges are always responsive and good-humored, which doesn't spoil anything. Perhaps we'd like to see a more extensive international catalog? Even more content volume? Thanks again for your videos and long live Hosiho!"
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Nicolas Viard - Documentalist/researcher: "HosiHo's aerial videos combine quality and diversity. Navigating the site is simple and intuitive. Thank you for the extensive content!"
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