NEWS: UK exports almost £50m a day from creative industries

UK Creative Exports Reach £17.9bn

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The UK exported £17.9bn of creative industry services - £49m per day - in 2013, with exports from music, performing and the visual arts increasing at the fastest rate.

Official figures show the value of exported creative services rose by 3.5 per cent during the year, with exports from the IT, software and computer services categories accounting for almost half (48 per cent) of the UK's creative exports.

The next biggest creative exporter was the 'film, TV, radio and photography' industries which accounted for just over 22 per cent of the total.

Although relatively modest in size, the music, performing and visual arts category, recorded the highest growth with an increase of 22.7 per cent from £0.6bn to £0.7bn in 2013. Music has been one of the most successful export categories for the UK's creative industries, following the global success of acts such as Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Coldplay and Mumford & Sons.

Taken together, the creative industries contributed 8.7 per cent of the UK's exports.

However, the overall growth rate of UK creative exports in 2013 was 3.5 per cent, or marginally lower than the average increase of 4.5 per cent across all UK industries. Over the longer term since 2009, creative exports have grown by 34.2 per cent, compared to a growth rate of 20.6 per cent for the whole economy.

The government also released data on employment in the creative industries.

Source: Creative Industries: Focus on Exports, June 2015.