Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

ative content. Issues relating to measurement of ICT tools,in particular how to collect accurate, useful and comparableICT statistics, are addressed in chapter 7 of this report. 51Again, figures presented for new media are extremelyunderestimated for the reasons explained earlier. Still, theycan contribute to a better understanding of current trends.In the UNCTAD classification of creative industries, newmedia includes a wide range of creative content such as software,video games, cartoons and other digital products. Thefigures shown clearly reveal shortcomings in the level of disaggregationof statistical classification codes since they coveronly digital records and video games. Furthermore, the subgroupcomprises several relatively new creative services, suchas Web-related services, for which data are non-existent(see also the general explanatory notes in the annex).As an enabler, the subgroup new media is the realexpression of connectivity and as such is highly dependenton the accessibility of equipment such as computers, mobiletelephones, digital televisions and MP3s, as discussed inchapter 7. The third part of the annex presents additionalquantitative data on trade in related industries. Tables 3.1,3.2 and 3.3 were prepared with the aim of providing empiricalevidence of the magnitude of world trade of supportingequipment for the creative industries.International tradeThe global market for new-media goods grewvery rapidly during the period 2002-2008, with anannual growth rate of 8.9 per cent. World exportsincreased from $17 billion to $28 billion (table 5.23and chart 5.16). Video games were a very dynamicgroup, as exports more than tripled from $8 billionto $27 billion. (For details on exports by majorcountries, see tables 1.2.A and 1.2.B in the annex.)Key players in global marketsDeveloped economies led exports of newmediagoods over the period 2002-2008. Theirexports increased slightly, reaching $13 billion in2008, but their share in world markets for these goodsdeclined sharply, from 6.5 per cent to 4.7 per cent(see table 5.24). While their exports of digital recordingsremained relatively unchanged, they faced growingcompetition from developing economies asChart 5.16(in billions of $)1614121086420regards video games. Europe supplied a third of global marketdemand, and its exports were more diversified in terms of targetmarkets. The major exporter, however, was the UnitedStates. In Europe, the countries with greater participation inthe global markets for new-media products were Germany,the Netherlands, Austria and the United Kingdom (seetable 5.24).In developing economies, there were contrasting trendsin exports of new-media goods. Asia had a dominant positionin the global market for these goods. Total exports from developingeconomies in 2008 reached $14 billion, up from about$6 billion in 2002. This resulted in a substantial increase intheir share in world markets, from 34 per cent to 52 per cent.In the case of video games, the upturn was even moreaccentuated, rising from 45 per cent to 52 per cent. Thisdevelopment reflected the remarkable increase in Chineseexports. The exports of new media products from Chinareached $8.4 billion in 2008, or about 30 per cent of globaldemand. Video games constituted the most important exportedand imported item in Asia.Mexico is the only country not in Asia to make thetop-ten list of exporters among developing economies.Other Latin American economies were very marginalexporters. Africa, the LDCs and the SIDS were not activeparticipants in world markets. Economies in transition had aNew Media: 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 features51 UNCTAD is a member of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, together with 10 other international institutions. The partnership’s key objective is to close the ICTdata gap by collecting data and maintaining a database on the ICT sector and on business uses of ICTs. More information is available from http://measuring-ict.unctad.org.CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010159