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Australia’s screen and games sector contributed AUD11.1 billion ($7.9 billion) to the economy in gross value added in fiscal year 2023/24 and directly employed 68,844 people in FY 2024/25, according to Screen Currency
2026, a landmark Screen Australia study.
The report singles out “Bluey” as the country’s most effective cultural export, citing the children’s series as the most-streamed show in the U.S. in 2025 and the most recognized Australian title among international survey respondents.
Of the total GVA, AUD$10.8 billion ($7.7 billion) came from screen and AUD$317 million ($225 million) from games. Employment split similarly, with 66,080 jobs in screen and 2,764 in digital games development, a sector the report describes as Australia’s fastest-growing, with growth rates outpacing the rest of the industry.
Exports reached AUD1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) in FY 2023/24, made up of AUD$1.3 billion ($923 million) in screen exports and $323 million ($229 million) in games exports. Games exports climbed at a 15.4% average annual clip between 2016/17 and 2023/24 – more than three times the pace of screen exports, which grew at 4.7% annually since 2008/09 – and now make up roughly a fifth of the sector’s total export earnings. After a decline, royalty exports rebounded to AUD415 million ($295 million) in FY 2024/25.
Australia had 188 registered digital games businesses in FY 2021/22, growing at a 15.3% average annual clip since 2015/16, according to the report. But IP ownership across the sector remains uneven: 45% of games businesses retain full rights to their titles at first release, 15% hold partial rights and 40% own none at all. Industry stakeholders cautioned against reading too much into individual breakout hits. One games executive interviewed for the study said titles like “Untitled Goose Game,” “Unpacking” and “Hollow Knight: Silksong” tend to come from small teams that found a niche audience, adding that “success depends on a multitude of factors that are often just not in the control of game makers.”
Despite the sector’s scale, the report found a gap between how much Australians value local content and how much of it they actually consume. 84% of Australians rated local screen content as important to have access to, and 75% want more of it, but only 36% consider it easy to find, and nearly two-thirds watch it for under 30% of their total viewing time.
The report also ties local content to national identity. More than three in four Australians (77%) say quality local content leaves them feeling proud to be Australian, and 78% say it contributes to a distinctive Australian identity. Similarly, 78% say it helps preserve and share Australian culture, and 71% say it connects them to the country’s past and cultural heritage.
Minister for the Arts Tony Burke tied the findings to government policy on local content quotas. “Australians know how valuable it is to see our stories, experiences and talent on screen,” Burke said. “Australian content shapes our culture, discussions and our understanding of each other, and gives us that all-important sense of belonging.”
Burke added that the government is “working to build on the momentum of Revive” through a new National Cultural Policy, pointing to new legislation requiring streaming services to carry a minimum amount of Australian content.
When Screen Australia tested recognition of 11 recent Australian titles internationally, the U.K. and New Zealand topped the list at 88% apiece, followed by India at 80%, the U.S. at 67%, China at 65%, Canada at 61%, Singapore at 60% and Germany at 46%. Across the eight international markets surveyed, around half of respondents said Australian film and TV had made them more interested in visiting the country one day, led by China and India at 68% each, followed by New Zealand at 52%, Singapore at 51% and the U.K. at 49%.
Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan said the findings point to a sector at an inflection point. “While audience choices become increasingly global and algorithm-led, Screen Currency 2026 confirms local TV, film, direct-to-audience content and games matter deeply to Australians and clearly resonate around the world,” Brennan said.
Brennan said the sector is “in a pivotal moment of transformation,” with future success dependent on businesses building durable intellectual property, strengthening audience relationships and improving discoverability in a market increasingly shaped by algorithms and platform recommendations rather than active search.
Government funding, direct and indirect, has grown substantially and is now the leading source of finance behind Australian narrative drama, documentary and children’s television specifically, the report found, alongside a mix of public grants, broadcaster and platform licence fees, and private capital that productions typically draw on together.
The report draws on 16 supporting case studies spanning both screen and games. Among the screen titles are “Bluey,” “MasterChef Australia,” “Heartbreak High,” “Mystery Road,” “First Australians” and “War on Waste”; the games slate includes “Untitled Goose Game,” “Unpacking” and “Hollow Knight: Silksong,” which the report credits with achieving breakout commercial and critical success and building loyal international fan bases.
“MasterChef Australia,” now in its 18th season on Network Ten since its 2009 debut, is highlighted as an example of a local format achieving lasting global reach. Produced first by Fremantle Media Australia and, since 2012, by Endemol Shine Australia (ESA) – now owned by Banijay – the series brings in an estimated AUD700 million ($500 million) each year through licensing and other commercial revenue for Banijay, according to the Australian Financial Review. It airs in more than 120 countries and has spawned roughly 60 localized adaptations internationally.
ESA CEO Peter Newman credited the format’s tone for its longevity. “The nature of the judging is positive and the contestants are set up to succeed, not to fail,” Newman said. “There’s a kind of camaraderie and a team spirit encouraged between contestants rather than fighting and conflict.”
Newman called the show “one of the greatest television exports in Australian television’s history,” pointing to its reach across more than 100 territories including India, the U.K., the Philippines and South Africa, and describing it as “not just a television export, it’s a cultural export.”
ESA COO Scott Howard said Australia’s success adapting formats like “MasterChef” has not been matched by investment in original local IP. He pointed to post-production training initiatives developed with support from the New South Wales government as a model, and said the industry needs more support to develop homegrown intellectual property rather than adapting formats developed elsewhere.
“Screen Currency 2026” draws on more than 40 stakeholder consultations and 18 research partners across five research teams, with more than 13,750 participants including 13,550 respondents across six surveys in Australia and international markets. The findings are presented across five reports – Overview, Audience, Industry, Economic and Global – alongside the case studies.
