The Philippines has a vast opportunity to increase its share in the global creative industries as streaming services and ecommerce are reshaping the production and distribution of creative goods.

Citing Philippine Statistics Authority data, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Competitiveness and Innovation Group Director Lilian Salonga said the music streaming market in the country has generated a revenue of about $77 million, representing about 31.4 percent compounding annual growth from 2019 to 2023.

Salonga said the music sector’s contribution to the creative industry accounted for about 8.8 percent in 2023, which amounted to P18.1 billion.

“...And additionally, P-pop’s rising popularity has driven about 800 percent increase daily in Spotify and also of course other streaming that are known globally. This highlights the sector’s rapid growth for the creative sector,” she said during the recent General Membership Meeting of Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PHILEXPORT).

In 2019 to 2023, Salonga said the total Philippine merchandise exports on creative goods reached a peak of $1.2 billion.

56th of 132 economies

The Philippines ranked 56th among the 132 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index 2023, and even ranked 10th in creative goods exports within the ASEAN region.

“(This) highlights the country’s growth position in global trade. Of course, there is still a vast opportunity if we look at the country in gaining leadership,” she added.

Salonga said seizing (S -Pillar 5) market opportunities to position the Philippines as a global creative leader is among the five pillars strategy under the DTI’s Malikhaing Pinoy Program which supports the implementation of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act.

B.E.A.M.S. Framework

Also part of the B.E.A.M.S. Framework are B for building the creative ecosystem (Pillar 1), E is for empowering creative workforce (Pillar 2), A for accelerating inclusive innovation (Pillar 3) and M for mobilizing financial support (Pillar 4) she said.

“I would like to emphasize that in the plan, pillar 1 and 5 in building ecosystem and seizing market opportunities are directly interacting with each other and leveraging on a global brand to increase the demand for Filipino creative products, networking and supporting market access and investments, as well as integrating design thinking into the business models likewise help us shape our exports landscape to become sustainable from processes to market promotion,” she added.

As reported in the Creative Economy Outlook 2024 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Salonga further said the global creative service exports surged about $1.4 trillion in 2022, a 29-percent increase since 2017. Creative goods also grew by 19 percent to $713 billion.

The UNCTAD report said creative services now represent 19 percent of all global service exports, up from 12 percent a decade ago.