Cardiff has third largest film and TV cluster in UK, study shows

The Welsh capital’s media sector has significant potential for future growth, new research from Cardiff University shows.

The report, Driving economic growth through audiovisual activity, examines the size, scale and economic contribution of the film and TV sector in the Cardiff Capital region. It demonstrates the audiovisual media sector – which includes film, television and gaming - has become a key part of its economy.

This work is led by Clwstwr – a programme for innovation in the screen sector – and authored by Professor Justin Lewis, Dr Marlen Komorowski and Máté Miklós Fodor.

Clwstwr Director Professor Lewis, based at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, said: “After a decade of strong growth, Cardiff now has the third largest film and TV cluster in the UK, after London and Manchester.  

“Better still, by many measures South Wales has been the best performing media cluster outside London, with one in every eight jobs created in the UK between 2015 and 2018 being in the Cardiff Capital Region.

“Based on our estimations, targeted funding and further incentives into the local sector to increase productivity could create considerable economic growth and make Cardiff a global hub of media production within the next five to 10 years. Based on its local strength, this could generate £255m additional Gross Value Added (GVA) and almost 2,000 additional jobs in the audiovisual media sector.”

According to the report, there are 1,318 firms active in the audiovisual media sector in the Cardiff Capital Region. Together, these firms generated a total annual turnover of £545 million with a further £606 million in GVA produced directly and indirectly.

The sector employs 4,590 full-time employees locally with a further 2,898 full-time roles created to support the media sector. There are also an additional estimated 2,813 freelancers active in the region. In total, more than 10,000 people are employed through the media sector.

This employment data, along with its wider creative ecosystem, have been visualised in the new Creative Economy Atlas Cymru – a platform to showcase the creative might of Wales.

By exploring the geographical distribution and scale of the creative industries across Wales this Atlas aims to highlight its strengths and explore its depths, help make connections and to be a useful tool for those who want to learn more about Wales’ creative ecosystem.