Motion Picture,TV & Video Production
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 21,300 motion picture, TV, and video producers in the US produce a variety of video content, including movies, videos, TV programming, and commercials. Major revenue categories include domestic licensing rights; sales of copies of audio/visual works, international licensing rights; contract production services; and merchandise licensing. Movie and video production companies may specialize in a particular category, such as animation, commercials, films, music videos, or TV programming.
Delayed, Uneven Cash Flow
Productions incur the majority of expenses months to even years before realizing a single dollar of revenue.
Piracy
Video piracy is a growing problem, particularly internationally, where copyright protection is lax and illegal activity is more likely to go unnoticed.
Industry size & Structure
The average motion picture and video production company operates out of a single location, employs 13-14 workers, and generates $6.3 million annually.
- The motion picture and video production industry consists of about 21,300 firms that employ about 285,500 workers and generate about $135 billion annually.
- The industry is highly concentrated; the top 50 firms account for 75% of industry sales.
- Large firms with production operations include the Walt Disney Company and Twenty-First Century Fox, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Comcast (Universal Pictures). The major studios produce and distribute the majority of movies released in the US.
- Large firms may be vertically-integrated. For example, some companies are involved in production, distribution, and broadcasting of content.
Industry Forecast
Motion Picture,TV & Video Production Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 10, 2024 - Slow Growth Expected
- Motion picture, TV and video production industry sales are forecast to grow at a 3.24% compounded annual rate from 2022 to 2027, slower than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. Industry employment has recovered from a steep pandemic-related drop in 2020 and was above pre-pandemic levels in late 2023 but average wages for nonsupervisory employees remained slightly below pre-pandemic levels, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- TV and film production in Los Angeles recovered slowly from the industry-wide strikes that occurred during the fall of 2023, according to FilmLA, the official film office for the Greater Los Angeles region. Scripted TV production increased slightly in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with the prior quarter but remained far below historic levels. Feature film production continued to decrease after the strikes ended. Overall location filming decreased 32.4% year over year in 2023.
- About $1 billion in projected box office revenue will shift from 2024 to 2025 due in large part to the impact of the screenwriters and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, according to B. Riley Securities analyst Eric Wold. Full-year 2024 box office revenue, which Wold estimated at $8.61 billion in November 2023, could now end up as low as $8 billion to $8.4 billion before rebounding to $9.92 billion in 2025. Production schedules and talent windows continue to be in a state of flux, presenting “more downside risk than upside at this point,” Wold says.
- Businesses in the information sector reported greater levels of artificial intelligence (AI) use than the national average, according to the Census Bureau's most recent Business Trends and Outlook Survey. About 13.8% of information sector businesses indicated that they were currently using the technology while only 3.8% of all businesses surveyed reported using it. High usage rates in the information sector are not surprising, according to the Census Bureau, as these sectors include industries (publishing, data processing and hosting, financial investment, motion pictures, and sound recording) that typically rely heavily on data analysis; automated decision making; and word, image, and sound processing.
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