Gitnux/Report 2026

Creative and Cultural Industry Statistics

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Creative and Cultural Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

An editor sets the topic, the inclusion criteria, and the evaluation framework before research starts.

02Source Research

AI search agents locate sources and extract each figure together with the document it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The creative and cultural industry at a glance

The creative and cultural industry is a globally significant, digitally expanding economy: UNESCO estimates it accounts for 3.39% of global GDP and 3.55% of global employment.

3.39%[19]
Global GDP contribution, 2025
$1.4T[21]
Creative services exports, 2022
8.9M[76]
EU cultural employment, 2025
$31.7B[18]
Global recorded music revenue, 2025
Market size
UNESCO’s 2025 global report estimates that cultural and creative industries contribute 3.39% of global GDP and 3.55% of global employment. UN Trade and Development recorded $1.4 trillion in creative-services exports and $713 billion in creative-goods exports in 2022.[19][21]
Forecast & CAGR
PwC forecasts the broader global entertainment and media market to reach $4.2 trillion by 2030. Its 2025–2030 outlook includes a 6.8% CAGR for one identified segment and a 7.3% CAGR for another, indicating continued growth but with material variation by subsector.[78]
Market share & regions
In 2022, developed economies accounted for $882.8 billion, or 64.1% of global creative-services exports; the United States led with $244.3 billion and a 17.7% global share. Among developing economies, China exported $67.5 billion and Singapore $65.5 billion.[21]
Segmentation
UN Trade and Development reports that 2022 creative-services exports were led by software services at 41.3% and research and development at 30.7%, followed by advertising, market research and architecture at 15.5%, and audiovisual services at 7.9%. Eurostat’s cultural-employment framework also covers publishing, audiovisual production, design, advertising, heritage, performing arts and creative occupations.[21][76]
Key players & concentration
The industry is fragmented across many cultural fields, but platform and rights ownership is concentrated in selected segments. In recorded music, streaming represented 69.6% of global revenue in 2025, while the top 10 music markets included the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, China and Germany.[18]
Pricing
EU households allocated an estimated 2.7% of total consumption expenditure to cultural goods and services in 2020. Within cultural spending, audio-video and information-processing equipment represented 27.0%, while books and newspapers represented 25.1%, illustrating the mix of durable goods, media and services in consumer pricing.[76]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Digitalization, streaming, artificial intelligence and cross-border digital services are major growth drivers. UN Trade and Development reports that creative-services exports rose 29% between 2017 and 2022, while UNESCO identifies persistent challenges in measurement, unequal access to finance, precarious work and intellectual-property management.[21][19]
Consumer behavior & competition
Streaming is the dominant consumer-facing revenue model in recorded music: it generated 69.6% of global recorded-music income in 2025, with paid subscriptions accounting for 52.4%. There were 837 million paid subscription accounts globally, while Latin America was the fastest-growing regional market, up 17.1%.[18]
M&A
M&A and investment are particularly active in music rights and creator services. In 2025, Warner Music Group and Bain Capital launched a joint venture targeting up to $1.2 billion of music catalogs; in February 2026, the European Commission approved Virgin Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, which served more than 4 million creators and artists in 145 countries.[79][80]
Regulation
European policy is increasingly focused on copyright, fair remuneration and transparency for generative AI. The European Commission states that implementation of the EU AI Act includes copyright-related obligations, transparency requirements for AI-generated content and text-and-data-mining exceptions affecting cultural and creative sectors.[81]
Latest news
The latest comparable global industry release is IFPI’s 2026 report, published on March 18, 2026, which found that recorded-music revenue reached $31.7 billion in 2025, up 6.4% year on year. It also reported that streaming revenue exceeded $22 billion and that all measured world regions recorded growth.[18]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Creative And Cultural Industry

The leading companies in the creative and cultural industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

The LEGO Group and The Walt Disney Company are tied at the top of Gitnux's 2026 creative and cultural ranking with an Overall score of 9.4 each.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in construction toys

    The LEGO Group

    DK

    Ranked #1 · 9.4 · Construction toys

    Why we picked it: Its construction toys and creative play experiences rely on large-scale product sales measured in revenue and margins.

    See in ranking ↓Visit lego.com ↗

  2. Leader in film and TV IP

    The Walt Disney Company

    US

    Ranked #2 · 9.4 · Film and TV IP

    Why we picked it: Its film, television, experiences and IP show revenue split across entertainment and Experiences in FY2025 figures.

    See in ranking ↓Visit thewaltdisneycompany.com ↗

  3. Leader in live entertainment promotion

    Live Nation Entertainment

    US

    Ranked #3 · 8.9 · Live entertainment promotion

    Why we picked it: Its concert promotion model ties group revenue change to concerts revenue in 2025.

