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Publishing

Information for the publishing industry from BIS's Communications and Content Industries unit.

This policy area is now led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The relevant pages and content will be migrated to the DCMS website shortly, when details are finalised and announced to Parliament.

The Publishing industry

The publishing sector as a whole is the largest creative industry in the UK. It has a combined turnover of at least £20 billion, with 8,500-plus companies directly employing around 167,000 people. At the heart of the sector lies a diverse range of companies that combine creativity, innovation and application with constantly evolving methods of production and distribution. In its quality, diversity and reach, UK publishing leads the world.

The sector is made up of from the printed word to online and contains a diverse group of industries including: Books, Directories and Databases, Journals, Magazines and Business Media, Newspapers and News Agencies. 

The future of the publishing industry appears strong. New forms of content are appearing and evolving the need to deliver content in whatever form and via whatever channel the customer wants, despite the background of a challenging business environment.

A department-sponsored study was launched in June 2002. The scope of the project was wide ranging, including books, national and regional newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, business information, directory and database publishing and Internet publishing

Publishing in the Knowledge Economy: A Competitiveness Analysis of the UK Publishing Media Sector (PDF)

A further study was conducted in parallel with the Competitiveness Analysis, looking at the impact of e-commerce on the development of the publishing industry.

E-Commerce Business Opportunities for Publishers: e-commerce impact assessment of the UK publishing media sector (PDF)

Publishing in Europe

European publishing is competitive and well-placed to contribute towards the development of an Information Society based on knowledge, in line with the revised Lisbon agenda". Despite the lag in the availability of official statistics and the rapid evolution of the sector, it is estimated today that the publishing industries accounts for some 0.5 % of the gross domestic product across the EU27 Member States, employs around 750,000 jobs in more than 64,000 companies across today’s 27 Member State Union.

The development of on-line/digital publications concerns all sub-sectors of the Publishing Industry, be they books, newspapers, magazines or databases across Europe. Free daily newspapers and "Citizens press" on Internet are also rapidly growing, changing consumers' habits and advertising business models. To monitor this rapid evolution, DG Information society established a Media Task Force that organises meetings and events with representatives of European Editors and Publishers.

The European Publishing Industries are facing challenges of direct interest to all citizens. Media pluralism, freedom of speech, access to information and culture, as well as issues related to the management of copyrights and the fight against racism and xenophobia have major societal importance and are one of the main policy building sites for the European Union.

The Media Pluralism Monitor (or MPM) is designed to identify potential risks to media pluralism in Member States. The monitor and its implementation processes are based on several important principles and elements.

  • The Final Report describes the approach and method used to design these indicators and their integration into a risk-based framework. It contains no policy recommendation as such.  Please note that chapter 8 summarises feedback from the stakeholder workshop and explains how the consultants included pertinent points in the final report.  It contains the following annexes:
  • The User Guide: explains how the Monitor can be applied in practice (how to install the MPM software, how to calculate indicator scores, how to interpret the resulting risk profiles, etc.).
  • The Media Pluralism Monitor: an Excel file containing the indicators embedded in a risk-based scoring system, http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media_taskforce/pluralism/study/index_en.htm

 

The wider Creative industries

The UK creative industries are broad, covering advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, video games, music, the performing arts, publishing, software and computer services, and television and radio. UK creative industries currently contribute 6.2% to the British economy and are set to grow at more than 4% per annum over the next five years, employing 1.3 million people. These companies are competing in a worldwide market in creative industries worth around 7% of global GDP.