Report: UK creative sector faces £74bn
pandemic hit
The Creative Industries Federation
has warned of a ‘cultural catastrophe’
as newly commissioned research
from Oxford Economics reveals that the
UK’s creative industries are on the brink
of devastation. The UK’s creative sector
was previously growing at five times the
rate of the wider economy, employing over
2 million people and contributing £111.7
billion (€123bn) to the economy - more than
the automotive, aerospace,
life sciences and oil and gas
industries combined.
The report, The Projected
Economic Impact of Covid-19
on the UK Creative Industries,
projects that the creative sector
will be hit twice as hard as
the wider economy in 2020,
with a projected GVA shortfall of £29 billion.
Many creative sub sectors are expected to lose
more than half their revenue and over half of
their workforce. Despite the Job Retention
Scheme, the report projects that 119,000
permanent creative workers will be made
redundant by the end of the year. The impact
on employment is set to be felt twice as hard
by creative freelancers with 287,000 freelance
roles expected to be terminated by the end of
2020.
Key statistics:
• Creative industries GVA projected to fall
by £29 billion (-25%), with the creative
industries being hit twice as hard as the
wider UK economy.
• Creative industries projected to lose
406,000 jobs and £74 billion in revenue
(-30%).
• Music, performing and visual arts
projected to lose £11 billion in revenue
(-54%) and 57% of jobs (178,000) with
theatres, recording studios and concert
venues remaining closed.
• The music industry is projected to lose
at least £3 billion in GVA (50%) and 60%
of jobs (114,000), with the
sector being hit hard by the
collapse in live music and
touring.
• Theatre projected to lose
£3 billion in revenue (61%)
and 26% of permanent jobs
(12,000), although this
estimate only takes into
account current cancellations and does not
account for the reluctance of audiences to
return to venues (only 20% would return
on opening night according to a survey
by Indigo). Further research from UK
Theatre/SOLT shows that, without further
intervention, job losses in theatre across
permanent and freelance roles is likely to
number over 200,000 (over 70%).
• Film, TV, video, radio and photography
could lose £36 billion in revenue (-57%),
with the sector projected to lose 42% of jobs
(102,000) as social distancing constraints
affect cinema capacity and the cost of
filmmaking.
• Postproduction and VFX could lose £827
million in revenue (-58%).
Radio projected to lose £186 million in
revenue (-21%) as it sees a decline in
advertising.
The report follows the Creative Industries
Federation’s open letter to government in
April calling for urgent funding for the creative
sector, which was signed by over 500 leading
figures from the creative industries and
beyond.
“With the economic impact of Covid-19
hitting hard, the role of our creative industries
has never been more critical,” declared
Caroline Norbury, CEO, Creative Industries
Federation. “As well as being a huge driver
of economic growth in every part of the
UK, our creative and cultural sectors bring
communities together, they employ millions
and are at the heart of our soft power. These
are the industries of the future: highly
innovative, resistant to automation and
integral to both our cultural identity and the
nation’s mental health. We’re about to need
them more than ever.”
“Our creative industries have been one
of the UK’s biggest success stories but what
today’s report makes clear is that, without
additional government support, we are
heading for a cultural catastrophe. If nothing
is done, thousands of world-leading creative
businesses are set to close their doors,
hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost
and billions will be lost to our economy. The
repercussions would have a devastating and
irreversible effect on our country.”
Data: Lockdown’s
leap in broadband
traffic
UK multiplay operator Virgin
Media (VM) has published
network data revealing
the dramatic impact of the
coronavirus lockdown on how
customers are using their
broadband services.
The network insights reveal
how a ‘new normal’ has been
established over the emergency
period, during which VM
customers have been using
significantly more data. Since
lockdown started, every VM
broadband customer has
downloaded an extra 3.4GB of
data per day on average when
compared with download levels
in February – the month before
lockdown measures began.
That’s enough additional
usage for every customer to
watch two films – or around 3.5
hours of Netflix video – every
day, in addition to how they
used their broadband before the
emergency period.
While claiming that its
network coped with the
additional demands, a network
problem late June left many
customers without TV and
broadband services. Thousands
of customers reported issues
on the Down Detector website,
and complained on social media
that they could not access their
services, affecting masses of
people who are still working
from home. VM said the issue
only affected broadband
customers in some areas of
London, adding the problem had
been fixed within a few hours,
and apologised for the situation,
and said the issues were not
caused by congestion or strain.
The company experienced a
similar issue in April, when its
network was unavailable in parts
of London for several hours.
During the busiest week of
the lockdown, VM customers
were downloading a third
more data than before, burning
through an extra 32.5GB
compared to February. With
that much additional broadband
use, an average consumer would
be able to stream more than
40 hours of standard definition
video, receive more than 5,000
emails and listen to than 700
hours of music. This extra
activity means that in total, the
average user has downloaded
an extra 325GB of data since
lockdown started on top of what
they’d normally use.
These increases come as 99%
of VM customers are now taking
speeds of 100Mbps or more,
resulting in an average network
speed that is more than double
the UK average.
EUROMEDIA 5