Content

The Creative Industries Focus on reports expand on the Creative Industries Economic Estimates published in January 2016.

“Creative Industries: Focus on Employment” covers the number of jobs in the Creative Industries and the Creative Economy in 2015, and is broken down by a number of characteristics, including:

• region or devolved administration
• highest level of qualification
• gender
• ethnicity
• socio-economic classification

“Creative Industries: Focus on Exports of Services” covers the value of exports of services for the UK Creative Industries in 2014, broken down by Creative Industries grouping and export market.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area. The responsible statisticians for these releases are Penny Allen (0207 211 2380) and Becky Woods (0207 211 6134). For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email Penny or Becky at evidence@culture.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

​This publication has been updated on 20 June 2016 and 4 July 2016 to correct data in the statistical release Creative Industries: Focus on Employment published on 9 June 2016.

Amendments on 20 June: The percentage of BAME within the UK Economy was incorrectly reported on page 21. This has now been corrected in the PDF document to 11.3 per cent. There are no changes to any other figures in this report or other documents on this page.

Amendments on 4 July: The 2011 total in Table 1 and Table 2 was incorrectly reported and should be 1,562,000. This has been corrected in the accompanying tables. The chart in Figure 8 was showing data for the Creative Economy rather than the Creative Industries. This has now been corrected.

These Creative Industries Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to measure the direct economic contribution of the Creative Industries to the UK Economy. An analysis of the contribution made by the Creative Industries to UK Employment, GVA and Exports of Services has been provided in this release. These estimates have been produced using ONS National Statistics sources.

Content

This release covers the gross value added (GVA) of the creative industries, and their contribution to the UK economy, including:

• Advertising and marketing
• Architecture
• Crafts
• Product design, graphic design and fashion design
• Film, TV, video, radio and photography
• IT, software and computer services
• Publishing
• Museums, galleries and libraries
• Music, performing arts and visual arts

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area. The responsible statistician for this release is Niall Goulding (020 7211 6085). For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@culture.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Headline findings

In included DCMS sectors in 2021:

In the digital sector in 2021:

These Creative Industries Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to measure the direct economic contribution of the Creative Industries to the UK Economy. An analysis of the contribution made by the Creative Industries to UK Employment, GVA and Exports of Services has been provided in this release. These estimates have been produced using ONS National Statistics sources.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area. The responsible statistician for this release is Douglas Cameron (020 7211 6041). For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at CIEEBulletin@culture.gsi.gov.uk.

Pre-release access:

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Notice of revision, 18 March 2022

About

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by imports and exports of services and goods.

Content

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Digital Sector
• Sport
• Tourism

A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations.

Released

29 October 2020

Revised

18 March 2022

Feedback and consultation

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. DCMS welcomes feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/code-of-practice/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics, as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statisticians for this release is Wilmah Tawaziwa. For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

About

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by imports and exports of services and goods.

Content

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Digital sector
• Gambling (services only)
• Sport
• Telecoms (services only)
• Tourism (covered on a separate basis to the other sectors)

Users should note that unlike previous years, there are no breakdowns available by world regions of individual countries for the Tourism sector. This is because the underlying data source, the International Passenger Survey, was suspended from 16 March 2020 to January 2021 as a result of the pandemic. The headline figures can be found in Chapter 1 of the statistical release and on the https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/leisureandtourism/articles/overseastravelandtourism2020/2021-05-24" class="govuk-link">Overseas travel and tourism: 2020 ONS publication page.

A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations.

Released

First published on 10 March 2022.

Feedback and consultation

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. DCMS welcomes feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics, as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statistician for this release is Wilmah Deda. For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

About

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by employment and imports and exports of services and goods.

Content

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• Civil Society
• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Digital Sector
• Gambling
• Sport
• Telecoms
• Tourism

They cover the contribution of the sectors the Office for Civil Society has responsibility for for the first time (responsibility for the Office for Civil Society was transferred from Cabinet Office to DCMS on 21 July 2016).

A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations.

