Australian film, TV, games worth more than $3 billion a year: report
A groundbreaking report has put both a cultural and an economic value on Australia's screen industry.
The Australian film, TV and digital games businesses were worth more than $3 billion to the economy and generated 25,000 full-time-equivalent jobs last year, according to new research unveiled at the Screen Forever conference on Tuesday.
Presenting what he claimed was "the first full measure of the economic and cultural value of the screen sector", federal Minister for Communications and the Arts, Mitch Fifield, invited the audience to try to imagine a world without Crocodile Dundee, Gallipoli, The Castle or That Sugar Film.
"The Australian taxpayer, through the government, supports the industry mostly for the cultural benefits of having Australian screen stories," he said. "However, the Australian screen industry is a significant contributor to our economy."
The Screen Currency report, prepared over 12 months for Screen Australia by Deloitte Access Economics and Olsberg SPI, found screen content under Australian control generated $2.6 billion in 2014-15. Post-production and visual effects services (much of it for the likes of Hollywood productions such as Game of Thrones and the X-Men movies) were worth a further $382 million, while the digital games sector contributed $123 million.
Still an Australian favourite: Crocodile Dundee.
In addition, the report claims Australian screen content had a major impact on tourism revenue.
"Screen content attracts around 230,000 international tourists to Australia each year, driving an estimated $725 million in tourism expenditure," the report said.
That made it more valuable than the Sydney Opera House, whose tourism value is estimated at $640 million.
Among the more surprising figures are the $252 million in revenue generated by film, TV and gaming exports, from cinema box office, DVD and Blu-Ray sales, and TV and streaming licences.
At the other end of the spectrum, the video rental market is in terminal decline, with its contribution to the economy worth a paltry $3.7 million last year. Online rentals, via streaming services such as Netflix and Stan, were still in their infancy, generating just $3 million.
On the cultural side, a survey of 1049 people found 76 per cent were in favour of government support of the screen industry, with 12 per cent opposed and 12 per cent undecided.
When it comes to deciding what to watch, being Australian runs both ways, with 14 per cent saying they were less likely to watch Australian content and 35 per cent claiming they would be more likely.
That said, of the 271 pieces of Australian screen content identified as being "culturally valuable" by the survey respondents, the one that topped the list – presumably to no one's surprise – has just turned 30.
Happy birthday, Crocodile Dundee. Australia still loves you.
Karl Quinn is on facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on twitter @karlkwin
Karl is a senior entertainment writer at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.