Overview

The economic boundaries of cinema and television (Film&TV) are set within the frame of the so-called cultural and creative industries, meaning the set of business activities that lead the process of transformation of large metropolitan economies into advanced tertiary systems for the production of high added value and innovative content. 

The definition of the activities included in the audiovisual sector (just as that of the broader cultural and creative industries) is not univocal and often depends on the different sensitivity appealing to each country or group of economic interests. Despite this, there is a clear-cut common idea on the central role of productive activities linked to the production and distribution of multimedia content for cinema and television. 

Starting from these brief considerations, this report will try to offer a detailed statistical framework to identify the positioning of the economic activities that fall within the fields of Cinema and Television. What emerges is a specific sector that can be defined as the audiovisual industry core, which includes the following activities to the fourth digit of the national classification of economic activities (Ateco 2007):

• 59.11 – Theatrical film, video & TV production;
• 59.12 – Theatrical film, video & TV post-production;
• 59.13 – Theatrical film, video & TV distribution;
• 59.14 – Exhibition;
• 60.20 – TV programming and broadcasting.

The perimeter of the audiovisual industry core has been defined starting from a methodological system applied by the Report “Io Sono Cultura” and realized by Fondazione Symbola and Unioncamere. This methodology offers the opportunity to structure the main data related to the count of business figures and the features of the productive framework to a detailed perimeter in time (chapter 1). Furthermore, thanks to official data statistics, it was possible to offer meticulous estimates on the production of wealth and employment generated by the activities related to the theatrical and television fields (chapter 2). These data are bound to information that can be found within the national accounts of the productive divisions and allow us to analyze how the Film&TV sectors have reacted over the years in the wake of two major crisis: the economic crisis, coming from the long international emergency that has struck Europe and even more Italy’s frailties; and the technological one, as a result of the introduction of new distribution and consumption methods concerning multimedia content – in short, the outset and diffusion of online audiovisual platforms. This last aspect seems to be crucial in defining future scenarios that will affect the relation between the world of cinema and television, a scenario that has now become even more complex and that can be analyzed in its dramatic evolution in future reports. 

It is a fact that many production companies have interrupted production and pre-production activities with the serious risk of not being able to resume their activity if not adequately supported by anti-crisis measures. Next to this, the length of the lockdown and the consequent measures taken by the companies will utterly change the employees’ framework, even those with permanent contracts. The final picture will be increasingly confusing and its boundaries shaky, with many companies operating in a hybridlike mode, especially if specialized in the production phase of Film&TV content. 

It must be said, however, that, coherently with national statistics, frameworks can undergo adjustments in time, as aggregates might shift in definition, and methodologies used for data elaboration are often updated, producing significant changes in the estimates of the different categories.  

To detect and define this progressive phenomenon more specifically, the third chapter focuses on the economic distinction of cinema and television within each step of the supply chain: production, post-production, distribution. The reconstruction of each in time shall allow us to understand which features can be associated to this intense and yet uncompleted transformation.

Finally, the fourth chapter is an estimate of the overall count of workers engaged in the audiovisual sector in 2018, shifting the concept of ‘unit per year’ to the number of individuals who are actually engaged in the jobs and professions within the audiovisual core.