Digital and creative sectors outpacing rest of UK economy

New figures released by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) reveal that the digital and creative sectors are two of the fastest growing areas of the UK economy.

The figures showed the creative sector, which includes advertising, marketing and media, contributed £111.7 billion to the UK in 2018, an increase of 7.4% when the whole UK economy which grew by only 1.4%; the digital sector grew 7.9% in the same period.

While the digital sector performed roughly in line with the rest of the UK economy up to 2010, it has since accelerated its growth during the last decade.

The strong performance of digital and creative businesses is good news for the Greater Manchester economy, as the two sectors are considered global strengths for the city-region within the Local Industrial Strategy.  Creative businesses in the North West can receive a further boost from the DCMS’s Creative Scale-Up programme, part of a £4 million investment in growing the sector further in the UK’s regions.

Minister for the Creative Industries, Nigel Adams, said:

The creative industries encompass the best and brightest of UK businesses and these figures paint a vibrant picture of creativity and talent in our country today.

“I would like to congratulate all those within the sector whose hard work and ingenuity means the industry is making a staggering contribution of nearly £13 million to the national economy every hour.”

Digital Minister, Matt Warman said:

Technology is a sweet spot of our economy, bringing jobs and wealth across the country. The success is thanks to our business friendly environment and fantastic workforce.

“We are working hard to continue this momentum by strengthening regional tech clusters supporting digital businesses and investing in people’s digital skills.”

The DCMS’s full report on the economic performance the digital, creative and culture sectors is available online.