2.5 Position of the UK Creative Industries in the World Economy
Healthy domestic demand for creative goods and services provides the UK with a strong competitive platform in the world market in many of the individual sub-sectors. We have the largest number of games development studios in Europe and are the third [44] largest producer in the world. Figure 5 compares exports of creative services for the top 10 performing countries. Despite data for architecture, advertising and R&D being unavailable for UK, US and France, the UK is positioned third in world rankings. The DCMS 2007[1] export estimates for advertising and architecture, £1400m and £740m respectively, would position the UK as second only to the US.
In terms of creative goods, the UK ranks sixth in overall worldwide performance, with China leading the field (Figure 6). It should be noted that these figures include the product of the creative services, i.e. the manufacture of the creative good. It may be argued that this accounting does not place sufficient emphasis on the value of the creative endeavour.
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire took the 2009 Oscars by storm, winning eight awards. Although it was set and shot in India, the film reflects a variety of facets of the UK’s talent and creativity and represents a truly global product. The plot is predicated on the aspirational British television program format “Who wants to be a millionaire?” – the most syndicated television format ever, with shows in over 100 countries in the last eleven years. Screen Digest estimates that, in 2004, the global format business was worth $2.4 billion with the UK the biggest exporter of television formats: 32% of all format hours broadcast worldwide originate in the UK. The young cast, starring Dev Patel, drew from the strength of UK domestic television drama. Patel has appeared in Channel 4’s hit series Skins. The success also highlights the uniquely British talents of the film’s director, Danny Boyle, whose previous films include Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, and 28 Days Later.
Production Budget: $15 million; Total worldwide gross revenue: $272 million
Distributor: Fox Searchlight; Production Companies: Celador Films, Film 4 Productions
Academy Awards
Picture: Christian Colson; Director: Danny Boyle; Adapted Screenplay: Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Editing: Chris Dickens; Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle; Sound: Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty; Original Score: A.R. Rahman; Original Song: Jai Ho Music by A.R. Rahman; Lyric by Gulzar (Sources: BBC, screen-digest, boxofficemojo.com)
|
Harry Potter – J K Rowling
Cross-Media Success from books, to movies, to games, to merchandise...
Since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1997, British author J K Rowling and her UK publishers, Bloomsbury Publishing plc, have benefited from significant growth and profitability from the massive worldwide creative success of the Harry Potter series. Nigel Newton, chairman of Bloomsbury, observed in his 2005 annual report that the series would be seen as "one of the most significant backlists in modern publishing history". The seven Harry Potter books are now translated into 67 languages and by June 2008, had achieved worldwide sales of the 400 million copies.
The books have spawned film adaptations produced by Warner Bros. and eight video games on almost all the standard console platforms. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (PS1) is estimated by PCvsConsole.com to have grossed $8 million in the US alone in 2004. By 2005, the Harry Potter brand was estimated to be worth US$4 billion. The franchise licensed more than 400 additional Harry Potter products. In March 2009, Warner Bros.Consumer Products (WBCP) reported that Panini, a manufacturer of collectible stickers and trading cards, had sold in excess of 1.25 billion Harry Potter stickers and DeAgostini’s Harry Potter Chess Partwork sold more than 23m copies in just over 2 years.
In 2005, Forbes magazine estimated that on movie revenue, Rowling takes 1% of domestic box office and 0.5% of international ticket sales. Media by Numbers LLC estimates that the first four Harry Potter movies alone grossed over $3.5 billion by 2007. The 2007 Sunday Times Rich List estimated JK Rowling’s personal fortune to be £545 million.
|
The strength of the UK’s innovation capacity and capability is evidenced by the proportion of private sector investment, by country, in early stage media-tech companies (Figure 7). According to Library House, in 2006, UK companies secured a third of all European Venture investment in MediaTech. In a subsequent report identifying the top 100 European MediaTech companies to watch, the UK dominated with a 60% share. This highlights UK leadership in exploiting the potential of digital content, with search, games, advertising and social media generating most interest.