Media Release

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has welcomed the release of Screen Australia’s summary findings from its new Screen Currency 2026 research, which point to the significant economic and cultural value generated by Australia’s screen sector, while also highlighting critical challenges around the discoverability of Australian stories, Australian intellectual property and the long-term sustainability of Australian screen businesses.

Screen Australia says its new Screen Currency 2026 research examines the economic, social and cultural value generated by Australia’s screen and games sectors. SPA looks forward to reviewing the full body of research following its release and examining the findings in greater detail.

According to Screen Australia’s summary findings, the screen and games sectors generated more than $11 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the Australian economy in 2023–24, and directly employed nearly 70,000 people in 2024–25.

Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner said the scale of the economic contribution was significant but cautioned against viewing headline production activity as a measure of the health of Australia’s domestic screen industry.

“These headline figures point to the enormous value of screen production to Australia, but they also underline why we need to look much more closely at what sits behind the headline numbers,” Mr Deaner said.

“There is an important distinction between productions being made in Australia and Australian stories being made and owned by Australian businesses.

“International productions choosing Australia are an important and welcome part of our screen ecosystem. They create jobs, develop skills and bring substantial investment into the country.

“But service production on international projects cannot be a substitute for investment in Australian stories and Australian intellectual property. We need both if we want a genuinely sustainable screen industry.”

SPA says the headline findings must also be considered in the context of broader challenges facing Australian producers, including declining commissioning opportunities, the balance between international service production and investment in Australian stories, and financing and deal structures that can limit producers’ ability to participate in the long-term value of their work.

“Being a world-class production destination is something Australia should be proud of, but our ambition must extend beyond being the place where other countries come to make their stories,” Mr Deaner said.

“We must also have a strong domestic industry capable of developing, financing, producing and exporting our own.”

Australians value local stories but struggle to find them

Screen Australia’s summary findings point to a concerning disconnect between Australians’ appetite for local content and their ability to find and consume it.

According to the summary findings, 84 per cent of Australians value access to Australian content and 75 per cent are interested in watching more. Despite this, 60 per cent spend less than 30 per cent of their viewing time on local content and only 36 per cent say it is easy to find.

“This should concern anyone who cares about the future of Australian stories,” Mr Deaner said.

“There is clearly an appetite for Australian content. The challenge is ensuring those stories are commissioned in sufficient volume and can then be found in an increasingly crowded and fragmented global content environment.

“Making Australian content available somewhere within a streaming catalogue is not the same as making it visible to Australian audiences.

“Prominence, discoverability and meaningful promotion of Australian content need to be part of the conversation about how we ensure Australians continue to see their own stories on screen.”

Creating value without sharing in its success

Screen Australia’s summary findings identify small-to-medium businesses as the creative engine rooms of Australia’s screen production sector and highlights the need to support these businesses to develop high-quality intellectual property and remain sustainable over the long term.

SPA said a fundamental challenge for the sustainability of Australian production businesses is ensuring producers have opportunities to participate in the ongoing value generated by the content they create.

“Producers invest years developing projects, assembling creative teams, securing financing and carrying the considerable risk involved in getting an Australian story onto the screen,” Mr Deaner said.

“Yet increasingly, deals can provide an upfront production fee without meaningful opportunities for producers to participate in the backend or future revenues generated when that content succeeds.

“That might finance the production in front of you, but it does not necessarily build the sustainable Australian production businesses we need to develop and finance the next generation of Australian stories.

“A healthy independent production sector needs businesses that can build value over time, retain and exploit intellectual property and reinvest returns from successful projects into developing new Australian content.”

Mr Deaner said this distinction was particularly important as Australia considered the future policy settings for the sector.

“We should absolutely celebrate international investment and the thousands of Australian jobs it supports. But high levels of expenditure associated with productions being made here should never be mistaken for evidence that the Australian screen industry itself is in good health.

“The real test is whether we are creating enough Australian stories, whether Australians can find and watch them, and whether the Australian businesses responsible for creating them can build sustainable businesses from their success.”

SPA said Screen Australia’s summary findings raise important questions for government and industry as they consider the settings required to support the sector over the coming decade, including through the development of Australia’s next National Cultural Policy.

“These initial findings point to the enormous economic, cultural and social value generated by screen content,” Mr Deaner said.

“The opportunity now is to ensure more of that value translates into Australian stories, Australian intellectual property and sustainable Australian production businesses.

“Without that, we risk becoming an increasingly successful place to make the world’s content while diminishing our capacity to make and own our own.”

“We look forward to reviewing the full body of Screen Currency research and engaging with Screen Australia, Government and our members on what the findings tell us about the settings needed to support a sustainable Australian screen industry.”