    See in ranking ↓Visit livenationentertainment.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the creative and cultural industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

The LEGO Group

Construction toys · DK

9.4
2

The Walt Disney Company

Film and TV IP · US

9.4
3

Live Nation Entertainment

Live entertainment promotion · US

8.9
4

Sony Group

Games, music, and pictures · JP

8.8
5

Universal Music Group

Recorded music and publishing · NL

8.7
6

Take-Two Interactive Software

Video games and interactive entertainment · US

8.7
7

Warner Music Group

Recorded music and music publishing · US

8.5
8

Hasbro

Toys, games and entertainment IP · US

8.2
9

Kering

Luxury fashion, jewelry and creative houses · FR

7.7
10

Ubisoft

Video game development and publishing · FR

7.3

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 10 companies in the creative and cultural industry. In Creative And Cultural Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/creative-and-cultural-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Projection

Cultural employment in the European Union (European Union - 27 countries)

Cultural employment in the European Union grew from 8,580 thousand persons in 2022 to 8,886 thousand persons in 2025.

8,580 thousand persons
Start
+1.17%
CAGR · 3y
8,885 thousand persons
Projected
20222025
source-verifiedec.europa.eu2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Adoption of AI is widespread across media workflows: 83.3% used AI for brainstorming in 2026, and 85.8% used it for references and inspiration.

AI in the creative and cultural industry

  • 51% of video-game companies, 38% of audiovisual companies and 35% of news-media companies in the EU adopted AI tools in 2024.[1]
  • 36% of Canadian businesses in the information and cultural industries reported using AI, compared with 12% of businesses overall.[2]
  • 83.3% of surveyed creative professionals used AI for brainstorming in 2026.[3]
  • 85.8% of surveyed creative professionals used AI for researching references and inspiration, according to a 2026 Adobe study.[3]
  • 43% of UK creative-industry businesses used AI in December 2025, compared with 25% of all UK businesses.[4]
  • 79.7% of 443 designers across 43 countries reported using AI in at least one phase of the design workflow in 2026.[5]

Automation in the creative and cultural industry

  • 82,700 additional programmers and software-development professionals are projected to be needed in UK creative industries between 2025 and 2035 as production and scheduling become more automated.[4]
  • 47% of UK businesses using or planning to use AI cited automation as a use case in 2025; the survey included creative and content businesses.[4]
  • 11.4% higher labour productivity was associated with automation-technology adoption among US firms, including creative-sector firms, in 2019.[6]

Digital Transformation in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 94% of media companies reported gains from digital-transformation efforts in 2025, the highest result among industries surveyed globally.[7]
  • 44% of surveyed news publishers said their newsroom AI initiatives were showing promising results in 2026, while 42% described results as limited globally.[8]
  • 76% of publisher respondents planned to encourage staff to behave more like creators in 2026, reflecting a shift toward creator-oriented digital publishing globally.[8]
  • 62% of media respondents said companies are not investing enough in future business models in 2026, indicating a significant transformation funding gap globally.[8]

Technology Adoption in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 22% of publishers reported not using AI for content creation and distribution in 2025, based on a survey of U.S. and UK publishers.[9]
  • 76% of publishers were piloting or experimenting with AI on business-side functions in 2025, while 18% were actively deploying AI across multiple functions.[10]
  • 69% of digital-publishing stakeholders expected journalists to have a voice on social media in 2026, according to a survey of 163 publishing-sector participants.[11]
  • 30% of publishers reported using AI for content optimization and personalization in 2025, based on a survey of 50 U.S. and UK publishers.[9]

Cloud Computing in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 98% of media respondents expected a majority of their workloads to be cloud-native within 12 months, according to a global media and entertainment survey conducted in 2023.[12]
  • 35.4% of media and entertainment respondents identified migration to a multicloud environment as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025.[13]
  • 55% of media respondents identified complexity as their biggest multicloud challenge, including integration, scaling and maintenance issues, in 2023.[12]
  • 39% of media respondents identified cloud-sprawl costs, data-egress charges and unpredictable pricing as a major multicloud pain point in 2023.[12]
  • 43% of media respondents cited insufficient internal skills for edge computing or specific cloud environments as a major multicloud challenge in 2023.[12]

Big Data in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 39% of publishing-sector stakeholders identified data and analytics capabilities as an investment priority for the year ahead in 2025.[14]
  • 27.8% of media and entertainment respondents identified integrating business applications into workflows as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025.[13]
  • 56% of surveyed publishers said unifying data across platforms was a growing challenge in 2025, based on responses from 50 U.S. and UK publishers.[9]
  • 35.4% of media and entertainment respondents identified AI adoption as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025, reflecting growing use of data-intensive systems.[13]

IoT in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 32.9% of media and entertainment respondents identified IoT adoption as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025.[13]
  • 39% of media-industry respondents had already implemented IoT and 5G initiatives in 2025, while 34% were in the process of adopting them across EMEA.[15]
  • 33% of media and entertainment organizations identified IoT adoption as a strategy or trend driving their need for observability in 2024, versus 27% overall.[13]
  • 43% of global media and entertainment enterprises rated IoT extremely important to digital-transformation success in 2024, according to a GSMA Intelligence survey.[16]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Data integration is a gating issue for AI tooling: 64% of publishers cite difficulty integrating data sources, and 75% report incomplete, inconsistent or outdated data affecting AI tool usefulness.

