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International context
Trade in television content

Value of royalty trade in television releases, 1991/92–2015/16

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Expenditure on television programs imported from all territories rose by 17 per cent from $1,049 million in 2014/15 to $1,224 million in 2015/16. Exports, which have a tendency to fluctuate, fell by 3 per cent from $134 million in 2014/15 to $130 million in 2015/16.

Since 2005/06, only 3 per cent of exports were to the US market while 35 per cent were to the UK. This contrasts starkly with imports, with 52 per cent from the US and 16 per cent from the UK.

Royalty classification is based on the type of market rather than the type of product, so trade in TV programs includes sales of feature films for television screening. It also includes sales of program formats, where foreign territories purchase the rights to produce their own versions of programs.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also reports figures for unidentified audiovisual imports and exports, a portion of which may be for television releases. In 2015/16, there was $62 million in exports and $20 million in imports in this category.

Download the spreadsheet for country breakdowns of all categories since 2005/06.
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Value of royalty trade in television releases, 2005/06–2015/16

Graph: Value of royalty trade in television, 1991/92-2014/15. Table below has the data.

2005/06–2015/16

Exports ($m) Imports ($m) Deficit ($m)
US UK Other All US UK Other All
Proportion
2005/06–2014/15
3% 35% 62% 100% 52% 16% 32% 100%
2005/06 4 38 89 131 -280 -59 -174 -513 -382
2006/07 2 46 40 88 -297 -64 -177 -538 -450
2007/08 3 34 132 169 -338 -70 -164 -572 -403
2008/09 7 26 55 88 -417 -114 -387 -918 -830
2009/10 4 n.p. 68 72 -371 -123 -213 -707 -635
2010/11 1 40 30 71 -376 -160 -242 -778 -707
2011/12 1 38 38 77 -411 -161 -241 -809 -732
2012/13 2 39 38 79 -403 -162 -375 -940 -861
2013/14 7 40 71 118 -408 -126 -309 -843 -725
2014/15 1 41 92 134 -584 -178 -287 -1,049 -915
2015/16 1 38 91 130 -756 -212 -256 -1,224 -1,094

Source: Unpublished data from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Balance of Payments and International Investment Position (cat. no. 5302.0).

Notes:
Methodology differs from 1991/92–2004/05 data.
n.p. Not available for publication but included in totals where applicable.

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1991/92–2004/05

Exports ($m) Imports ($m) Deficit ($m)
1991/92 36 -240 -204
1992/93 39 -242 -203
1993/94 62 -268 -206
1994/95 79 -272 -193
1995/96 101 -312 -211
1996/97 134 -272 -138
1997/98 115 -357 -242
1998/99 134 -432 -298
1999/00 182 -449 -267
2000/011 1,209 -471 738
2001/02 124 -538 -414
2002/03 158 -489 -331
2003/04 179 -529 -350
2004/05 140 -616 -476

Source: Unpublished data from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Balance of Payments and International Investment Position (cat. no. 5302.0).
Includes Australian Film Commission (AFC) estimates. Data revised by the ABS December 2006: 2000/01 export figures as reported by the ABS at June 2006.

Notes:
Before 2005/06, the AFC estimated the total import and export value of television releases by apportioning an amount from the unidentified audiovisual import and export categories reported by the ABS to television release and combining this with the reported television category. Therefore, any comparisons between figures before and after 2005/06 should be made with caution.
1. The figure for export royalties in 2000/01 is particularly high due audiovisual royalties earned by SOCOG (the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games).

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