Workers in the advertising, entertainment and media industries, collectively called “creative economy,” produced goods worth P1.6 trillion last year, about 7.3 percent of the country’s economic output, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA said last year’s output is a 12.1 percent increase from the P1.43 trillion recorded value in 2021.
The growth comes against the backdrop of a spending-driven election period which employed much of the goods produced in the sector to reach politicians’ target audiences.
This also comes amid an economy that is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic while inflation runs high due to the Ukraine invasion of Russa.
The PSA said the creative economy is composed of the audio and audiovisual media activities; digital interactive goods and service activities; advertising, research and development, and other artistic service activities; symbols and images and other related activities; media publishing and printing activities; music, arts and entertainment activities; visual arts activities; traditional cultural expression activities; and art galleries, museums, ballrooms, conventions and trade shows, and related activities.
Of the creative industries, symbols and images and other related activities generated the biggest output at P528.35 billion or 32.9 percent of total — up 10 percent from P480.41 billion in 2021.
“Advertising, research and development, and other artistic service activities contributed 20.8 percent, while Digital interactive goods and service activities shared 20.3 percent in 2022,” the PSA said.
The PSA added the sector employed 6.98 million Filipinos last year, up 10.5 percent from 6.32 million persons in 2021.
Employment in traditional cultural expression activities recorded the highest share in 2022 of 42.5 percent, followed by symbols and images and other related activities at 24.8 percent, and advertising, research and development, and other artistic service activities.
