PL Lecture: Creative UK | XU

PF Lecture: Chris Slesser, Creative UK

Creative industries

The UK is a global leader in creative industries, with investment opportunities in TV, music, publishing, design, film, games development and advertising.

The UK is world-renowned as a creative powerhouse, with a 2020 press release from the UK government revealing that the creative industries contribute £13.2 million to the nation’s economy on an hourly basis, totaling an annual contribution of around £115.9 billion in 2019 according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The sector continues to grow at a rate that exceeds the national average growth rate by a factor of five. With its significant strengths in research and development, the UK is a global driving force for innovation in the creative industries.

In 2023 the government, in partnership with the Creative Industries Council, unveiled its 'sector vision' for the UK creative industries. This outlines the governments ambition that by 2030 the:

creative industries will be worth an extra £50billion in Gross Value Added (GVA)
creative workforce will reflect the dynamism and talent of the UK as a whole and will support a million more jobs - addressing skills gaps and shortages
positive impact that the creative industries have on individuals, communities, the environment and the UKs global standing will be maximised.

Despite the creative sector's rapid growth and these ambitious plans, it certainly has its fair share of challenges.

When looking at employment figures for the sector in its report on DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates: Workforce, January to December 2022, the government revealed that women had filled half of the roles (45.3%). Compared to the UK as a whole, this marks a lower representation of women. It also found that around a seventh (15.8%) of the workforce had a disability. These findings were similar to the UK overall, but it shows there's still work to be done.

In terms of securing work experience, long-term unpaid internships have been an established practice in the industry, but they promote unfair access by shutting out those who cannot afford to subsidise their placements. This significantly narrows the pool of talent available to a sector that needs creativity and diversity to thrive. Improving the diversity of their workforces is now a particular focus of many employers in this field.

Video game production

The UK is the leading video game market in Europe, and the sixth-largest globally. In 2020, Statista reported that total UK revenue from the production of video games was £2.6 billion. With the global video games industry forecast to be worth £200 billion by 2025, the sector presents highly lucrative opportunities for investors.

The UK boasts a highly skilled workforce in the industry, and numbers of graduates in courses relating to games development has risen for seven consecutive years (1,380 in 2018-19). Immersive technologies in video game production are also being adopted across other sectors, including aerospace, automotive, space and healthcare, helping to meet training needs and improving the consumer experience.

Advertising and marketing

The Creative Industries Council reports that the UK advertising industry exports £11billion in services annually and expenditure of advertisement in the UK is expected to reach £29.3 billion by the end of 2021.

The UK has extensive capability in the production of advertisements, with more than 15,500 film and video companies. It’s also home to the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Effectiveness Awards, ensuring high-quality advertising standards.

The rapidly growing advertising technology sector was valued at £16.5 billion in 2020, with digital advertisements becoming more widely used.

Television and film production

There is a high demand for British-made television and film. As part of the BFI2022 Future Film Skills Plan, the British Film Institute and ScreenSkills have been working together to create 30,000 new jobs, with plans to train 10,000 people to meet this demand over the next 5 years.

In 2020, the spend on high-end British television was £1.5 billion, forecast to reach £6 billion over the next few years.

Streaming giants are investing in the future of the sector. Netflix made a £1.2 million investment in 2021 to train 1,000 staff, providing 12-month contracts to work on projects such as ‘Bridgerton’. Sky recently invested in its new Sky Studios Elstree site, which will house 13 sound stages and attract £3 billion in new production investment over its first five years alone.

Key UK assets

London

Guildford

Northern Ireland

Manchester

Manchester is rich in specialist talent, with an 86,000-strong creative workforce and a steady flow of graduates from the city’s five universities: 25,000 currently enrolled in creative, digital and technology courses. It’s also home to the MediaCity development, a base for the BBC and ITV Granada.

Northern Ireland

With increased studio capacity and 25% tax breaks for productions, Northern Ireland is attractive to streaming platforms such as Netflix and HBO. Productions such as ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Fall’ have been filmed on location across the country. Studio Ulster, a specialist institute driving innovation in virtual production, was recently established in Belfast.

London

Home to the finest art colleges, such as the Royal College of Art and University of the Arts London, the city produces some of the finest talents across the creative industries, as well as a strong research and development base. A new Design District has been established in Greenwich, with 16 buildings housing up to 1,800 artists.

Guildford

Guildford, near London, features a cluster of globally renowned creative content excellence with extensive capability in immersive technology. It offers more than 110 games development studios, including Hello Games, Media Molecule and Bullfrog Productions (now part of EA UK), and more than 1,800 creative tech professionals.

Coventry and Warwickshire

Warwickshire has 15% of the UK’s games producers across 80 studios. The area boasts two world-renowned universities with courses in games technology: Coventry University and the University of Warwick. Their cross-university Disruptive Media Learning Lab promotes exploration in creative technology.

London

Home to the finest art colleges, such as the Royal College of Art and University of the Arts London, the city produces some of the finest talents across the creative industries, as well as a strong research and development base. A new Design District has been established in Greenwich, with 16 buildings housing up to 1,800 artists.

Guildford

Guildford, near London, features a cluster of globally renowned creative content excellence with extensive capability in immersive technology. It offers more than 110 games development studios, including Hello Games, Media Molecule and Bullfrog Productions (now part of EA UK), and more than 1,800 creative tech professionals.

The imagination and ingenuity of British designers, producers, content creators, writers and artists are spearheading growth right across our economy.The government is backing our creatives to maximise the potential of the creative industries.This Sector Vision is about driving innovation, attracting investment and building on the clusters of creativity across the country.And from first days at school to last days of work, we will nurture the skills needed to build a larger creative workforce to harness the talent needed for continued success.Working with the industry this vision is helping the UK creative sectors go from strength to strength – providing jobs and opportunities, creating world leading content and supporting economic growth across the country.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer