Videogame companies dominate Canadian media industry

A new study from the Canadian Interactive Alliance/l'Alliance Interactive Canadienne (CIAIC) estimates that revenue from interactive digital media work grew by 50.9 per cent from 2006 to 2008, to a total of CAD 4.7 billion (USD 4.3 billion).

A total of 85 per cent of the companies studied were wholly Canadian-owned, with 60 to 70 per cent of projects based on original intellectual properties. The study estimates the total number of interactive media companies in Canada at 2960 - employing around 52,000 employees.

A third of respondents indicated that they worked in five or more interactive digital media task categories, although 46 per cent of industry revenue came from just two categories: game design and development and website design and development.

The CIAIC also released a more detailed analysis of Ontario alone. The province is estimated to be home to around 950 to 1050 interactive digital media companies, with more than 16,000 staff generating between CAD 1.1-1.2 billion (USD 998 million-1.09 billion) in revenues.

"The Ontario government has identified the entertainment and creative cluster as the fastest-growing sector of our economy over the next 10 years, led by the interactive digital media industries - and the latest findings from the CIIP certainly bear that out," said Karen Thorne-Stone, president and CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

The full CIIP (Canadian Interactive Industry Profile) report can be found online at the CIAIC website.