Business intelligence in the creative and cultural industry

  • 10.0% of North American publishing professionals reported using AI for customer service or reader engagement in 2025.[17]
  • 29.1% of North American publishing professionals reported using AI for marketing activities in 2025.[17]
  • 29.1% of North American publishing professionals reported using AI for administrative and operational tasks in 2025.[17]
  • 7.0% of North American publishing professionals reported using AI for translation in 2025.[17]
  • 16.8% of North American publishing professionals reported using AI for metadata and title optimization in 2025.[17]
  • 2.8% of North American publishing professionals reported using AI for rights and licensing management in 2025.[17]

Data analytics in the creative and cultural industry

  • 29% of people used unlicensed or illegal ways to listen to or obtain music in the 2023 global music-engagement survey.[18]
  • 45% of people in developed countries had intermediate ICT skills in UNESCO’s cultural-sector assessment.[19]
  • 85% of countries supported digital transformation of the cultural sector in UNESCO’s latest global assessment.[19]
  • 31% of music-engagement time was spent on video streaming in 2023 across 26 major music markets.[18]
  • 35% of creators’ income came from digital revenues in the latest UNESCO assessment, up from 17% in 2018.[19]
  • 48% of countries were developing statistics to monitor digital cultural consumption in UNESCO’s latest assessment.[19]

Data Quality in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 64% of publishers surveyed globally in March 2026 identified difficulty integrating data sources into AI tools as their greatest data challenge.[10]
  • 63% of publishers surveyed in 2023 reported low data quality as a challenge when collecting customer data.[10]
  • 52% of publishers surveyed in 2023 reported low data quality as a challenge when segmenting customer data.[10]
  • 75% of publishers surveyed globally in March 2026 said incomplete, inconsistent or outdated data affected the quality or usefulness of their AI tools.[10]

Data Governance in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 72% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 considered data very important to their daily operations.[20]
  • 46% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 had a dedicated data team, while 34% had no dedicated data team.[20]
  • 92% of European media stakeholders surveyed in 2025 required robust data and privacy protection before joining a shared media data space.[20]
  • 37% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 reported having no data strategy.[20]
  • 28% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 reported having a fully implemented data strategy.[20]
  • 28% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 reported having a partially implemented data strategy.[20]

KPIs in the creative and cultural industry

  • 22.8% was the growth rate of recorded-music revenue in the Middle East and North Africa in 2024.[18]
  • US$650 million was the value of global music-synchronisation revenue in 2024.[18]
  • US$4.8 billion was the value of global physical recorded-music revenue in 2024.[18]
  • 22.5% was the growth rate of recorded-music revenue in Latin America in 2024.[18]
  • 4.8% was the growth rate of global recorded-music trade revenue in 2024.[18]
  • US$20.4 billion was the value of global recorded-music streaming revenue in 2024.[18]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Music demand and rights monetization keep scaling through streaming: IFPI reports recorded-music revenue of $31.7B in 2025 and streaming revenue exceeding $22B.

Growth in the creative and cultural industry

  • Creative-services exports increased 2.8-fold between 2012 and 2022.[21]
  • Global recorded-music revenue grew 4.8% to $29.6 billion in 2024.[18]
  • $1.4 trillion in creative-services exports were recorded globally in 2022.[21]
  • $741.3 billion was generated by cultural tourism in 250 cities in 2023.[19]
  • Creative-goods exports increased from $208 billion in 2002 to $713 billion in 2022.[21]
  • 3.55% of global employment was generated by cultural and creative industries in the latest UNESCO global assessment.[19]

Differentiation in the creative and cultural industry

  • 18 consecutive years of growth were achieved by global vinyl revenue through 2024.[18]
  • 4.6% growth was recorded by global vinyl revenue in 2024.[18]
  • 22.6% growth was recorded by Sub-Saharan Africa’s recorded-music market in 2024.[18]
  • 21.3% of global recorded-music revenue came from the European Union in 2025.[18]
  • 5.9% growth was recorded by global performance-rights revenue in 2024.[18]
  • 48% of workers in cultural and creative sectors were women, according to UNESCO’s global data summary.[19]

