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This document provides details and limitations of the definitions used for DCMS sectors in the Economic Estimates series. Further methodological information is available in the technical reports, published alongside each Economic Estimates statistical release.

In February 2023, Machinery of Government changes meant that responsibility for the digital and telecoms sectors moved from DCMS to the newly created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Since April 2024, Economic Estimates for the digital sector have been published by DSIT, which can be found here.

1. Overview of DCMS sectors

The sectors included in the DCMS Economic Estimates are:

• Civil Society
• Creative Industries
• Culture
• Gambling
• Sport
• Tourism

In order to measure the size of the economy it is important to be able to define it. DCMS uses a range of definitions based on internal or UK agreed definitions. Definitions are predominantly based on the Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC) codes. This means nationally consistent sources of data can be used and enables international comparisons. The SICs that make up each DCMS sector and subsector are shown in the tables published alongside this note, and in the data tables for each Economic Estimates statistical release.

Each sector definition has been designed to be the best possible measure of that individual sector. There are overlaps between DCMS sectors, whereby an industry (as defined by 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification, or SIC, codes) may be used in two sector definitions. In particular, the cultural sector is defined using SIC codes that are nearly all within the creative industries and the tourism industries and civil society overlap with other DCMS sectors. These overlaps are accounted for in the Economic Estimates series to avoid double counting in DCMS sector totals.聽

In most cases these overlaps are fully accounted for, however there are some cases where the overlap estimation is not perfect. For example, for civil society GVA it is not possible to fully calculate the overlap with other DCMS sectors due to data availability. A slight overlap is therefore included in the 鈥楢ll DCMS sectors鈥� GVA, however given that estimates for civil society as a whole are an underestimate for the sector (see section below on 鈥楧etails of DCMS sector definitions鈥�), the 鈥楢ll DCMS sectors鈥� GVA value is not an overestimate, even when compensating for this small overlap.

Figure 1 below visually shows the overlap between DCMS sectors in terms of SIC codes. Users should note that this does not give an indication of the magnitude of the value of overlap.

Figure 1: Overlap of SIC codes within DCMS Sectors

There will also be overlaps with official statistics produced by other government departments (such as DSIT鈥檚 official statistics on the digital sector).

Additional analysis is presented in or alongside DCMS Economic Estimates for the audio-visual sector, computer games sector and the arts and antiques market.

2. Details of DCMS sector definitions

This section looks at sector definitions used in DCMS Sector Economic Estimates in more detail. These sector definitions have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) as part of ^{[footnote 1]} of a number of DCMS Sector Economic Estimates.聽

DCMS sector definitions are mostly based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) framework which is used to classify business establishments and other statistical units by the type of economic activity in which they are engaged. The SIC system is internationally recognised, making it useful for comparisons across sectors, countries and over time. However, there are known limitations with the classification framework. As the balance and make-up of the economy changes, the SIC, finalised in 2007, is less able to provide the detail for important elements of the UK economy related to DCMS sectors. We will engage throughout 2025/26 with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on their revision of the UK-SIC framework.聽

The SIC codes used to produce DCMS sector definitions are a 鈥榖est fit鈥�, subject to the limitations described in the following section.

Creative industries

The creative industries were defined in the Government鈥檚 2001 creative industries Mapping Document as 鈥渢hose industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property鈥�. Based on this definition, DCMS worked closely with stakeholders to determine which occupations and industries should be considered creative.

The creative industries were determined on the basis of creative intensity (the proportion of occupations in an industry that are creative), following the dynamic mapping process set out in a :

• Through consultation, a list of creative occupations was identified.
• The proportion of creative jobs in each industry was calculated (the creative intensity)
• Industries with creative intensity above a specified threshold are considered creative industries

The definition is a UK definition based on internationally consistent industrial classifications which means estimates are comparable to the wider economy and useful internationally. The SIC codes used to capture the creative industries sector and sub-sectors are shown in the tables published alongside this guidance note. See the creative industries Economic Estimates methodology note for a more detailed explanation of how the definition has been derived.

Cultural Sector

DCMS defines the cultural sector as those industries with a cultural object at the centre of the industry. DCMS proposed and consulted on a definition of the cultural sector in 2016, based on the availability of data through the SIC framework. There are limitations with the DCMS measurement of the cultural sector arising from the lack of detailed disaggregation possible using the standard industrial classifications. There are some cases where culture forms a small part of an industry classification and therefore cannot be separately identified and assigned as culture using standard data sources, this is particularly the case for the heritage sector.

