20 Trending U.S. Media And Entertainment Industry Statistics [2023]: Biggest Entertainment Industries - Zippia (2024)

Media and entertainment industry research summary. The Media and Entertainment industry is a well-known and thriving part of the US economy. After all, Hollywood is the center of the entertainment universe. We’ve gathered some of the most compelling U.S. media and entertainment statistics:

• Core copyright industries add $1.8 trillion (7.76%) to the U.S. economy.

• The U.S. Media and Entertainment industry accounts for 6.9% of the total U.S. GDP.

• There were 1.4 million Americans employed in the Media and Entertainment industry in 2022.

• The market size of the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry is $717 billion.

• The U.S. Media and Entertainment industry is expected to experience a CAGR of 8.9% through 2030.

• The global Media and Entertainment market is worth $2.2 trillion as of 2021.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Sector | Trends and Projections | Services

The Media and Entertainment industry still contributes an immense amount of wealth to the U.S. economy, despite taking a hit in 2020. Overall, here are some general facts about the importance of the industry:

• The U.S. Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry currently have a market size of $307.6 billion.

  Despite experiencing a massive 36.4% decrease in market size between 2019-2020, the U.S. Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry is on its way to recovery. While the current size hasn’t reached its 2019 height of $347.5 billion, it’s still considerably more than its 2020 low point of $221 billion.

  

• Box office revenue dropped by 81.4% between 2019 and 2020.

  In 2019, North American box office revenue reached $11.32 billion. While that was already a slight decrease from 2019, it was nothing compared to the historic decline seen in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, box office revenue dropped to only 2.1 billion.

  The total earnings at the box office in North America amounted to around $7.37 billion in 2022. This is up from 4.48 billion in 2021.

  

• The United States accounts for a third of the global entertainment and media market.

  In part due to the popularity and global recognition of Hollywood, U.S. motion pictures, television programs, streaming content, music, radio, book publishing, video games, and more are all a major cultural influence on the world stage.

• Since 2016, the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry’s contribution to GDP grew between 5-7% year-over-year.

  More specifically, growth was regularly around 5.5% prior to 2020, when it dropped to -1%. However, as of 2021, the industry’s contribution seems to be rebounding, reaching 7.4%.

Media and entertainment industry by sector

The media and entertainment sectors are massive, whether you’re a music junkie or a film nerd. From movies to music and everything in between, the industry is all around us. With that in mind, here are some facts about different sectors of the Media and Entertainment industry:

• The U.S. Music industry has a market size of $43 billion as of 2022.

  The size of the music sector can be hard to calculate due to the sheer number of related industries. For example, some of the most noteworthy portions of the Music industry include the Recording industry ($8.8 billion), the Live industry ($9.5 billion), and the Publishing industry ($1.8 billion), among others.

• The U.S. Movie industry is worth $91.83 billion as of 2022.

  With film entertainment revenue amounting to $25.9 billion. And while that might seem like a lot, it’s actually a 27% decline from 2019, when revenue was at $35.3 billion.

  Overall though, the Film industry has continued to grow throughout the pandemic, despite theater closures. The industry is expected to have a CAGR of 4.1% from 2018 to 2025.

• Five major American studios control over 60% of total film industry revenue.

  These include: Disney (18.2%), NBCUniversal (16.4%), Time Warner (16.2%), and 21st Century Fox (12.9%). All of them combined makeup approximately 63.7% of total film industry revenue.

• Pre-Pandemic, Hollywood contributed $504 billion to the U.S. GDP.

  That’s at least 3.2% of the goods and services portion of GDP and a considerable portion of the Media and Entertainment industry as a whole.

• By 2020 the Gaming industry grew 19x larger than it was in 2006.

  In 2006, the Gaming industry was worth roughly $8 billion, but now that number is up to $160 billion. Much of this can be attributed to a boom in mobile games, which make up roughly 45% of the industry’s total value.

• The U.S. TV Broadcasting industry has a market size of $63.2bn.

  However, compared to other sectors, the industry has seen fairly low growth. For example, the current market size is only expected to increase by 0.6% in 2022.

• The U.S. Book Publishing industry has a market size of $26.8 billion.

  While this is by no means the smallest sector, it is the fastest shrinking one. In fact, with a growth rate through 2022 of -3%, it’s one of the only entertainment and media sectors with a projected negative growth rate.

Though the Media and Entertainment industry hasn’t entirely recovered from the COVID-19 Pandemic, the industry has rebounded in a significant way. Further, this growth is expected to stay strong over the coming years. According to our research:

• Between 2012 and 2022, the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry’s market size has grown by 15%.

  Of course, this includes the dip in 2020, which drastically lowers the overall amount of growth. For instance, between 2012 and 2019, the industry grew by 30% (from $267.5 billion to $347.5 billion). However, the 36.4% decrease in market size between 2019-2020 decreases the overall rate.

  See Also

  Horizontal Integration vs. Vertical Integration: Key DifferencesExamples of Vertically Integrated CompaniesVertical & Horizontal IntegrationEntertainment Marketing: What It Is and How to Do It (+ Examples)

• Between 2019 and 2023, U.S. Media and Entertainment digital ad spending are expected to increase by 81%.

  Digital ad spending is becoming more and more popular within the industry. In 2019, digital ad spending for the media and entertainment industry was $14.6 billion, but that could grow to as much as $26.5 billion by 2023.

