Launch of Kenya’s First Film Industry Satellite Account

The Kenya film industry has great potential to stimulate economic growth through infrastructural development, tourism, investment, employment creation and other areas.

The industry broadly comprises two intimately linked components: the Production industry, which produces content for both film and television viewing, and the Distribution side, which comprises businesses that sell and supply produced film content to cinemas, television broadcasters, rental, retail and/or online outlets.

Other components of the film industry are the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking such as film companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, preproduction, post-production, film festivals, distribution, directors, actors and other film crew personnel.

Kenya’s Film industry has continued to witness rapid growth owing to the liberalization of the media environment. Whilst its significance in the economy is believed to be high, clarity with respect to what constitutes the industry in terms of value addition, trade, investment, and employment is lacking. Unlike other economic activities, Film is not clearly defined as an industry but rather, an amalgamation of various industries. As a result, the industry’s direct contribution to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not measured.
To establish the Film industry’s direct contribution to GDP, required development of a satellite account. A satellite account allows for flexibility in the rearrangement of classification of economic activities. Kenya’s first Film Industry Satellite Account (FISA) is a collaborative effort of the Kenya Film Commission, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

The Film Industry Satellite Account (FISA) represents a pioneering effort to comprehensively assess and quantify the economic contribution of the Film industry to Kenya’s economy. To achieve this, FISA will estimate the revenue/output/turnover generated in the Film industry; value addition – Gross Value added in the Film industry; level of investment in the Film industry, i.e., gross capital formation/fixed assets; wage employment and type of jobs generated by the Film industry in Kenya, and earnings of those employed in the Film industry.

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