GENEVA (WAM)
Creative services have grown by 29 percent since 2017, reaching $1.4 trillion in exports in 2022, as digital tools like AI continue to transform the sector.
According to UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Creative Economy Outlook 2024, creative services exports surged by 29 percent to $1.4 trillion in 2022, while creative goods exports increased by 19 percent to $713 billion.
Creative services now represent 19 percent of all global service exports, up from 12 percent a decade ago. Meanwhile, creative goods exports have remained steady at 3 percent of total goods trade. While developing countries primarily export creative goods, their share of global creative services exports has grown significantly, from 10 percent in 2010 to 20% in 2022.
Software services accounted for 41.3 percent of all creative services exports in 2022, followed by research and development (30.7 percent), advertising and architecture (15.5 percent), audiovisual services (7.9 percent), information services (4 percent), and cultural, recreational, and heritage services (0.6 percent).
Digitalisation is reshaping the creative economy. Streaming services, for instance, now account for 67.3 percent of global music revenue streams.
AI
AI is a key driver of this transformation, generating everything from scripts, movies and music to virtual reality content, while also improving post-production workflows and analysing user data. Its presence is growing in newsrooms, for example, where 41 percent of teams use it to create illustrative art, 39 percent for social media content and 38 percent for writing and generating articles.
While digital tools lower costs and expand revenue opportunities, making global markets more accessible, they also pose challenges, such as quality control, copyright issues, privacy concerns and market monopolisation.
The report highlights the need for robust regulatory frameworks to ensure these technologies benefit everyone and foster a competitive creative economy.