Report: Steady growth for US M&E industry
July 5, 2017
By Colin Mann
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration has issued a report describing the steady growth of the US media and entertainment (M&E) industry.
The US M&E market is the world’s largest, by far, and is projected to reach $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 intensive 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).
American media and entertainment companies face significant hurdles in penetrating global markets. The report notes that the industry’s export potential continues to be hampered 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,” notes 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 large variety of products including books, CDs, game consoles, production equipment and instruments and, the largest component of M&E exports, content.
The Sector Snapshot describes export opportunities in the five largest global M&E markets: The United Kingdom, China, Canada, India and Brazil.