Steady expansion for US media and entertainment industry: Says Report

The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration has recently subjected a report that describes the stable expansion of the US media and entertainment (M&E) industry.

The US M&E market by far is regarded as the world’s largest, and is predictable to attain $771 billion (€679bn) in annual sales in 2019, an increase of 8.3 per cent from $712 billion in 2016, according to ITA’s 2017 Top Markets Report Media and Entertainment Sector Snapshot. The world’s second-largest market is now China at $190 billion.

“The US M&E market alone represents a third of the global market,” the report notes. The industry pays its workers well – $93,221 is the average annual compensation, compared to $67,715 for all US workers. The broader copyright exhaustive sectors, which include software, constitute an exporting powerhouse, with overseas sales of $177 billion in 2015, far higher than the next leading US export sectors of chemicals ($135.8 billion) and aerospace ($134.6 billion).

However, American media and entertainment firms visage important obstacle in piercing global markets. The report also notes that the industry’s export latent persist to be vulnerable by persistent piracy and copyright infringement; cultural content and censorship restrictions; foreign direct investment restrictions; and issues associated with royalty payments.

“It is difficult to quantify losses from piracy and to calculate piracy rates accurately,” states the report. “Therefore, many industry groups and businesses track piracy around the clock, and online takedown notices are rising dramatically as a result.”

The M&E sector exports a great diversity of products which includes books, CDs, game consoles, production gear and instruments and, the largest component of M&E exports, content.

The Sector Snapshot explains export opportunities in the five largest global M&E markets: The United Kingdom, China, Canada, India and Brazil.