The creative media industries and workforce in Northern Ireland
Size and shape of the workforce
In Northern Ireland over 8,500 people make a living from the Creative Media industries. This equates to 2% of the UK's creative media industries workforce.
Of those working in the creative media industries in Northern Ireland women represent 30% of the workforce, people from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds make up 1% of the workforce and 7% of the workforce is reported as having a disability.
Sector by sector
Television
Approximately 1,200 people work in the television industry in Northern Ireland which includes broadcast, TV, cable and satellite and independent production.
Northern Ireland is significantly under represented in terms of network production - in 2006, the investment in network production across all five terrestrial channels was lowest in Northern Ireland at £3.85 per capita compared to a UK-wide figure of £32.00 per head.
Radio
600 people work in publicly funded, commercial, community and voluntary radio. Northern Ireland's radio enterprises range from very large corporations such as the BBC to small, not-for-profit community radio stations.
Film
The UK is one of the three film production sectors in the world, attracting significant inward investment.
While in Northern Ireland the film industry is more fragmented and with unpredictable levels of production, it is strategically and culturally important.
Around 300 people operating in the key sub sectors of production live in Northern Ireland.
Facilities
The facilities sector provides a wide range of services to the creative media industries as a whole. Facilities is a critical component in ensuring the future of the sectors and making the UK the primary choice for worldwide producers. In Northern Ireland 400 people work in this sector.
Computer Games
Around 800 people work in computer games in Northern Ireland. The global nature of the games market means the industry faces strong competition for the traditional leading nations of the USA, Japan and the UK.
Interactive Media
100 people work for specialist companies in the key platforms of web and internet, interactive television and offline multimedia.
These sub sectors vary in the extent to which they are characterised by the exploitation of content and/or service provision. Web and internet content is primarily service based whereas the interactive television sub sector provides both.
Photo Imaging
In Northern Ireland, the photo imaging sector employs around 600 people across four broad sub-sectors: Photographers, Image producers and photo retailers, Picture libraries and agencies and Manufacturing and support services.
Publishing
Around 4,200 people work in publishing including books, newspapers, journals and periodicals and directories.
Data taken from the Skillset 2006 Employment Census, Skillset/UK Film Council Feature Film Production Workforce Survey 2008, Experian 2007, Skillset/Equity Performing Arts Industry Workforce Survey 2005 and LFS 2005. For more information, please visit our Research section.