NEWS: Creative Industries earn UK almost £92bn

Creative industries earn UK almost £92bn

The creative industries contributed a record £91.8bn to the UK economy in 2016, official statistics show.

The contribution of the UK creative industries - as measured by Gross Value Added (GVA) - rose by 7.6 per cent in 2016, or more than twice as fast as the average 3.5 per cent growth rate in this measure across the UK economy.

Between 2010 and 2016, the creative industries sub sectors - which include advertising, film and TV, architecture, publishing, music, design, games, museums and galleries, fashion, crafts, and the creative use of technology - grew their economic contribution by 44.8 per cent, outpacing even the purely digital sector which increased its GVA by 23.3 per cent during this period.

Much of the growth in the creative industries is thought to be coming from the field known as CreaTech in which technology is used to enable creativity, and vice versa.

Within the creative industries, for instance, the category for IT, software and computer services grew by 11.4 per cent last year, and there are great hopes for emerging fields such as virtual/immersive tech, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to spur further innovation and growth.

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The figures, which are provisional, mean the creative industries contribute more than a quarter of a billion pounds to the UK a day, or approximately £10.5m in every hour.

Commenting on the data, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Karen Bradley said:

"Britain’s creative industries play an essential role shaping how we are seen around the world but as these new statistics show they are also a vital part of the economy."

"The sector is now one of our fastest growing industries and continues to outperform the wider UK economy. This is a testament to the talent and drive of its workforce and we are working closely with them to make sure this fantastic success continues."

Nicola Mendelsohn CBE, the Industry Co-Chair of the Creative Industries Council (CIC) and VP EMEA, Facebook, said:

‍"It’s fantastic to see the creative industries continuing to go from strength to strength, providing growth, jobs and exports for all parts of the UK. The CIC will continue to work with Government to use British creativity to inspire the UK and the world”.

The CIC is negotiating with Government on a potential sector deal for the creative industries to provide further support in areas such as infrastructure, clustering and access to finance.

The UK Budget included more than £500m of investment in technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and full fibre broadband. This was followed by the Government’s Industrial Strategy  which committed to investment in immersive technologies with £33m from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

This investment is also designed to capture new global audiences and grow the UK's market position in creative content.

The importance of creative enterprises to the future of the UK economy was also recognised in a survey of MPs published by the CIC.

In total, the UK creative industries employ almost 2m people in the UK and exported £21.2bn of services in 2015.

The latest data also included a revised figure of £85.3bn of GVA for the creative industries in 2015, compared to a previous estimate of £87.4bn. This revision took into account the latest balancing of the National Accounts and the finalisation of Annual Business Survey data.

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