The information and cultural industries of arts, entertainment, and recreation remains an important employer within British Columbia and a significant contributor to the province’s GDP. In 2023, it was recorded that there were over 136,000 people employed in the sector – marking around 2.5 percent of British Columbia’s population.
Naturally, the hope would be that the sector would grow in terms of jobs and GDP over the coming years. In other provinces, this looks to be the case, and more opportunities may arise with the increased prominence of digital businesses across Canada dealing in new entertainment sectors and classic ones.
A Troubling Decline in Entertainment Work
Overall, the Information and Cultural Industries, Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation isn’t doing too well in the province. The British Columbia stats from the government’s website show two distinct lines. The Information sector has maintained a 3.8 percent annual growth in GDP since 2018 and now contributes $10.7 billion.
In the 2023 figures, it was also seen that employment in the sector grew by 3.1 percent. The other side of the market (Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation) saw a hefty contraction of 17.5 percent in its GDP contributions in 2023. Yet, employment shot up by 8.3 percent that year. Some of this is put down to a transformation taking place.
By comparison, using figures from the same source, Ontario’s 165,200 employees in Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation amounted to 2.2 percent of the province’s workforce, growing by 27.1 percent in 2022. It also contributed $5.6 billion in GDP to Ontario. Ontario’s sector is smaller, but is seemingly on the rise.
Digital Businesses Becoming Increasingly Key
Locally, the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector in British Columbia is expected to do well as the economic landscape improves. The growth to $281 billion from 2018 to 2023 is expected to continue, particularly thanks to local consumer spending. Also contributing will be the increased demands for the associated Information sector jobs.
The “global demand for digital products” is stated specifically as a chance for growth in the report, particularly because BC is already competitive on the global scene. The province has long been forward-thinking and keen to adopt new technologies and new digital industries, with many of them becoming entrenched in BC.
One of the most recent additions to the digital entertainment landscape in BC is iGaming. Upon entry, the keys to the industry were handed to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, forming a monopoly over online gambling. Even with this, the BCLC reported a net income of $1.5 billion in 2023/24 that went to the province.
In Ontario, the setup is very different. It’s an open market with 50 operators, which forces a need for sites to compete for players. It’s because of this that a site that wants to appeal as the go-to place for Ontario slots will host over 2,100 online and add more every week. This landscape has led to $825.8 million in total revenues in Q3 of 2024/25 alone.
Further Business Exploits in the Digital Realm
As digital technologies evolve, they can before more and more useful across entertainment. From the wholly-online space of iGaming to making movies, better technologies for graphic design, internet speeds, and hardware for all help to advance the sector further while presenting opportunities for growth and work.
Across Canada, a key part of this process is that British Columbia and several other provinces are tapping into is visual effects. Echoing back to the comparisons made so far, one of the country’s top VFX businesses has offices in both Vancouver and Toronto as well as Montréal. The Redefine team has even won awards for its work, including for its contributions to the superb series The Penguin.
Along with Redefine, Scanline VFX also calls Vancouver and Montréal home. The studio, which is powered by Netflix, has worked on a whole host of VFX-heavy productions, including 3 Body Problem, Meg 2: The Trench, Shadow and Bone, and Andor. You could also add the Toronto-Montréal studio MPC VFX to the mix as well.
There’s a sense of positivity around British Columbia’s entertainment and associated sectors. As digital businesses get more and more of a foothold with better technologies at their disposal, the sector and its contributions to jobs and GDP will presumably see its growth rates increase.