Mergers and acquisitions in the creative and cultural industry

  • 320 transactions were recorded in Digital Media globally in 2024, up 8% year on year.[22]
  • $63.8 billion was the 2024 media-and-marketing deal value excluding transactions above $10 billion.[22]
  • 756 private-equity deals represented 33% of global media-and-marketing transactions in 2024.[22]
  • 2,306 media and marketing transactions closed globally in 2024, up 12% from 2023.[22]
  • 1,550 strategic-buyer deals were recorded in global media and marketing in 2024, up 21% year on year.[22]
  • 314 transactions were recorded in Traditional Media globally in 2024, up 42% year on year.[22]

Strategic partnerships in the creative and cultural industry

  • Sevenfold growth was recorded in digital audio-streaming and video-on-demand subscription royalties between 2015 and 2024.[23]
  • 9.5% growth was recorded in paid subscription-streaming music revenue in 2024.[18]
  • 54% of all new creator income generated between 2015 and 2024 came from digital sources.[23]
  • 5.1% growth lifted European Union recorded-music revenue to €6.0 billion in 2025.[18]
  • 11.2% growth was recorded in digital audio-streaming and video-on-demand subscription royalties in 2024.[23]
  • 228 collective-management societies in 111 countries supplied data for CISAC’s 2025 global collections report.[23]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Workforce planning in the UK stresses technical roles: 82,700 additional programmers and software-development professionals are projected for 2025–2035 in creative industries.

Hiring in the creative and cultural industry

  • 81% of projected additional employment in UK creative-industry priority occupations through 2035 requires qualifications at level 4 or above.[4]
  • 37% of UK creative-industry firms offered a work placement in 2025, compared with 30% across the economy.[24]
  • Programmers and software-development professionals account for 82,700 of the projected additional workers needed in UK creative industries between 2025 and 2035.[4]
  • 55% of surveyed NSW creative-industry employees who wanted to leave in 2025 cited a lack of future career opportunities at their organisation.[25]
  • 909,000 workers are projected to be required by UK creative industries between 2025 and 2035, including 416,000 new roles and 493,000 replacement workers.[4]

Employee retention in the creative and cultural industry

  • 65% of surveyed arts and events professionals planned to continue working in the sector in five years, while 22% were undecided.[26]
  • 53% of surveyed arts organisations identified better compensation elsewhere as a main cause of employee departure in 2024.[27]
  • 43% of surveyed arts organisations identified limited room for advancement as a main cause of employee departure in 2024.[27]
  • 46% of surveyed arts and events professionals considered their pay and benefits fair and proportionate to their role.[26]
  • 55% of NSW creative-industry employees who wanted to leave in 2025 cited a lack of future career opportunities.[25]

Remote Work in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across independent UK publishers, 42% of staff worked fully from home in 2025.[28]
  • Across independent UK publishers, 84% of staff worked partly or fully from home in 2025.[28]
  • In the U.S. entertainment and media sector, 37.4% of new job postings were remote in 2024.[29]
  • Across entertainment and media job postings, 369,000 new remote-job listings were recorded globally in 2024.[29]

Hybrid Work in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 52% of newsroom leaders worldwide said hybrid and flexible working had made recruitment easier in 2023; 28% reported no change and 15% said recruitment became harder.[30]
  • Across independent UK publishers, 58% of organizations required full-time staff to work a minimum number of days in the office in 2025.[28]
  • 42% of staff at UK independent publishers had hybrid working arrangements in 2025, while 42% worked fully from home and 16% worked fully in an office.[28]
  • Across independent UK publishers, 42% of staff had hybrid working arrangements in 2025.[28]
  • Across media and entertainment employers, 87% said their organizations were still struggling to balance hybrid working in 2025.[31]

Upskilling in the creative and cultural industry

  • 36% of UK creative-industry employers provided both on-the-job and off-the-job training in 2025.[24]
  • 81% of projected additional employment in UK creative-industry priority occupations requires level-4-or-higher qualifications by 2035.[4]
  • 273,000 people worked in UK performing and visual arts in 2024, with cross-disciplinary technology skills increasingly required.[24]
  • 74% of UK creative-industry employers reported barriers to providing training in 2025.[24]
  • 416,000 additional jobs are projected in UK creative-industry priority occupations between 2025 and 2035, increasing demand for new skills.[4]

Employee Engagement in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • Creative and media employees rated meaningful work 8.76 out of 10 in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[32]
  • Creative and media employees rated work-life balance 7.29 out of 10 in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[32]
  • Creative and media employees recorded an average eNPS of +22 in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[32]
  • Creative and media employees scored 7.67 out of 10 for engagement in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[32]
  • Across communications and public-relations professionals, 89% reported being engaged at work in a 2024 survey.[33]

DEI in the creative and cultural industry

  • 14.1% of New York City creative-industry workers were Hispanic in 2024, compared with 26.6% of the city’s overall workforce.[34]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Subscription churn is measurable in consumer surveys: 45% of media and entertainment consumers cited canceling streaming due to cost in Adobe’s survey.