  

• The U.S. Media and Entertainment industry is expected to be worth $825 billion by 2023.

  Currently, the industry is worth $717 billion, which indicates a 15% year-over-year increase in value. That shows that the industry is continuing to recover from the effects of the Pandemic.

• The global Media and Entertainment industry is expected to reach $2.6 trillion by 2025.

  Currently, the industry is worth $2.2 trillion, which indicates an 18.2% increase over the next couple of years. All things considered, the U.S. is still projected to be the industry leader by 2025.

Media and entertainment industry by streaming services

New technologies are shaping old industries all the time, and the Media and Entertainment industry is no different. In the past decade alone, streaming services have taken the industry by storm. Here are the facts:

• OTT’s annual video revenue is projected to reach $316.1 billion in 2023.

  And with no signs of slowing down, annual revenue is expected to reach $427.8 billion by 2026 and $462.9 billion by 2027.

• 55.1% of Americans have canceled their cable subscriptions as of 2022.

  For the first time, a majority of Americans have cut the cord. This is following a spike in cable subscription cancellations in 2021 when 27% of households decided to cut the cord.

• Video streaming accounts for 82% of internet video traffic as of 2022.

  Today online video services like Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu dominate internet usage. For every five people using the internet, four of them are watching videos.

• The average American watches content on three to four streaming services.

  Americans, by in large, are using streaming services, usually multiple at the same time. In fact, the average U.S. household now spends $47 per month on streaming services, despite the fact that the average service only costs $8.50 per month.

• 77% of Gen Z spend more time watching streaming services than any other platform.

  Generally speaking, the older the demographic gets, the less likely they are to watch streaming services the most. For instance, 74% of Millennials watch streaming services the most, while 66% of Gen X do, and only 40% of Baby Boomers do.

  

1. How big is the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry?

   The U.S. Media and Entertainment industry is huge. Overall, the market size of the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry is $717 billion, larger than the GDPs of 162 countries around the world. That’s why the industry is such a broad-reaching and major employer, with 1.4 million employees.

2. What’s the biggest sector of the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry?

   Streaming services are by far the largest sector of the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry. In total, annual video revenue is projected to reach $316.1 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $462.9billion by 2027.

   For context, other major sectors include Music ($43 billion), Movies ($91.83 billion), Gaming ($160 billion), TV Broadcasting ($63.2 billion), and Book Publishing ($26.8 billion). Of these sectors, it would take four of them to equate to the same size as the Streaming sector.

3. What is the growth rate of the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry?

   The U.S. Media and Entertainment industry will have a steady CAGR of 8.9% through 2030. Additionally, between 2012 and 2022, the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry’s market size has grown by 15%, which includes the dip in 2020.

   However, not every sector of the industry is growing equally. Some are growing rapidly, like the Gaming and Streaming sectors, while others, like the TV Broadcasting sector, are growing slowly. Further, the Book Publishing sector has actually seen negative growth overall, making it an outlier.

4. What percentage of the U.S. economy is the media and entertainment industry?

   Approximately 6.9% of the total U.S. GDP comes from the Media and Entertainment industry. And this percentage only seems to be growing, as the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry’s contribution to GDP has grown between 5-7% year-over-year since 2016.

   More specifically, growth was regularly around 5.5% prior to 2020, when it dropped to -1%. However, as of 2021, the industry’s contribution seems to be rebounding, reaching 7.4%.

5. What is the biggest company in the Media and Entertainment industry?

   The biggest company in the Media and Entertainment industry is Comcast, with a revenue of $105.6 billion and a net income of $11.5 billion. Comcast is a massive corporation that owns AT&T Broadband, NBCUniversal, Sky, DreamWorks Animation, and XUMO, to name a few major Entertainment and Media players.

   Besides Comcast, others in the top five largest Media and Entertainment companies by revenue include The Walt Disney Co. ($69.7 billion), Charter Communications Inc. ($46.6 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($32.8 billion), and Netflix Inc. ($22.6 billion).

6. How competitive is the Media and Entertainment industry?

   The Media and Entertainment industry is very competitive. Despite the sheer number of sectors within the industry, each one faces similarly steep competition. That’s because of the nature of jobs and how they differ from other types of work.

   For example, anyone who gains an education as a doctor or lawyer will likely be able to become one. There will always be a demand for doctors and lawyers, and their education strongly reinforces their talent. Further, if someone wants to become an electrician, they simply need to train for that job.

   However, it’s practically impossible to train creativity in someone, a skill even the most educated actors, musicians, or writers require. Further, the demand for entertainers is artificial and based on the whims of the population rather than the needs of society. In that way, climbing your way to the top in one of these fields can be very difficult but also very rewarding.

Conclusion

With a market size of $717 billion, accounting for 6.9% of the U.S. total GDP, it can’t be understated just how massive the Media and Entertainment industry is. After all, we likely interact with streaming services, TV, games, music, books, and other vital aspects of the industry every single day.

Overall, despite taking a significant hit in revenue and market size in 2020, the U.S. Media and Entertainment industry is only getting bigger and bigger. And, with a projected CAGR of 8.9% through 2030, we can expect the industry to reach the high billions or even a trillion in market size by the end of the decade.

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