The 海角视频’s creative industries have long been one of our most successful economic exports. From music and film to publishing, design, and digital content, we’ve consistently punched above our weight globally.
But a new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), titled The Next Act: A Vision for the 海角视频’s Creative Future makes clear that, while creativity remains one of the 海角视频’s great strengths, the landscape is shifting fast, and we could fall behind unless the 海角视频 adapts with smarter policy, deeper investment, and better alignment between government, business, and education.
BCG redefines the creative and entertainment sector, stripping out unrelated tech functions and focusing squarely on content and cultural output, from film and TV to music, theatre, gaming, fashion, sport and design. Viewed through this lens, the creative sector contributed £94bn in gross value added in 2023, which represents a real-terms increase of 31% since 2010, as compared with a 22% growth for the overall 海角视频 economy.
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It’s also a significant employer, supporting around 2.4 million jobs across the 海角视频 (or one in every 14 jobs) and generates a substantial net trade surplus. In fact, the 海角视频 is third in the world for net exports of creative goods and services, behind only the US and South Korea.
This is also a sector that enhances our global soft power, with British creative content, from Adele to the Premier League, James Bond and The Crown defining how the world sees us. But this success isn’t guaranteed, and the report identifies several global mega-trends that are reshaping the creative economy
Over the past decade, global tech platforms have fundamentally altered how we consume culture, with Netflix, Spotify, YouTube and Amazon becoming the primary gatekeepers of content.
What is concerning is the shift in ownership and value capture, with foreign firms now responsible for 42% of 海角视频 creative sector turnover, compared with 22% a decade ago. This has led to concerns that when profits are taken offshore, reinvestment in British content, jobs and infrastructure could suffer.
The 海角视频 used to lead the world in creative sector policy, but we’re now being outpaced by others. South Korea has a co-ordinated state strategy to grow its cultural exports, investing nearly $1bn per year, while France mandates minimum quotas of French-language content on streaming platforms. These are strategic, deliberate policies designed to nurture domestic content and win market share abroad, whilst 海角视频 policy support remains piecemeal and reactive.
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AI is transforming content creation, but it also threatens traditional revenue models and, unless there is a change in the way AI is deployed, the creative workforce (especially freelancers and smaller studios) could be undermined, while handing even more power to a handful of tech giants.
Finally, many creative businesses are reporting shortages in key skill areas, as the fusion of creativity with technology, such as game design, immersive storytelling, and creative coding, requires a new type of hybrid talent that’s not yet being produced at scale. As this column has argued, the pipeline from education to industry is too disjointed, and more strategic co-ordination is needed.
So how do we respond? BCG proposes four key recommendations that, if adopted, could reset the trajectory of the 海角视频’s creative economy for the next decade.
First, the 海角视频 needs a long-term strategy that treats the creative industries as core economic infrastructure. That includes setting investment goals, de-risking capital for IP-rich businesses, and exploring non-binding expectations for global platforms to reinvest a portion of 海角视频 revenues into local content.
We also need to accelerate the growth of regional creative clusters, investing in places like Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Bristol to create dynamic ecosystems that spread economic growth and creative opportunity across the 海角视频.
Third, we need to prepare the sector for the arrival of AI, and that just doesn’t mean more regulation, but support to help smaller firms compete, such as grants for experimentation, guidelines for ethical use, and new tools. This shouldn’t be about shielding traditional roles but equipping people to work alongside the technology in ways that enhances creativity, not replaces it.
Finally, we need to fix the disconnect between education and industry. Industry should be shaping curricula, co-designing modules, and funding placements to ensure that the next generation of creative talent is not just artistic but digitally fluent and commercially aware.
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This report doesn’t romanticise creativity but recognises it as a globally traded, economically vital sector that deserves serious policy attention. And that’s the key as for far too long, the creative industries have been treated as an add-on to our industrial strategy, rather than an integral part of it.
Government needs to take this seriously, because in a world increasingly shaped by storytelling, imagery, design and innovation, creativity isn’t a luxury but a competitive advantage.
And if we fail to act now, we risk seeing one of our greatest strengths eroded not by a lack of talent but by a lack of vision.