Customer experience in the creative and cultural industry

  • 92% of surveyed U.S. arts organizations agreed that technology and social media had made art a more participatory experience in 2012.[35]
  • 78% of surveyed U.S. arts organizations rated internet and digital technologies very important for increasing audience engagement in 2012.[35]
  • 83% of surveyed U.S. arts organizations agreed that technology and social media had helped make arts audiences more diverse in 2012.[35]
  • 50% of surveyed U.S. arts organizations strongly agreed that the internet had increased arts engagement by providing a public platform for sharing work in 2012.[35]
  • 61% of Victorian arts and culture audiences sought events with great reviews to ensure value for money.[36]

Customer retention in the creative and cultural industry

  • 40% of video subscribers who canceled a service had subsequently re-subscribed, according to CISAC’s analysis.[23]
  • 41% of U.S. consumers had canceled a paid streaming-video subscription during the six months covered by Deloitte’s March 2026 survey.[37]
  • 30%–40% of users across three leading music-streaming platforms stopped paid subscriptions because of app experience, personalization or recommendation dissatisfaction.[38]
  • 45% of media and entertainment consumers reported canceling a streaming subscription because of cost in Adobe’s survey.[39]
  • 27% of consumers who canceled a video subscription cited price as the reason in Deloitte’s 2025 Netherlands digital consumer research.[37]

Customer acquisition in the creative and cultural industry

  • 41% of Victorian arts and culture attendees discovered events through direct emails from arts organizations.[36]
  • 37% of Victorian arts and culture attendees discovered events through organization websites.[36]
  • 26% of UK arts audiences saw a social-media post or advert before attending in 2023/24.[40]
  • 14% of Victorian arts and culture attendees discovered events through Instagram.[36]
  • 75% of recent Victorian arts and culture attendees found out about events online.[36]

Customer loyalty in the creative and cultural industry

  • 64% of fans surveyed by Vevo said they were more favorable toward brands connected to musicians and the music industry.[41]
  • 66% of fans surveyed by Vevo said they would consider buying from brands advertising around music videos.[41]
  • About 80% of U.S. consumers identified as fans of at least one media or entertainment category in Deloitte’s 2026 survey.[37]
  • 60% of fans surveyed by Vevo said they were more likely to spend with brands aligned with favorite artists or fan communities.[41]
  • 89% of music fans in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia said fandom was central to their identity in Vevo’s 2025 survey.[41]

Lead generation in the creative and cultural industry

  • 2.8% was the average annual budget share devoted to marketing by national and global nonprofit news outlets.[42]
  • 45% of nonprofit news outlets reported using Facebook content boosts or advertisements to market their brands and audiences.[42]
  • 33% of nonprofit news outlets with web-traffic growth reported using paid Facebook lead generation in 2023.[42]
  • 4.6% was the average annual budget share devoted to marketing by state and regional nonprofit news outlets.[42]
  • 79% of nonprofit news outlets with web-traffic growth reported using Facebook content boosts in 2023.[42]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Creator and music-adjacent marketing remains direct-channel focused: $32.6B was the estimated global influencer-marketing market in 2025.

Marketing in the creative and cultural industry

  • 81% of U.S. arts organizations rated internet and digital technologies very important for promoting the arts in 2012.[35]
  • 55% of surveyed arts organizations practiced email segmentation in 2019.[43]
  • 65% of U.S. arts organizations rated internet and digital technologies very important for fundraising in 2012.[35]
  • 38% of visual-arts organizations sold products or merchandise online in the 2019 UK Digital Culture survey.[44]
  • 79% of surveyed arts organizations said staff being spread too thin was a significant data-analysis challenge in 2019.[43]

Digital marketing in the creative and cultural industry

  • 17% of arts organizations in the 2023 benchmark dataset used Google Performance Max.[43]
  • 80% of arts organizations focused digital-marketing efforts on social-media marketing in the 2024 benchmark survey.[27]
  • 51% of users reached with paid Meta content in the arts benchmark were aged 18–44.[43]
  • 81% of advertising dollars were spent on mobile paid-search impressions by arts organizations in the 2023 benchmark dataset.[43]
  • 26% of arts organizations focused digital-marketing efforts on content marketing in the 2024 benchmark survey.[27]

Branding in the creative and cultural industry

  • 83% of respondents in Vevo’s 2025 survey said music videos played an important role in pop culture.[41]
  • 66% of music fans surveyed by Vevo would consider purchasing from brands advertising around music videos.[41]
  • 60% of music fans surveyed by Vevo were more likely to spend with brands aligned with favorite artists or fan communities.[41]
  • 64% of music fans surveyed by Vevo were more favorable toward brands connected to musicians and the music industry.[41]

