Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

RadioDespite recent changes in lifestyle, radio remains amajor communication tool, mainly due to its extremelybroad coverage, which can reach very remote geographicalzones. In general radio has high rates of local production,and advertising is its main source of income. In most countries,radio laws require broadcasters to maintain a minimaldomestic production to ensure that daily programmes coverslocal news and national music. Recently initiatives havesought to strengthen community radio stations and involvethem in societal and civic processes, such as ethnic affirmation,gender equity and grass-roots advocacy for youth, particularlyin Latin America. In most countries, audiovisualslaw regulates the functioning of the radio industry; usuallystations are granted authorization to operate for ten years,renewable automatically for the same period; holders musttypically be national citizens, and participation of foreignersis often limited. 42In Africa, radio is by far the most developed form ofmedia. The number of commercial and community stationscontinues to increase, despite such recurrent problems as lackof training, obsolete equipment, low level of domestic productions,high level of imported programmes, financial constraintslinked to fiscal obligations and the absence of a clearlegal framework. Moreover, despite the use of satellitebroadcasting, in some cases the radio stations have limitedgeographic coverage. 43 To a certain extent, the shift towardsdigital radio poses similar problems as for television.Therefore, it is important to put in place a comprehensiveplan for enhancing the creative economy, includingthe development of radio.International tradeInternational trade in audiovisuals tripled duringthe period 2002-2008. Exports of audiovisual goodsand services increased from $14.1 billion to $27.2 billion,growing on average by 9 per cent annually. However,audiovisuals accounted for just 4.6 per cent of totalexports of creative-industry products in 2008. Most ofthis trade was for audiovisual services, which accountedfor $26.4 billion, while audiovisual goods totalled only$811 million. Developed economies dominated the market,retaining nearly 90 per cent of world exports foraudiovisuals. The United States was the leading exporterof audiovisual services in 2008, when its exports exceeded$13.6 billion. The United Kingdom, France and Canadawere the other major players. Hungary emerged as the fifthmajor exporter of audiovisual services in 2008. On the otherhand, developing economies lost market share in audiovisualexports during the period 2002-2008.Exports of audiovisual services from developingeconomies totalled only $1.37 billion in 2008. Argentinawas the main exporter, followed by China and the Republicof Korea. The Russian Federation was the largest exporter ofthese services from the economies in transition (tables2.5.1.A and 2.5.1.B in the annex). This overall trend isindicative of the world market for audiovisuals, even if themagnitude of the reported data (amounting to $27 billion)does not reflect the real size of the global market.Audiovisuals constitute a large and dynamic subgroup thatwill remain one of the pillars of the creative economy.The situation was similar for audiovisual goods, withexports nearly doubling, from $462 million in 2002 to $811million in 2008 — an annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent(see chart 5.13). Developed countries had 89.5 per cent ofthe world market share, compared to 9.2 per cent fordeveloping countries and 1.2 per cent for the economies intransition. Exports of audiovisual goods from developedcountries totalled $706 million in 2008, while those fromdeveloping countries grew to $75 million.Chart 5.13(in millions of $)8007006005004003002001000Audiovisuals: Exports, by economic group,2002, 2005 and 2008DevelopedeconomiesDevelopingeconomies2002 2005 2008TransitioneconomiesSource: UNCTAD based on official data reported to UN COMTRADE database5International trade in creative goods and services: Global trends and features42 UNESCO (2006), Trends in Audiovisual Markets: Regional Perspectives from the South.43 Ibid.CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010153