Archive:Motion picture, video and TV production, sound recording and music publishing statistics - NACE Rev. 2

Data from October 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database."

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This article presents an overview of statistics for the motion picture, video and TV production, sound recording and music publishing sector in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 59. These activities are referred to hereafter as motion picture and sound recording activities. It belongs to a set of statistical articles on 'Business economy by sector'.

Table 1: Key indicators, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Table 4a: Key indicators, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Table 4b: Key indicators, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Table 5: Key size class indicators, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (NACE Division 59), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

The motion picture and sound recording activities (Division 59) sector comprised 120.2 thousand enterprises in the EU-28 in 2012. Together they employed 408 thousand persons, equivalent to 0.3 % of all persons employed in the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) and 6.8 % of persons in information and communication services (Section J). They generated EUR 25.5 billion of value added which was 0.4 % of the non-financial business economy total and 4.9 % of the information and communication services total.

The apparent labour productivity of the EU-28’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector in 2012 was EUR 62.0 thousand per person employed, above the non-financial business economy average of EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed, but well below the information and communication services average of EUR 87.0 thousand per person employed. Average personnel costs within the EU-28’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector were, at EUR 41.5 thousand per employee, higher than the EUR 32.4 thousand per employee average for the non-financial business economy, but again were below the information and communication services average (EUR 51.7 thousand per employee). The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio combines these two previous indicators, showing the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee. This ratio stood at 150.0 % for the EU-28’s motion picture and sound recording activities in 2012, which was between the non-financial business economy average (142.7 %) and the information and communication services average (168.0 %); indeed, it was the second lowest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio among four out of six subsectors that form information and communication services and for which data are available in 2012.

The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) is a measure of operating profitability; it stood at 16.8 % for the EU-28’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector in 2012, fairly higher than the non-financial business economy average of 9.4 %, but somewhat below the information and communication services average (20.3 %). Indeed, this was the second lowest level of profitability (using this measure) among the four NACE divisions for which data are available within information and communication services.

Sectoral analysis

Motion picture and sound recording activities can be split into two constituent parts. Of these, by far the larger in the EU-28 was motion picture, video and television programme activities (Group 59.1), which accounted for more than 85 % of sectoral value added and employment in 2012. The relative importance of sound recording and music publishing activities (Group 59.2) was somewhat larger in relation to the number of enterprises, with 23.1 thousand enterprises representing almost one fifth (19.2 %) of the sectoral total.

The difference in the level of apparent labour productivity between the two subsectors that constitute the motion picture and sound recording activities sector was fairly significant. The larger motion picture, video and television programme activity subsector had EU-28 apparent labour productivity of EUR 60.0 thousand per person employed in 2012, while productivity for the sound recording and music publishing activities subsector in 2011 was some EUR 20.0 thousand per person employed higher. With relatively small difference in average personnel costs between the subsectors, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the motion picture, video and television programme activity subsector, which stood at 140.0 % in 2012, was significantly lower than that for the sound recording and music publishing activities subsector in 2011 (220 %).

For the gross operating rate a similar picture was observed, as the EU-28 gross operating surplus for the smaller sound recording and music publishing activities subsector was equivalent to 31.0 % of turnover in 2012. This was double the corresponding profitability measure that was recorded for the motion picture, video and television programme activity subsector (15.1 %) and also above the average for information and communications services (20.3 %); gross operating rates for both of these subsectors were indeed above the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %).

Country analysis

France recorded the highest share (26.5 %) of EU-28 value added within the motion picture and sound recording activities sector in 2012, at EUR 6.7 billion; this was the highest share of EU-28 value added recorded by France in any of the non-financial business economy NACE divisions (for which data are available) in 2012. The second highest contributor to EU-28 sectoral value added (21.7 %) was the United Kingdom with EUR 5.5 billion of value added, while Germany was the only other Member State to report a double-digit share of the EU-28 total (18.3 %).

Alternative measures of size suggest that the motion picture and sound recording activities sector was relatively more important in the United Kingdom. For example, the 116.8 thousand persons employed in the motion picture and sound recording activities sector in the United Kingdom accounted for 28.6 % of EU-28 employment in 2012, which was almost twice the share of persons employed in Germany (15.0 % of the EU-28 workforce) and more than double the share in France (12.7 % of the EU-28 total). A more detailed breakdown shows that the relative weight of France was boosted by its high level of added value for the motion picture, video and television programme activities subsector; 28.6 % of the EU-28 total in 2012. Germany accounted for by far the highest share (44.0 %) of EU-28 value added for the sound recording and music publishing activities subsector.

The contribution of the motion picture and sound recording activities sector to non-financial business economy value added was 1.1 % in Hungary, which was considerably higher than in any of the other EU Member States. In the motion picture and sound recording activities sector, Hungary recorded its fourth highest share of EU-28 value added among all of the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy. The second most specialised Member State was France (where the motion picture and sound recording activities sector provided 0.8 % of non-financial business economy value added). By contrast, the motion picture and sound recording activities sector contributed just 0.1 % to the total value added generated within the non-financial business economies of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania; the same was true for Norway.