Social media in the creative and cultural industry

  • 23% was the median year-over-year streaming-volume growth for artists strongly correlated with Instagram engagement from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025.[41]
  • 21% of Instagram’s daily music engagers bought vinyl during the prior year in the Luminate study.[41]
  • 54% of U.S. music superfans used Facebook to engage with music content or artists in the Luminate survey.[41]
  • 45% of Instagram’s daily music engagers attended a live music event during the prior year in the Luminate study.[41]
  • 83% of U.S. music superfans used YouTube to engage with music content or artists in the Luminate survey.[41]

Influencer Marketing in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 96% of media-agency respondents in a 2026 survey said social media was used for creator-brand partnerships, making it the most-used channel globally.[45]
  • $37.1 billion was projected for U.S. creator advertising spend in 2025, including sponsored content, paid amplification and planned creator adjacencies.[46]
  • 56% of brands said generating user-generated content was the main purpose of their influencer campaigns in 2024, versus 23% citing sales generation.[47]
  • $32.6 billion was the estimated global influencer-marketing market in 2025, up from $24.0 billion in 2024.[46]
  • 17% of media-agency respondents in a 2026 survey said they partnered with influencers to create content for retail media globally.[45]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operational pressure concentrates on cost, content volume, and collaboration: 34% cite controlling costs and 38% cite managing increasing content volume in 2026.

Process optimization in the creative and cultural industry

  • 34% of creative teams cited controlling costs as a top challenge to maintaining or scaling effective operations in 2026.[48]
  • 38% of creative teams reported managing increasing content volume as a top operational challenge in the 2026 global survey.[48]
  • 35% of creative teams identified collaboration as a major operational challenge in the 2026 survey.[48]
  • 86% of creative-industry firms expecting turnover growth deployed new technology in UK 2024 survey data.[24]
  • 91% of creative-industry firms that successfully introduced new or improved goods and services also deployed new technology in UK 2024 survey data.[24]

Operational efficiency in the creative and cultural industry

  • 60% was the average management-practice score for UK creative firms with at least 10 employees in 2023.[24]
  • 22% was the increase in average free attendance at U.S. arts organizations from 2023 to 2024.[49]
  • 13% was the increase in average paid attendance at U.S. arts organizations from 2023 to 2024 despite lower spending.[49]
  • 23% was the average reduction in arts-organization expense budgets in the United States from 2023 to 2024.[49]
  • 83 was the average number of distinct programs per U.S. arts organization in 2024, down from 150 in 2023.[49]

Quality management in the creative and cultural industry

  • 94% of Latinx and Latiné arts and culture organizations reported struggling to raise enough funds to cover operating costs in 2024.[50]
  • 78.1% of Latinx and Latiné arts and culture organizations said funding levels and cash flow were among their greatest challenges in 2024.[50]
  • 6% of creative-activation organizations cited the ability to audit assets as a major challenge in 2025.[51]
  • 7% of creative-activation organizations cited tracking and managing assets as a major challenge in 2025.[51]
  • 20% of creative-activation organizations cited asset versioning as a major challenge in 2025.[51]

Supply chain in the creative and cultural industry

  • 35% of creative-activation organizations cited reduced creative-optimization time as a major challenge in 2025.[51]
  • 85% of media and entertainment respondents planned to migrate to a horizontally integrated approach to asset and media management in 2025.[52]
  • 52% of creative-activation organizations identified production-process cost management as a major challenge in 2025.[51]
  • 76% of media and entertainment organizations planned to increase technology budgets for archiving and media management during the 12 months after the 2025 survey.[52]
  • 30% of creative teams identified inefficient workflows as a top operational challenge in 2026.[48]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 24% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of indexing to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[53]
  • 82% of surveyed academic publishers offshored work, according to Deanta’s global academic-publishing survey; the survey year is not stated on the source page.[54]
  • 28% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of proofreading to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[53]
  • 65% of surveyed academic publishers were concerned about offshoring work, according to Deanta’s global academic-publishing survey; the survey year is not stated on the source page.[54]
  • 37% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of copyediting to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[53]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Arts and culture finances show sustained pressure: 44% of U.S. arts and culture organizations reported a deficit in 2024.