It is recognised that, due to the limitations associated with SIC codes, the SIC code used in past publications as a proxy for the Heritage sector (91.03 - Operation of historical sites and building and similar visitor attractions) is likely to be an underestimate of this sector鈥檚 value. We have changed the name of the Heritage sector to 鈥極peration for historical sites and similar visitor attractions鈥� to reflect this. We have been working on assessing methodologies for producing heritage sector economic estimates based on a broader definition which more accurately reflects the heritage sector. We are continuing to develop this methodology to produce robust heritage sector estimates.

Sport

Unless stated otherwise, we define sport using those 4-digit SIC codes which are predominantly sport. This aligns with the international statistical definition of sport, based on the , and allows the contribution of sport to be considered in a way which is consistent with other DCMS sectors.

DCMS has previously published estimates based on the broad Vilnius definition as part of the DCMS Sports Satellite Account. The broad definition is a more comprehensive measure of sport which considers the contribution of sport across a range of industries, for example sport advertising, and sport related construction. In October 2024, an updated Sports Satellite Account research report was published, providing estimates for 2021.

Gambling

The definition of gambling used in DCMS sectors Economic Estimates is consistent with the internationally agreed definition, SIC 92 (鈥楪ambling and betting activities鈥�).

Civil society

The civil society sector covers charities, voluntary organisations or trusts, social enterprises, mutuals and community interest companies. The civil society sector is not like a traditional industry and therefore data is not readily available in the usual data sources. Where possible, data is provided from official sources and the definition used varies. For more information about the definition used in each statistical release, see the technical report published alongside the release.

Tourism

Tourism is defined by the characteristics of the consumer in terms of whether they are a tourist or resident. This, therefore, differs from 鈥渢raditional鈥� industries such as gambling which are defined by the goods and services produced themselves, and means that a different approach to defining the industry is used.

In the majority of DCMS sector Economic Estimates publications, estimates for the tourism sector are based on a satellite account approach, which estimates the direct economic impact of tourism on the economy as a proportion of each individual industrial class - the tourism ratio.聽 The tourism ratios are taken from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and .

However, the tourism satellite account does not provide data for all tourism economic estimates, such as business demography information or R&D expenditure by businesses in the tourism sector. Where this is the case, a 鈥渢ourism industries鈥� approach is used, which counts any establishment in an industry (SIC code) for which the principal activity is a tourism characteristics activity, i.e. it includes 100% of the businesses in a subset of the standard industrial classes. As such, estimates using a tourism industries approach cover a larger part of the UK economy than estimates using a satellite account approach and the two should not be directly compared.聽

Information about the tourism definition used is available in each statistical release.

3. Additional Sector Definitions

Additional analysis is presented in or alongside DCMS Sector Economic Estimates for the audio-visual sector, the computer games sector and the arts and antiques market.聽

Audio-visual sector

The definition of the audio-visual sector (see below) is intended to reflect the sectors covered by the EU Audio-Visual Media Services Directive.

• 59.11 - Motion picture, video and television programme production activities
• 59.12 - Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities
• 59.13 - Motion picture, video and television programme distribution activities
• 59.2 - Sound recording and music publishing activities
• 60.1 - Radio broadcasting
• 60.2 - Television programming and broadcasting activities
• 63.91 - News agency activities
• 63.99 - Other information service activities n.e.c.
• 77.22 - Renting of video tapes and disks
• 77.4 - Leasing of intellectual property and similar products, except copyrighted works

Computer Games sector

The computer games sector combines the 4-digit SIC code 58.21 (Publishing of Computer Games) and the 5-digit SIC code 62.01/1 (Ready-made interactive leisure and entertainment software development).

A number of software programming companies in the whole SIC code 62.01 鈥� 鈥楥omputer programming activities鈥� may also contribute to the output of computer games, as part of a range of programming activities. Only a subset of these (those in 62.01/1) are included in these computer games estimates, however, they will all have been implicitly included in the 鈥業T, software and computer services鈥� creative industries sub-sector in the main estimates.

Arts and antiques market

The arts and antiques market combines two 5-digit SIC codes:

• 47.78/1 - Retail sale in commercial art galleries
• 47.79/1 - Retail sale of antiques including antique books, in stores

4. Further information

For enquiries on this release, please email evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

For general enquiries contact:

Telephone: 020 7211 6000聽

DCMS statisticians can be followed on X via .

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.