Hungary also reported the highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for motion picture and sound recording activities in 2012, at 579.5 %; this was just over 3.5 times as high as the average wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio within the Hungarian non-financial business economy (163.3 %). The motion picture and sound recording activities sector recorded the third highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in 2012 among the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy in Hungary.

Luxembourg recorded the highest level of gross operating profitability for motion picture and sound recording activities, with its gross operating rate reaching 56.6 % in 2012; this was almost ten times as high as the Luxembourgish average for the whole of the non-financial business economy. The gross operating rates for motion picture and sound recording activities were also relatively very high in Hungary, France and Germany, where they reached between 3.5 and 4 times as high level as their national average for the whole of the non-financial business economy.

Ireland, Estonia and the United Kingdom were the only EU Member States to report that their gross operating rates for motion picture and sound recording activities were below their non-financial business economy averages in 2012; the latter two countries together with Sweden and Lithuania were also the only Member States to record gross operating rates below 10 %; the same was also true for Norway. The United Kingdom reported the lowest level of operating profitability (using this measure) among the EU Member States at 5.8 %, seven percentage points lower than its non-financial business economy average. The relatively low level of value added and higher level of average personnel costs in the United Kingdom’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector was further reflected in a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of 120.7 %; this was the second lowest wage-adjusted labour productivity in 2012 across all NACE divisions within the United Kingdom’s non-financial business economy.

Size class analysis

The overwhelming majority (85.6 %) of the value added generated within the EU-28’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector in 2012 was provided by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, employing fewer than 250 persons). The relative weight of SMEs was somewhat lower in terms of their contribution to the motion picture and sound recording activities workforce, as they employed just over three quarters (78.4 %) of the total number of persons employed. The considerable difference in the relative shares of value added and employment by enterprise size class may be explained, at least to some degree, by the low level of value added generated by large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) operating within the United Kingdom’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector.

This low level of value added for large enterprises in the EU-28 was also reflected in the apparent labour productivity figures by enterprise size class, as the productivity of large enterprises (EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed in 2011) was considerably lower than the sectoral average (EUR 62.5 thousand per person employed in 2012). By contrast, the highest apparent labour productivity ratios for the EU-28’s motion picture and sound recording activities sector were recorded for small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons) and for medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons), both over EUR 75.0 thousand per person employed.

The relative importance of large enterprises to the motion picture and sound recording activities sector in the United Kingdom was reflected in their share of the sectoral workforce (47.1 % in 2012); the United Kingdom was the only EU Member State to record more than one quarter of its motion picture and sound recording activities workforce employed in large enterprises.

By contrast, SMEs accounted for the whole of the motion picture and sound recording activities workforce in the Baltic Member States, the Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia in 2012; note that a breakdown of the workforce by enterprise size class is not available for 10 of the Member States. Among the non-member countries shown in Table 6a, Norway also reported that the whole of its motion picture and sound recording activities workforce was employed within SMEs.

Data sources and availability

The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.

The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.

In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:

small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
- micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
- small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
- medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.

Context

This article presents an overview of statistics for the motion picture and sound recording activities sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 59. This division includes activities related to theatrical and non-theatrical motion pictures whether on film, video tape or disc for direct projection in theatres or for broadcasting on television. These activities concern various stages from production, through post-production and distribution to projection. Buying and selling of motion picture or other film production distribution rights is also included. Post-production activities include editing, film/tape transfers, titling, subtitling, credits, closed captioning, computer-produced graphics, animation and special effects, developing and processing motion picture film and activities of motion picture film laboratories.

This division also includes sound recording activities, in other words, the production of original sound master recordings, releasing, promoting and distributing them, the publishing of music, as well as sound recording service activities in a studio or elsewhere. It also includes music publishing, in other words, activities of acquiring and registering copyrights for musical compositions, promoting, authorising and using these compositions in recordings, radio, television, motion pictures, live performances, print and other media. Units engaged in these activities may own the copyright or act as an administrator of the music copyrights on behalf of the copyright owners. Publishing of music and sheet books is also included.

This NACE division is composed of two groups:

motion picture, video and television programme activities (Group 59.1);
sound recording and music publishing activities (Group 59.2).

Excluded are film duplicating (except reproduction of motion picture film for theatrical distribution) as well as audio and video tape, CD or DVD reproduction from master copies (Division 18, part of printing and reproduction of recorded media), the wholesaling, retailing or renting of video tapes, discs and so on (Divisions 46, 47 and 77, wholesale trade, retail trade and renting and leasing of goods), television broadcasting and the creation of complete television channel programmes (Division 60, part of programming and broadcasting activities), film processing other than for the motion picture industry (Division 74, part of other professional, scientific and technical activities).

Further Eurostat information

SBS – services (sbs_serv)

Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (sbs_na_serv)

Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics by size class - services (sbs_sc_sc)

Services by employment size class (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)

SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008 onwards) (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)

Dedicated section

Structural business statistics

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Motion picture and sound recording activities (NACE Rev. 2): tables and figures

Other information

Decision 1578/2007/EC of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012
Regulation (EC) No 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics