Historical data
Focus on PDV
Income

Sources of income | Income by production type and source | Income by business size

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Service Industry Survey, the Australian production and post-production services industry earned $427.6 million – or 21.1 per cent of its entire $2,028.1 million income – from the provision of PDV services in 2006/07.

This represents a 14 per cent increase since 2002/03 ($375 million) or an average annual increase of 3.3 per cent.¹ Of this, $402.3 million was earned by PDV businesses and the remainder by other businesses (i.e. those that did not earn the majority of their income from PDV). See Business trends > Income and expenditure.

For PDV businesses, income from PDV services made up 90.6 per cent of their total earnings of $444 million in 2006/07, which also includes income from production services (e.g. directors’ and producers’ fees), production of various forms of audiovisual content and other income such as interest.

Visual editing (including special effects)² accounted for 57.5 per cent ($255.1 million) of PDV businesses’ total income, duplication for 11.5 per cent ($51.1 million) and sound editing for 4.5 per cent ($20 million). Film laboratory, transferring and other miscellaneous PDV services were worth $76.1 million (17.1 per cent). Income from virtually all sources, with the notable exception of visual editing, was lower than 2002/03.

Animation and visual effects have driven significant growth in visual editing income, which has increased from $114.7 million in 2002/03, although direct comparisons between years are complicated by the inclusion of non-employing businesses in all 2006/07 figures (these had not been included previously). The 2006/07 survey also included separate measures for animation and visual effects for the first time, which were worth $80.7 million and $69.8 million respectively. Combined, they made up 33.9 per cent of the total income earned by PDV businesses. Subtitling was worth $53.1 million, in comparison.

Some PDV firms have developed and commercialised proprietary projects of their own. For example, Animal Logic has undertaken research and development on software such as Maxman, Mayaman and Softman, and Rising Sun Pictures has formed a development company and created cineSpace (a form of film colour-calibration software used by companies worldwide).³ These types of projects provide additional income beyond the provision of PDV services but are not recorded separately in the ABS survey and therefore cannot be quantified. They are most likely recorded in ‘other income’, which for PDV businesses was worth $29.2 million in 2006/07.

Sources of Income for PDV businesses, 1996/97, 1999/00, 2002/03 and 2006/07

Income from PDV services by production type and source, 2006/07

In 2006/07, for the first time, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Service Industry Survey has broken down post-production income by production type (i.e. format or genre) and source (i.e. whether the businesses to which the services were provided were Australian or foreign). This data, however, includes post-production income earned by film and video production businesses as well as by PDV businesses. See Business trends > Income and expenditure.

Most post-production income was earned on feature films (36.9 per cent) and television commercials (31.8 per cent). Television programs made up a further 19.2 per cent, with TV drama making up only 5.7 per cent.

Income from the provision of post-production services came mainly from Australian businesses (72 per cent).

Income by size of business, 1996/97, 1999/00, 2002/03 and 2006/07

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Service Industry Survey, the largest PDV businesses (those employing over 50 people) earned the greatest percentage of total income in the PDV sector; however, their share decreased from 63.9 per cent in 2002/03 to 57.8 per cent in 2006/07. The smaller businesses (those employing fewer than five people) have increased their share, but this may be largely due to the inclusion of non-employing businesses for the first time in 2006/07, which accounted for 4.8 per cent of PDV businesses’ estimated total income.