Overview of the UK's media sector
As consumer trends shift towards easily consumable digital content, media companies are investing in the technology and skills to keep them at the forefront of the UK's creative industries
What is the UK media sector?
It brings together both traditional and digital forms of media and entertainment, including the following mediums:
- books
- cinema
- games
- music, radio and podcasts
- newspapers and magazines
- TV and video.
How much is the industry worth?
According to PwC's Global Entertainment & Media (E&M) Outlook 2024-2028, revenue from the UK media industry was estimated at £100billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to £121billion by 2028, making it the largest media market in Europe.
How many people are employed in the media?
Over 313,000 people were employed in the UK's media and entertainment sector in 2023 (ReportLinker Research).
Statista also revealed that 345,000 people work freelance in the artistic, literary, and media industries (2024).
What areas can I work in?
Employment opportunities in the UK media industry can be grouped into:
- advertising
- animation
- business-to-business (B2B) media
- digital marketing
- film
- interactive media
- journalism
- music
- post-production
- publishing
- radio
- scriptwriting
- special effects
- technical production
- television
- video games
- web design.
Graduate entry roles are often at assistant level and include jobs such as:
As with most other sectors, you can work for larger media companies in other business areas such as finance, information technology (IT), marketing and human resources (HR). You can also explore digital marketing.
If you want to study the subject at Masters level, search postgraduate courses in media production.
Who are the main graduate employers?
Journalism
- Bloomberg
- BuzzFeed
- DMGT (Daily Mail, Metro and New Scientist)
- Guardian Media Group (The Guardian and The Observer)
- The Independent
- Informa
- News UK (The Sun and The Times)
- PA Media
- Reach (The Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star, OK!)
- Telegraph Media Group (The Daily Telegraph)
- Thomson Reuters.
Film and television production
- Aardman Animations
- Archery Pictures
- Baby Cow Productions
- Banijay UK
- DNA Films
- Ealing Studios
- EON Productions
- Fremantle (TalkBack)
- Hat Trick Productions
- Pinewood Studios
- Raw TV
- Real SFX
- Tiger Aspect Productions
- Wall to Wall
- Working Title Films
- Zig Zag Productions.
Publishing
- Anspear (formerly Pearson Publishing)
- Bauer Media
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Faber and Faber
- Future plc
- HarperCollins UK
- Hachette UK (Hodder & Stoughton)
- Hearst Magazines UK
- Oxford University Press
- Penguin Random House.
Video games
- Codemasters
- Electronic Arts (EA)
- Rockstar Games
- Sports Interactive
- Ubisoft.
Media organisations
- Amazon Prime Video
- Apple
- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
- Channel 4
- Global (Classic FM, Heart, Smooth, Radio X and LBC)
- ITV
- News UK (talkSPORT, Virgin Radio)
- Sky UK
- UKTV
- Virgin Media O2
- Warner Bros TV Productions UK.
You can use directories such as Kays and The Knowledge to find media production companies in your area.
What's it like working in the sector?
You can expect:
- freelance work and short contracts to be commonplace
- long and unsociable hours
- opportunities to work away from home or abroad, such as when filming on location or covering foreign affairs as a journalist
- an average graduate starting salary of £27,500 at major employers (according to High Fliers' The Graduate Market in 2024 report), but wages vary considerably.
To discover more about typical salaries and working conditions in your chosen career, see our media job profiles.
Are there any skills shortages?
According to a 2024 report by RSM UK, media organisations are struggling to recruit and retain staff in critical areas such as:
- content creation
- data analytics
- digital skills.
ScreenSkills' Scripted production: assessment of skills shortages and gaps in the UK nations and regions research (October 2022) had already highlighted shortages in the creative industries, with a need for the following roles to be filled across the sector:
- animators, riggers and storyboard artists (all animation)
- editors and edit assistants (film and TV)
- engine coders (video games and VFX)
- hair and make-up artists (film)
- production managers (film and TV)
- 3D/programmers (video games).
Through its High-end Television in the UK 2023/24 workforce research (May 2024), the sector's skills body found some improvement in the demand for crew members to work on high-end TV (HETV) productions in the UK - for example, Gangs of London produced by Pulse Films for Sky TV.
However, its survey of line producers, heads of production and producers showed that nearly two-thirds (64%) of interviewees perceived a 'lack of business and management experience and skills' in its workforce and half (51%) noted a 'lack of relevant craft and technical experience and skills'.
What are the key issues in the media industry?
The state of the media and entertainment industry
This sector can be notoriously difficult to enter, as findings from the latest High Fliers report show. Recruitment targets for 2024 provided by media organisations featuring within The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers (including the BBC, Amazon, Apple, Bloomberg, Penguin Random House, and Sky) were down by over a third (22%) on the previous year to just 522 graduate positions in total.
Over the past few years, the sector has had to deal with a historical shift. According to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), digital services and retailers are driving the entertainment market, with media spending on music, video and games reaching £11.2billion in 2024 - with far less spent on traditional media such as books, magazines and newspapers.
Video
More people are signing up for video subscription services such as Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, NOW TV, and Disney+. These major players helped total video sales reach over £4.8billion in 2024, an increase of 7.5% from the previous year.
If you hope to find a TV production role with a leading media organisation like the BBC or ITV, consider a media apprenticeship.
Film
Statistics released by the British Film Institute (BFI) revealed that UK film and HETV production spent £5.6billion in 2024, generating billions for the economy. The box office total was £979million, generated through hits such as Wicked and Inside Out 2.
With its highly regarded global reputation and a consistently strong independent sector, the UK film industry remains a vibrant and exciting place to work. Read about jobs in the film industry.
Video gaming
Gaming is the entertainment industry's second-biggest income generator after video. In 2024, spending on physical and digital games accounted for just over £4.6billion, more than twice as much as music sales.
New technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are opening up opportunities to work for gaming and other creative agencies. Most programmer roles involve creating coding in a specialist game engine such as Unity or Unreal. Explore video game careers.
Journalism
Journalism remains a popular career choice, but with newsrooms shrinking following the decline of print publications and the challenge of making money from online news, there's plenty of competition for jobs.
With only around 50,000 journalists in reporting and editing roles for written and broadcast media in the UK, you'll need to demonstrate your commitment by securing work experience. Discover our 5 tips for getting media experience.
Developing a range of skills, such as working with video, data, and social media, is essential for the modern journalist. Explore journalism courses.
Find out more
- Consider a career in music.
- Read about becoming a professional photographer.
- Discover how to get into publishing.