About

These economic estimates are National Statistics providing an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by the number of businesses.

Headline findings

DCMS

In March 2023 there were 584,920 businesses in the included DCMS sectors, a decrease of 3,245 (0.6%) from March 2022. This is compared to a decrease of 1.5% in UK registered businesses overall.

In March 2023 the vast majority (87.3%) of businesses in included DCMS sectors fell into the micro (0 to 9) employment band, a slightly lower proportion than for UK registered businesses in general (89.1%).

In March 2023, 79.5% of included DCMS sector businesses had a turnover of less than £250,000, a higher proportion than for UK businesses in general (68.1%).

Digital sector

There were 200,600 businesses in the digital sector, a decrease of 9,090 (4.3%) from March 2022. This is compared to a decrease of 1.5% in UK registered businesses overall.

The vast majority (91.9%) of businesses in the digital sector fell into the micro (0 to 9) employment band, a slightly higher proportion than for UK registered businesses in general (89.1%).

In March 2023, 78.3% of digital sector businesses had a turnover of less than £250,000, a higher proportion than for UK businesses in general (68.1%).

Content

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

• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling
• sport
• tourism (defined in this release as the tourism industries)

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. Estimates are not available for the civil society sector, because they are not identifiable in the data source used for this release.

These statistics also cover the contributions of the digital sector and telecoms to the UK economy. Users should note telecoms sits wholly within the digital sector.

The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector, which is not a DCMS sector or digital sector but is “adjacent” to them and includes some industries also common to DCMS and digital sectors.

A definition for each sector is available in the published data tables.

Recent changes to this release

We have made a number of changes to DCMS and digital sector economic estimates: business demographics in recent years:

• previous reports have included data on charities registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, Community Interest Companies (CICs) and the now-discontinued Public Service Mutuals which were defined as civil society organisations
• previous releases have included estimates of the turnover produced by businesses in each employment band and the number of businesses by foreign-owned status, both of which are not available in this release due to the change in data source from the Annual Business Survey (ABS) to the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR)

Additional information about the change in data source from the ABS to the IDBR in 2022 can be found in the source data change summary note.

We welcome any views on these changes at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Released

These statistics were first published on 16 November 2023.

The UK Statistics Authority

DCMS economic estimates are https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/accredited-official-statistics/" class="govuk-link">accredited official statistics and published in accordance with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics, produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for

Headline findings

Reported DCMS Sector GVA is estimated to have fallen by 0.4% from Quarter 2 (April to June) to Quarter 3 2022 (July to September) in real terms. By comparison, the whole UK economy fell by 0.2% from Quarter 2 to Quarter 3 2022.

GVA of reported DCMS Sectors in September 2022 was 6% above February 2020 levels, which was the most recent month not significantly affected by the pandemic. By comparison, GVA for the whole UK economy was 0.2% lower than in February 2020.

Released

16 November 2022

About this release

Monthly estimates

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the economic contribution of DCMS Sectors in terms of gross value added (GVA), for the period January 2019 to September 2022. Provisional monthly GVA in 2019 and 2020 was first published in March 2021 as an ad hoc statistical release. This current release contains new figures for July to September 2022 and revised estimates for previous months, in line with the scheduled revisions that were made to the underlying ONS datasets in October 2022.

Estimates are in chained volume measures (i.e. have been adjusted for inflation), at 2019 prices, and are seasonally adjusted. These latest monthly estimates should only be used to illustrate general trends, not used as definitive figures.

You can use these estimates to:

• Look at relative indicative changes in GVA over time for DCMS sectors and subsectors

You should not use these estimates to:

• Quantify GVA for a specific month
• Measure absolute change in GVA over time
• Determine findings for DCMS sectors that are defined using more detailed industrial classes (due to the data sources only being available at broader industry levels)

“Summed monthly” Annual GVA

Estimates of annual GVA by DCMS Sectors, based on the monthly series, are included in this release for 2019 to 2021. These are calculated by summing the monthly estimates for the calendar year and were first published for 2019 and 2020 in DCMS Sector National Economic Estimates: 2011 - 2020.

Since August 2022, we have been publishing these estimates as part of the regular published series of GVA data, with data being revised in line with revisions to the underlying ONS datasets, as with the monthly GVA estimates. These estimates have been published, updating what was first published last year, in order to meet growing demand for annual figures for GVA beyond the 2019 estimates in our National Statistics GVA publication. The National Statistics GVA publication estimates remain the most robust for our sectors, however estimates for years after 2019 have been delayed owing to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Consequently, these “summed monthly” annual estimate figures for GVA can be used but should not be seen as definitive.

Data sources

The findings are calculated based on published ONS data sources including the Index of Services and Index of Production.

