South East of England
The largest audio visual sub-sector in the South East of England by far, in terms of number of people, is web and internet, followed by computer games and offline multimedia. Combined, this Interactive Media sub-sector now makes up 60% of all audio visual employment in the region.
The Interactive Media sector in the region has seen substantial employment growth in recent years and is viewed by Wired Sussex as not only being in a healthy state, but also living up to the years of hype which have surrounded it.
The first ever MSc in Digital Television Management and Production is the joint creation of the University of Brighton and Brighton-based Victoria Real Ltd.
The course aims to provide students with the skills, knowledge and experience in producing and managing DTV projects. Victoria Real Ltd was bought out by Endemol UK in 2003 as part of their Interactive Media expansion and will now add gaming and gambling TV applications and 'pay to play' web games to their already impressive portfolio (the two companies have previously collaborated on a range of projects including Big Brother (Channel 4), The Salon (Channel 4), Fame Academy (BBC1) and the worldwide webcast of J K Rowling at the Royal Albert Hall. Endemol UK have retained Victoria Real's Brighton office as a regional production base for the group.
Within the UK, the South East of England also has a particular strength in computer games due to the presence of major games publishers and software companies (eg. IBM; Microsoft ). With its close proximity to London, Surrey has a concentration of companies working in computer games development, including the European headquarters of the American games company, Electronic Arts , in Chertsey. Other development studios are clustered in Brighton (eg: Babel Media, Creative Assembly ); Guildford (Lionhead Studios) and Oxford (eg: Rebellion , Sick Puppies, LT Studios) areas are also strong in this sub-sector.
In addition, a cluster of interactive media businesses now exists in Brighton and Hove, comprising largely web design companies, although other sectors include IT software and services, corporate media and digital learning, for example, Worth Media.
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