DCMS data indicate creative industries slowdown

Growth in the value of the creative industries to the economy is showing signs of slowing after years of rapid growth, government statistics show.

Latest estimates published by DCMS show their value to the economy for the 12 months up to the end of June 2024 was £123.74bn – down 1.3% on the £125.36bn recorded for the 12 months up to June 2023.

The figures published are provisional and subject to revision but DCMS says they are useful for identifying general trends.

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Signs of a slowdown in the sector – which includes the subsectors of advertising and marketing, architecture, crafts, design and designer fashion, film, TV, radio and photography, IT, software and computer services, publishing, music, museums, galleries and libraries and performing and visual arts – come after years of rapid growth.

Between 2010 and 2019, the sector grew more than one and a half times faster than the wider economy, from being worth £68.4bn a year to £105.8bn.

Growth slowed in 2020 due to the pandemic but had been growing strongly since then with the previous Conservative government and the current Labour government both highlighting the creative industries as a global success story for the UK.

While the data indicate negative growth for the creative industries over the last 12 months, the same set of statistics shows that there has been continued growth in the cultural sector.

The economic value of the cultural sector – which includes the subsectors of arts, film, TV and music, radio, photography, crafts, museums and galleries, libraries and archives, cultural education and historical sites – was £35.96bn for the 12 months to June 2024.

This is up 2.1% on £35.22bn recorded for the 12 months ending June 2023.

Some of the cultural industries' subsectors also fall within the creative industries, meaning those figures are included in the total of each.

While the creative industries as a whole show signs of a slowdown, the value of the subsector for music, performing and visual arts was £13.1bn for the 12 months ending June 2024, compared with £11.83bn for the 12 months up to June 2023 - a rise of 10.74%.

Eliza Easton, Founder of think tank Erskine Analysis, said there are several reasons growth across the creative industries might be in jeopardy, including emerging skills gaps, underinvestment in research and development, and the "long tail of the pandemic".

"One which receives less public attention is the impact of the way in which we left the European Union, as issues remain for the creative sector across the areas of foreign, trade and migration policy," she said.

"Over the last year I have been trying to point to evidence that suggests a decline in our international position and its geopolitical and economic implications: fewer tourists are visiting our cultural organisations; fewer young people are engaging with our cultural exports; exports in many creative sub-sectors are down.

"There are ways to reverse these trends, but they require prioritisation for the sector, not just in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport but across the government."

'Horribly tough times'

The Telegraph's Arts columnist Ben Lawrence, writing in an editorial last week, said the TV industry, which is counted in both the creative industries and cultural sector, is facing "horribly tough times".

"A survey of film and TV employees by Bectu, the creative industries union, showed 51% of those who work in television drama in the UK are out of work – and that’s no surprise," he said.

"Less drama is being commissioned, which means those with a very particular set of skills are suddenly unable to find gainful employment. In general, there is an overabundance of talent and not enough work to go around.

"Take, for example, independent production companies, once the beating heart of British TV: big names such as RDF and Love Productions were responsible for successful formats such as The Great British Bake Off and Wife Swap.

"Channel 4, so often a beacon of innovation and experimentation, used these firms constantly, but now, due to (inter alia) a downturn in advertising, the channel doesn’t have as much money to hire them. Indeed, witness the decline in advertising revenue across the board, and the diversion online of advertisers’ money, and you can see the scale of the situation facing the TV industry."

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said that, through partnerships with mayors, councils, businesses and charities, the government is "putting rocket boosters" under the industries of film and theatre, TV, fashion, video games, heritage and tourism.

The Labour Party published its plan for arts, culture and creative industries in March.