Pricing strategy in the creative and cultural industry

  • 26% was the decline in government revenue for U.S. arts and culture organizations from 2023 to 2024.[55]
  • 18% was the decline in earned revenue for U.S. nonprofit arts and culture organizations from 2023 to 2024.[55]
  • 76% of Latinx and Latiné arts and culture organizations reported difficulty building sustainable earned revenue in 2024.[50]
  • 59% of U.S. nonprofit arts and culture organizations’ unrestricted revenue came from contributed revenue on average in 2024.[55]
  • 62% of U.S. arts and culture organizations experienced increased revenue from 2023 to 2024.[55]

Cost reduction in the creative and cultural industry

  • 11% was the decline in payments to artists at U.S. arts organizations from 2023 to 2024.[49]
  • 28% was the decline in personnel spending at U.S. performing-arts organizations in 2024.[55]
  • 21% was the inflation-adjusted decline in revenue for U.S. small arts organizations from 2019 to 2025.[55]
  • 3.2 full-time staff positions were lost on average by U.S. performing-arts organizations in 2024.[55]
  • 13% was the decline in average unrestricted revenue for U.S. arts organizations from 2023 to 2024.[55]

Profitability in the creative and cultural industry

  • 20% of Ohio independent music venues were profitable in 2024.[56]
  • 70% of Rhode Island arts organizations ended fiscal year 2023 in deficit.[55]
  • 44% of U.S. arts and culture organizations reported a deficit in 2024.[55]
  • 1% was the median surplus as a share of expenses for U.S. arts and culture organizations in 2024.[49]
  • 3% was the median surplus for small U.S. arts organizations in 2024.[55]

Financial planning in the creative and cultural industry

  • 16 months was the average working-capital reserve held by U.S. arts organizations in 2021.[55]
  • 8 months was the average working-capital reserve held by U.S. arts organizations in 2019.[55]
  • 41% of U.S. arts and culture organizations operated at a deficit in both 2023 and 2024, according to preliminary 2026 trend analysis.[55]
  • 5 was the median number of distinct funding-source types received by Latinx and Latiné arts and culture organizations in 2024.[50]
  • 4.25 months was the median working-capital reserve held by U.S. arts organizations in 2024.[55]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Video games scale through development, publishing, and digital models: €23.48B was generated by the EU27 video-game market in 2022.

Product development in the creative and cultural industry

  • 5,000 game-development and publishing studios operated across the EU in 2022.[57]
  • €23.48 billion was generated by the EU27 video-game market in 2022, covering game development and publishing activity.[57]
  • 116,419 people were employed in making and publishing video games across Europe in 2024.[58]
  • 24.9% of Europe’s video-game workforce were women in 2024.[58]
  • 74,000 people were employed by the EU video-game sector in 2022.[57]

Product lifecycle in the creative and cultural industry

  • 58.3% of European video-game consumer spending came from in-game microtransactions and downloadable content in 2025.[59]
  • €3.4 billion was generated by video-game subscription services in Europe in 2025.[59]
  • On-demand and streaming represented 4% of European video-game revenue by device in 2024.[58]
  • Physical retail software represented 5.2% of European video-game spending in 2025.[59]
  • Video-game subscriptions in Europe grew 371% over the decade to 2025.[59]

After-sales in the creative and cultural industry

  • 43% of European video-game players used PCs in 2024.[58]
  • 31 years was the average age of a European video-game player in 2024.[58]
  • 59% of European video-game players used consoles in 2024.[58]
  • 75% of European video-game players were adults in 2024.[58]
  • 9 hours per week was the average European video-game playtime in 2024.[58]

Value proposition in the creative and cultural industry

  • 69.0% of global recorded-music revenue came from streaming in 2024, highlighting access and convenience as core music value propositions.[18]
  • 48% of surveyed people listened to music through subscription audio streaming in 2023.[18]
  • 71% of surveyed people said music was important to their mental health in 2023.[18]
  • 752 million paid subscription music accounts existed globally at the end of 2024.[18]
  • 57% of surveyed people said access to music from anywhere in the world was important in 2023.[18]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Environmental accounting spans formats and production scale: a typical tentpole film’s production footprint is 2,840 tonnes of CO2e.

Sustainability in the creative and cultural industry

  • 96% of Dutch cultural organizations paid attention to sustainability to some degree in 2024.[60]
  • 49 out of 100 was the mean governance sustainability score for 206 leading cultural organizations worldwide in 2022.[61]
  • 61% of surveyed cultural organizations said sustainability had been a management issue for less than five years in 2022.[61]
  • 37 out of 100 was the mean composite sustainability score for 206 leading cultural organizations worldwide in 2022.[61]
  • 72% of surveyed Australian arts and culture organizations reported strong audience and stakeholder demand for greater environmental leadership in 2023.[62]

ESG in the creative and cultural industry

  • 32 out of 100 was entertainment and media’s environmental accountability and tracking score in the 2022 benchmark.[63]
  • 71.8 out of 100 was entertainment and media’s score for the importance of social responsibility in the 2022 Future-Ready Business Benchmark.[63]
  • 47 out of 100 was entertainment and media’s environmental commitment score in the 2022 benchmark.[63]
  • 14.2% was the reported global decline in piracy website visits across major content sectors in 2025.[64]
  • 75 out of 100 was entertainment and media’s score for the importance of ethics and governance in the 2022 benchmark.[63]