Released

26 July 2017

Feedback and consultation

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. In response to user requests, this release includes experimental statistics on exports and imports of goods for the first time. DCMS particularly welcomes feedback on this element of the release, as outlined in Annex A. Feedback and responses should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@culture.gov.uk by 15 September 2017.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statisticians for this release is Penny Allen (020 7211 2380). For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@culture.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Headline Findings

In 2018, DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism and Civil Society):

• imported £34.1 billion of services, 17.7% of all UK service imports.
• exported £62.6 billion of services, 21.0% of all UK service exports.

About

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of imports and exports of services by DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism and Civil Society).

This release only covers trade in services, and aims to provide a timely summary of the key findings for 2018, the latest year for which data are available. More information on trade in services, as well as estimates for trade in goods and for trade in the Tourism sector, will be provided later in 2020.

Content

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Digital Sector
• Gambling
• Sport
• Telecoms

A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations.

Released

06 February 2020

Feedback and consultation

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. DCMS welcomes feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@culture.gov.uk.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/code-of-practice/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics, as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statisticians for this release is Rishi Vaidya. For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@culture.gov.uk.

Pre-release access

The document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Headline findings

Trade in the included DCMS sector goods in 2023 is estimated as:

• £9.8 billion of goods imports, 1.5% of total UK goods imports (down from 1.8% in 2022 and from 2.3% in 2018).

• £11.6 billion of goods exports, 2.7% of total UK goods exports (down from 3.0% in 2022 and from 4.1% in 2018).

Trade in services by businesses in included DCMS sectors in 2023 is estimated as:

• £40.6 billion of service imports, 13.7% of total UK service imports (up from 13.2% in 2022 and from 8.9% in 2018).

• £63.5 billion of service exports, 13.6% of total UK service exports (up from 13.3% in 2022 and from 12.2% in 2018).

Trade in tourism in 2023 is estimated as:

• £72.4 billion in tourism imports (spend on goods and services by UK visitors overseas)

• £31.1 billion in tourism exports (spend on goods and services by overseas visitors to the UK)

About

These economic estimates are official statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by imports and exports of goods and services. Trade in goods estimates are defined based on the type of commodity being traded (rather than the business trading the commodity, whereas trade in services estimates are defined based on the industry of the business trading the service (rather than the type of service being traded). Trade in tourism is estimated by spending by overseas residents in the UK and spending by UK residents overseas as proxy measurements for exports and imports.

Trade in goods data is currently available for 2017 onwards. We are revising previously published data for 2016 and this will be re-published in due course. No other data is affected.

These estimates are calculated based on the following data sources:

• Trade in goods - HMRC Overseas trade in goods statistics
• Trade in services - ONS International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey
• Trade in tourism - ONS International Passenger Survey (IPS)

Content

These statistics cover the contributions of the following sectors to the UK economy.

DCMS sectors:

• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling (services only)
• sport
• tourism (covered on a separate basis to the other sectors)

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries.

Trade estimates are not available for the civil society as there are no formally recognised imports and exports of goods and services for civil society from the data sources available. Figures for gambling sector goods imports and exports are also not included in this release as there are no goods associated with this sector in the data sources available (trade in services for the gambling sector is included).

The data tables in this release also include estimates for the audio visual sector. These are not included in the DCMS sector total.

In addition, the trade in goods data tables include estimates of total imports and exports of goods estimates for the arts and antiques market (these are also not included in the DCMS sector total). We are working on producing a fuller breakdown by partner country. A list of the commodity codes (CN08) used to define the arts and antiques market is available in the data tables. We welcome feedback on the definitions used for these statistics, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk with any comments.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information is available in the associated technical report including details of methods and data limitations.

Released

These statistics were first published on 26 June 2025.

Feedback

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. DCMS welcomes feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Office for Statistics Regulation

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evide

This page lists ad-hoc statistics released between July - September 2016. These are additional analyses not included in any of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s standard publications.

If you would like any further information please contact evidence@culture.gov.uk.

July 2016 - Creative Industries Economic Estimates: Number of jobs by occupation and full time and part time status.

This release provides additional analysis on published employment estimates for the Creative Industries, broken down by the number of jobs by occupation and the number of jobs by full time and part time status.

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August 2016 - DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates: Audio Visual Sector

This release provides an estimate of the contribution of the Audio Visual Sector to the UK economy, measured by GVA, exports of services, imports of services and number of enterprises.