News and current affairs the economic choice

Screen Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics have today released the results of the first survey of the Australian screen production sector in five years based on data from 2011-2012.

It found that production businesses recorded total income of $2.2 billion, up by 38 per cent since the last survey in 2006/07. Total employment also grew by 23 per cent to 13,414. On the other hand, income for the post-production sector was down by 25 per cent and employment was down by 21 per cent.

The data gives us an interesting insight into the dominance of News and Current Affairs -both in terms of output and the costs compared to Drama.

During 2011–12 there were 78,622 commercial broadcast hours for first release television programs. News and current affairs programs accounted for the largest proportion of these hours with 36,471 (or 46.4%).

Drama and Children’s drama incurred the highest average cost per hour with $560,700 and $550,400 respectively. By contrast, average production costs per hour for news and current affairs was $14,000.

Light entertainment and variety programs incurred the largest total production costs ($555.4m), however the Average Cost Per Hour indicates that this type of production was relatively cheaper to produce ($70,000) than Drama productions.

Commercial FTA Broadcasters employed 7,856 persons at the end of June 2012. During 2011–12 they generated $4,657.9m in income and incurred $3,660.4m in expenses. Total industry value added was $2,232.9m.

Pay TV employed 5,474 persons at the end of June 2012. During 2011–12 these businesses generated $4,654.3m in income and incurred $4,157.4m in expenses. Total industry value added was $1,568.3m.

Commercial FTA Broadcasters derived the majority of their income (79.0% or $3,681.5m) from gross sale of airtime. The main source of income for Pay TV was subscription fees ($3,775.0m or 81.1%).

Screen Australia’s Chief Operating Officer, Fiona Cameron, said, “This ABS data provides a crucial gauge of the health of the screen production sector following five years of rapid change and development. In the past five years, we’ve seen the introduction of the Producer and PDV Offsets, the formation of Screen Australia, the introduction of the digital multi-channels and the dawning of a new golden age of TV drama.

“The high Australian dollar and a tough global economic climate have also impacted many parts of the industry but the sector as a whole has weathered these changes well.”

You can see more detailed results here.