Ethics in the creative and cultural industry

  • 69% of art-museum board members were white in the United States in the 2024–2025 survey.[65]
  • 75% of art-museum executive-committee members were white in the United States in the 2024–2025 survey.[65]
  • 53.7% of surveyed arts organizations participated in community-development activities in the study sample.[66]
  • 13.4% was the average share of racial-minority board members among surveyed arts organizations.[66]
  • 55.8% of surveyed arts organizations participated in civic-engagement activities in the study sample.[66]

CSR in the creative and cultural industry

  • 39% of surveyed companies identified health access as a community-investment priority in 2025.[67]
  • 31% of surveyed companies identified youth development as a community-investment priority in 2025.[67]
  • 35% of surveyed companies identified STEM education as a community-investment priority in 2025.[67]
  • 62% of surveyed CSR professionals said internal visibility of their teams had increased in 2025.[67]
  • 73% of surveyed CSR professionals used artificial-intelligence tools in their work in 2025.[67]

Circular economy in the creative and cultural industry

  • 49% of surveyed fashion brands were already reporting progress toward circular-design targets in 2024.[68]
  • 17% of relevant circular-economy discussions concerned film, television, video, radio and photography.[69]
  • 65% of surveyed fashion brands had set targets to design products for the circular economy by 2040 in 2024.[68]
  • 18% of relevant circular-economy discussions concerned design, including designer fashion and haute couture.[69]
  • 21% of relevant circular-economy discussions concerned fashion, textiles, garment manufacturing and associated waste.[69]

Carbon footprint in the creative and cultural industry

  • 251 to 374 tonnes of CO2e was the estimated full-life-cycle footprint per season for three Dutch nonfiction television series.[70]
  • 2,840 tonnes of CO2e was the estimated footprint of an average tentpole film production costing more than US$70 million.[71]
  • 51% of a typical tentpole film’s production emissions came from transport, according to the Screen New Deal analysis.[71]
  • 15% of a typical tentpole film’s production emissions came from diesel generators.[71]
  • 293.9 tonnes of CO2e was the reported footprint of a large-budget, six-episode Irish television drama series produced between 2021 and 2024.[72]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Trade stays concentrated: developed economies accounted for $882.8B (64.1%) of 2022 creative-services exports, with the U.S. at $244.3B.

Globalization in the creative and cultural industry

  • 19% of global services exports were creative services in 2022, up from 12% in 2010.[21]
  • $230 billion in creative goods were exported by China in 2023, keeping it the world’s largest exporter.[21]
  • $211 billion of creative goods were exported by Europe in 2022.[21]
  • 35% of global creative-goods exports came from China in 2022.[21]
  • $438 billion of creative goods were exported by Asia in 2022, making it the largest exporting region.[21]

Distribution channels in the creative and cultural industry

  • 752 million paid subscription accounts used music services globally at the end of 2024.[18]
  • $20.4 billion in global recorded-music revenue came from streaming in 2024.[18]
  • 9.7% of global recorded-music revenue came from performance rights in 2024.[18]
  • 52.2% of global recorded-music revenue came from subscription streaming in 2024.[18]
  • 17.7% of global recorded-music revenue came from ad-supported streaming in 2024.[18]

Key questions about the creative and cultural industry

What is the size of the creative and cultural industry’s economy?
UNESCO estimates it accounts for 3.39% of global GDP and 3.55% of global employment. Global GDP contribution for 2025 is 3.39%.
How fast is the creative and cultural market growing?
UNESCO reports creative-services exports rose 29% between 2017 and 2022. PwC forecasts the broader global entertainment and media market reaching $4.2 trillion by 2030, with 6.8% and 7.3% CAGR in identified segments.
Which companies lead the creative and cultural industry?
The LEGO Group and The Walt Disney Company are tied at the top of Gitnux's 2026 creative and cultural ranking with an Overall score of 9.4 each.
What technology shifts are changing production and distribution?
Digitalization, streaming, artificial intelligence and cross-border digital services are major growth drivers. In recorded music, streaming represented 69.6% of global revenue in 2025, with paid subscriptions accounting for 52.4%.
How is the industry structured across segments and markets?
Creative-services exports were led by software services at 41.3% and research and development at 30.7% in 2022, with advertising, market research and architecture at 15.5% and audiovisual at 7.9%. Developed economies accounted for $882.8 billion (64.1%) of 2022 creative-services exports, with the United States leading at $244.3 billion.
What compliance and legal requirements are most likely to affect generative AI use?
The European Commission states the EU AI Act implementation includes copyright-related obligations and transparency requirements for AI-generated content. It also includes text-and-data-mining exceptions affecting cultural and creative sectors.
Reference

Cite This Report

This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.

APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Creative And Cultural Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/creative-and-cultural-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Creative And Cultural Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/creative-and-cultural-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Creative And Cultural Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/creative-and-cultural-industry-statistics.

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