Driving Economic
Growth
Creating Jobs
When people think about making movies, the words that often come to mind are “lights, camera, action!” It’s true – the physical production and shooting of a film is a huge, integral, and economically impactful part of what it takes to make a movie or TV show. But what is often overlooked is the tremendous amount of work that goes into making a film before the shooting of the movie actually begins and long after it concludes.
This economic activity runs through every aspect of filmmaking from the earliest stages of development all the way to distribution. Each phase requires a substantial amount of people, investment, and creativity to produce a story that truly entertains fans. The hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of people working in the various fields of development, pre-production, production, post-production, marketing, and distribution work together to produce and deliver the films we all know and love. Without the writing of scripts, financing, casting, hiring crew members, special effects, editing, and marketing – just to name a few crucial processes – your favorite movies would not be possible.
Access to Global Markets
The motion picture and television industry is a global industry that creates a huge economic impact everywhere it calls home. The key to continuing this success is to work to avoid protectionism, counterfeiting and online piracy in global markets.
Keeping markets open enables people around the world to enjoy the movies they love, and strong intellectual property rights protect millions of jobs worldwide supported by the industry.
While copyright laws vary from country to country, a set of international agreements helps to protect creators and makers’ intellectual property rights across the globe. The World Trade Organization (WTO) establishes global trade rules, as well as a minimum level of protection for intellectual property rights under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Bilateral and regional trade agreements, including several in Latin America, further deepen commerce and investment between the United States and its trading partners. Trade pacts help protect jobs by reducing trade barriers and protecting against discriminatory trade practices.
Economic Partnership
A recent Interamerican Development Bank study, The Economic Impact of the Audiovisual Industry in Latin America, highlights the economic multiplier effect: every $10 investment in the AV sector triggers a multiplier that generates an additional $6 to $9 acorss the value chain, from pre-production to distribution. For every 100 people working on a production, the doors open to an additional 50-70 positions in the economy. Latin America is a giant in this space, with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia leading the way.
The audiovisual industry not only provides us with unforgettable stories on screen, but it is also an economic powerhouse. On average, 67% of production costs are spent outside the audiovisual sector to support investment in sectors such as catering, construction, and legal services. For every new audiovisual position, 1.94 jobs are created in other sectors of the economy through media companies’ investments. Moreover, as innovative companies with a global reach, MPA member companies provide an opportunity for exportable content that can drive unique benefits to local tourism.
Mexico
According to a recent report by Oxford Economics, The Economic Contribution of Mexico’s Audiovisual Industry in 2022, the audiovisual industry contributed a staggering MXN$228.8 billion, accounting for nearly 1 percent of Mexico’s GDP in 2022. The audiovisual sector directly creates more GDP in Mexico than is generated by the manufacturing of computers — a significant comparison considering that Mexico is mainly a manufacturing economy. In the same year, this industry played a pivotal role in job creation, supporting (directly and indirectly) 200,000 jobs. This is a testament to the industry’s significant contribution to the Mexican workforce. Further, the industry directly supported MXN$19.2 billion in tax payments to the government. For every MXN$10 million of value created directly by entities within the audiovisual industry, there was an additional economic contribution to Mexico’s GDP worth MXN$6.5 million, implying a GDP multiplier of 1.6. Moreover, employees in the audiovisual industry are nearly three times as productive as the average employee in Mexico, according to The Economic Contribution of Mexico’s Audiovisual Industry in 2022.
The audiovisual industry contributed a staggering MXN$228.8 billion, accounting for nearly 1 percent of Mexico's GDP in 2022.
The audiovisual sector generated more than 126,000 direct jobs and 657,000 indirect jobs in Brazil in 2019.
Brazil
The creativity and innovation of the Brazilian film and television industry – from production and distribution to content consumption – drive economic growth and creates jobs, benefiting a wide variety of local businesses and economic sectors.
MPA Brazil plays a pivotal role in driving economic growth through partnerships and investments in the audiovisual industry. According to the study, The Economic Contribution of the Audiovisual Industry in Brazil in 2019, conducted by Oxford Economics, the audiovisual sector generated more than 126,000 direct jobs and 657,000 indirect jobs in 2019, the last year before the pandemic. This means that for every job created in the audiovisual segment, another 4.2 jobs are generated in other industries. In the same year, the direct contribution to GDP was R$ 24.5 billion, and the total contribution was R$ 55.8 billion, representing a multiplier effect of 2.3.
In the Video on Demand segment, based on the Oxford study, our industry in 2019 led to the creation of 3,460 direct jobs and 26,720 indirect jobs, with contributions of R$2.4 billion directly and R$1.6 billion indirectly to GDP. Moreover, the average wage in the creative industries, as reported by Firjan and IBGE, is 2.4 times higher than the national average.
The economic impact of the audiovisual sector goes far beyond job creation and income generation within the industry itself. The study The Economic Impact of the Audiovisual Sector in Latin America, by the Inter-American Development Bank, indicates that only 21% of the resources invested in film production in Brazil go directly to the audiovisual sector – the rest benefits various other economic chains in an extremely beneficial multiplier effect (“spill-over effect”).[1]
Members of the MPA continue to invest heavily in content production in Brazil, producing hundreds of films and series that employ numerous local artists and technicians. Our commitment ensures sustained growth and prosperity for the national content production industry, solidifying Brazil’s position as a vibrant hub for creativity and economic development.
[1] 24% goes to professional, scientific, and technical activities, 13% to arts, entertainment, and recreation, 7% to administrative and support services, 5% to the financial and insurance sector, among other activities.