London’s Creative Industries – Sector deep dive

The report “London’s creative industries - sector deep dive” uses the definitions of the creative industries developed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to provide an updated analysis of the sector in London. It draws on a variety of sources to assess performance trends over the past decade. 

Among the key findings:

• The creative industries play a significant role in London's economy. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, they accounted for 11.5% (£55.0bn) of the capital’s total gross value added (GVA), up from 10.2% in 2010. London contributed over half of the UK’s creative industries economic output in 2019.
• London’s creative industries generated £51.7bn in economic output in 2020, a fall of 6.0% compared to 2019. This fall was below the London average but above that for the creative industries UK-wide. Monthly GVA estimates, only available at the UK level, show a strong post-pandemic recovery across most creative industries sub-sectors. 
• The creative industries support job creation in London. There were 795,500 jobs in the sector in 2021, accounting for one in seven (14.7%) jobs in the capital, up from 10.7% in 2010. Despite the pandemic, creative industries employment increased from 2019 to 2021, led by strong growth in IT, software and computer services.