The Audiovisual sector
in Catalonia

The audiovisual sector is a significant part of Catalonia’s economy, represented currently by 4,000 companies, showing a total turnover of 7,566 million euros and a workforce of 37,178 people.

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Audiovisual, a highly innovative sector.

The audiovisual sector can be divided into two three areas: audiovisual entertainment, corporate communication, advertising and events, and media companies. Audiovisual entertainment leads in terms of aggregate turnover, while the communication, advertising, and events area leads in terms of the number of companies.

Search our database to find Catalan companies working in the Audiovisual sector.

Turnover from the Catalan audiovisual sector amounts to €7,566 million, showing a 6.9% increase compared to the previous year. There are 4,000 companies in the sector, most of them being small or medium-sized enterprises and large companies (1.4% of the total number of companies) invoicing 27.2% of the industry's total revenue.

The audiovisual in Catalonia accounts for 2.8% of the total GDP and employs 37,178 professionals.

Foreign investment in Barcelona-Catalonia

In the 2019-2023 period, Catalonia attracted 460M€ in foreign audiovisual sector investment, almost 56% more than the previous five-year period. In total, during this period, 73 projects were recorded (+12.3%), which resulted in the creation of almost 4,329 new jobs (an increase of 33.6%).

The main countries of origin of these investments are the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

4,000 companies
37,178 professionals
€7,566M in turnover

““Barcelona is a technology-based city with a lot of startups and major technology companies””

Mike Blackman, managing director Integrated Systems Europe (ISE)

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FDI in creative industries

Catalonia is the 5th region in the EU in terms of the number of projects by creative industries. It also accounts for 7.2% of jobs created in the EU and 3.5% of capital invested. In the 2019-2023 period, Catalonia was the top destination for FDI in the number of audiovisual FDI projects in Spain.

Professional talent and trade shows

Catalonia is a center of excellence in design with a strong base of professional talent. The talent also extends to other fields where Catalonia excels, such as creative and technical experts throughout the entire industry, in some part due to the presence of major full-service media groups such as MediaPro.

Catalonia provides an extensive offering of audiovisual studies and a wide range of audiovisual Master's degrees. This talent also generates a dynamic ecosystem of events and fairs that promote and give visibility to the industry, as well as attracting even more fairs to Catalonia’s capital, such as the Integrated Systems Europe event (ISE), the world’s most relevant audiovisual trade fair, previously held in Amsterdam and now held in Barcelona since 2021.

Audiovisual entertainment in the world

Globally, the audiovisual entertainment industry had a total revenue of some $2.4 trillion in 2023, 4.2% more than in 2022. Driving this significant growth are view-on-demand series and the film fiction sector, as well as video games, sports, and other entertainment events, which are the most recent and future growth categories.

Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney are the leading global players in OTT, and total revenues are expected to increase by 3.6% over the next five years. Global revenues generated by cinema and internet advertising are also expected to grow in the coming years.