These data sources provide an estimate of the monthly change in GVA for all UK industries. However, the data is only available for broader industry groups, whereas DCMS sectors are defined at a more detailed industrial level. For example, GVA for ‘Cultural education’ is estimated based on the trend for all education. Sectors such as ‘Cultural education’ may have been affected differently by COVID-19 compared to education in general. These estimates are also based on the composition of the economy in 2019. Overall, this means the accuracy of monthly GVA for DCMS sectors is likely to be lower for months in 2020 and 2021.

The technical guidance contains further information about data sources, methodology, and the validation and accuracy of these estimates.

Revisions

Figures are provisional and subject to revision on a monthly basis when the ONS Index of Services and Index of Production are updated. Figures for the latest month will be highly uncertain.

An example of the impact of these revisions is highlighted in the following example; for the revisions applied in February 2022 the average change to DCMS sector monthly GVA was 0.6%, but there were larger differences for some sectors, in some months e.g. the value of the Sport sector in May 2021 was revised from £1.

About

These Economic Estimates are National Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by the number of businesses.

Content

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

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

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions and that the Telecoms sector sits wholly within the Digital sector.

The release also includes estimates for the Audio Visual sector and Computer Games sector.

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

Released

These statistics were first published on 14 October 2021

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.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018) produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). The UKSA 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.

Pre-release access

The accompanying pre-release access document lists 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.

Contact

Responsible statistician: Wilmah Deda.

For any queries or feedback, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Details

Headline Findings

About

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics, used to provide an estimate of the number of business births and deaths in DCMS sectors.

These statistics cover the following DCMS sectors:

Creative Industries Cultural Sector Digital Sector Gambling Sport Telecoms Tourism (defined here as tourism industries)

In addition to the standard DCMS sectors, this release includes figures for the Audio-Visual sector.

A definition for each sector is available in the associated methodology note along with details of methods and data limitations. Civil Society is not covered in this release, as the sector is not defined on an equivalent basis.

Released

09 July 2020

Feedback

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs and 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 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 Rishi Vaidya. 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.

Quality assurance report

This document summarises the quality assurance processes applied during production of the release. It covers quality assurance carried out by both DCMS and our data providers (ONS).

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

• Provisionally, the Digital Sector GVA decreased by an estimated 1.6% between 2022 and 2023, while accounting for inflation. Total UK GVA is estimated to have increased by 0.4% over the same period.
• Provisionally, inflation-adjusted estimated growth for the Digital Sector GVA between 2019 and 2023 was 13.7%.
• Revised, inflation-adjusted, estimated growth for the Digital Sector GVA between 2019 and 2022 was 15.6%. This is 6.5 percentage points higher than the 9.1% growth reported previously in provisional estimates. This update brings Digital Sector GVA figures more in line with National Accounts data.
• The Digital Sector is provisionally estimated to have accounted for 6.5% of total UK GVA in 2023 at £153.5 billion in current prices, decreasing from an estimated 6.8% of total UK GVA in 2022.
• From 2022 to 2023, notable changes to Digital subsector GVA include a 6.7% decrease in the largest Digital subsector ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ and an 8.6% increase in the second largest Digital subsector ‘Telecommunications’.

About this release

This Annual GVA series is our most accurate estimate of Digital Sector GVA. These Economic Estimates are Accredited Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of the Digital Sector and its associated subsectors to the UK, measured by GVA (gross value added).

This is the first release of provisional annual estimates for 2023, and Blue Book 2024 inclusive revisions to 2019 to 2022 annual estimates. The provisional Annual GVA estimates for 2023 for the Digital Sector will be revised in our next release, upon updates to underlying ABS data, and further revised in the following statistical release to include Blue Book 2025 revisions. Our next release is planned to include a full analytical report providing additional analysis on our produced GVA estimates.

This release includes a methodology update to the deflators used to remove the effects of inflation in our chained volume measure estimates. A summary of the revisions to 2019 to 2022 estimates as part of this release can be found in the accompanying revisions report.

This is a continuation of the Digital Sector Economic Estimates: Annual GVA release series, previously produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Responsibility for Digital and Telecommunications policy now sits with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Data sources and technical information

Findings in this release are calculated based on the published Office for National Statistics (ONS) https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/supplyandusetables/datasets/supplyanduseofproductsandindustrygvaukexperimental" class="govuk-link">Supply and Use Tables, ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/datasets/ukgdpolowlevelaggregates" class="govuk-link">Gross Domestic Product (GDP) low-level aggregates and the ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/methodologies/annualbusinesssurveyabs" class="govuk-link">Annual Business Survey (ABS).

The Supply and Use Tables (SUT) report balanced GVA at the 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code level up to 2022. SUT <abbr title="Gross V