DCMS Economic Estimates: Business Demographics, 2025
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-27)

Accredited official statistics providing an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by business numbers and characteristics.

About

These economic estimates are accredited official statistics providing an estimate of the number of businesses in included DCMS Sectors and their demographics.

Headline findings

In March 2025, there were 599,425 businesses in the included DCMS sectors, which represents 21.9% of all UK registered businesses. The number of businesses in the included DCMS sectors increased by 1.5% from March 2024 and by 1.6% from March 2019, though this varied substantially by sector. For context, the number of UK registered businesses was similar to March 2024 (+0.4%) and March 2019 (+0.6%).

Of the 599,425 businesses in the included DCMS sectors in March 2025:
- the vast majority (87.5%) fell into the micro (0 to 9) employment band, a slightly lower proportion than for UK registered businesses in general (89.1%).
71.6% of businesses had a turnover of less than £250,000, a higher proportion than for UK businesses in general (65.3%).
- 24.3% of business sites in the included DCMS sectors were located in London, a higher proportion compared to UK business sites overall (18.8%).
Content

These statistics cover the demographics of businesses in the following DCMS sectors:
- Creative Industries
- Cultural Sector
- Gambling
- Sport
- Tourism industries (constructed on a different basis to the tourism sector estimates in our other economic estimates releases)
These statistics help us to understand the landscape of businesses in included DCMS sectors. However, the number of businesses is not the same as economic performance. A drop in the number of businesses for a sector does not necessarily mean that there has been a corresponding decrease in the sector’s economic output. For example, the number of creative industries businesses fell between 2019 and 2025 whereas GVA over this period is estimated to have increased.

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries. These overlaps are accounted for when calculating DCMS sector totals and therefore the sum of businesses in individual sectors will be greater than the overall DCMS sector total.

Estimates are not available for the civil society sector, because they are not identifiable in the data source used for this release.

Tourism industries estimates in this release are constructed on a different basis to the tourism sector estimates in our other economic estimates and will be larger as they take into account the entire industry rather than strictly tourism activity.

The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector, however these estimates do not form part of the DCMS sector total.

A definition for each sector is available in the published data tables. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Released

These statistics were first published on 27 November 2025.

Feedback

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. DCMS welcomes feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent to DCMS via email at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

Office for Statistics Regulation

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in June 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics (https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/), and should be labelled accredited official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx). Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing xxx@xxx.xx or via the OSR website (https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/).

Pre-release access

The accompanying pre-release access document lists ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Contact

Responsible analyst: Wilmah Tawaziwa

For any queries or feedback, please contact xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).