Creative industries

Creative industries usually include such areas of economics as the art industry, photography, advertising, jewelry, performing arts, printing, publishing, cinema, television and radio broadcasting, information technology, software and video game development, musical instrument production, architecture and design, cultural heritage protection, museum, library and archival business, design and creative education.

• IT market of Russia
• Entertainment in Russia
• Media in Russia
• Cinema of Russia
• Advertising (Russian market)

Chronicle

2023

The volume of Moscow's creative economy grew to ₽5,8 trillion over the year

The revenue of the creative industries of Moscow in 2023 increased by 47% compared to 2021 and reached ₽5,8 trillion. The creative industries include companies in the film industry, publishing, fashion, music and video games. This was announced by the Director General of the Agency for Creative Industries Gulnara Agamova in June 2025.

According to Vedomosti, the growth rate of creative companies turned out to be higher than that of urban business as a whole. The amount of taxes of metropolitan organizations in the field of creative industries in 2023 increased by 35% compared to 2021 to ₽392,3 billion. Agamova noted that these indicators are comparable to income from education and consumer services.

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Фото: Department of Culture of Moscow

This dynamics is due to the fact that in recent years Muscovites and Russians as a whole have become more interested in domestic companies, their products and services. Agamova explained that the trend strengthened after 2022, when the departure of foreign brands created gaps in the markets and opened up opportunities for Russian business.

Another reason for the growth was the launch and development in Moscow of infrastructure and support measures for creative entrepreneurs. In 2019, a megaproject was launched to create the Moscow Film Cluster. In 2020, the Creative Industries Agency was launched to target creative business assistance.

The policy of support by the Moscow authorities for the creative sector has led to an increase in the number of creative companies in the capital. At the end of 2024, according to the AKI, there were approximately 113,500 such organizations in the city, which is 6% more than in 2023.

The driver of creative industries, according to Agamova, is the "huge export potential" of creative products. She emphasized the high demand for Russian creative products. In addition to the direct economic effect, this contributes to solving the problem of promoting Russian culture and traditions on the world stage.

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Industry growth by 27% to 14.5 trillion rubles

At the end of 2023, the volume of the creative sector in Russia amounted to 14.5 trillion rubles. For comparison, in 2022 this figure was estimated at 11.4 trillion rubles. Thus, growth was recorded at 27%. This is stated in the review of the Institute for Statistical Research and Knowledge Economics of the Higher School of Economics, published on December 16, 2024.

It is noted that the creative sector is a significant component of the Russian economy, providing a contribution GDP of 3.5% and 3.7% to revenue. This is comparable to the share of agriculture and forestry, hunting, fishing and fish farming (3.7% of Russia's GDP). For comparison: the contribution of creative industries to global GDP is 3.1% (data UNESCO for 2022).

The industries "Software," "Advertising and PR" and "Fashion" differ in the largest economic scale. They account for 49% of organizations, 66% of individual entrepreneurs and 60% of the revenue of the entire creative sector. In general, the Tor-10 creative industries in terms of income in 2023 include:

1. Software - 4.4 trillion rubles;

2. Fashion - 2.3 trillion rubles;

3. Advertising and PR - 2 trillion rubles;

4. Architecture and urban studies - 0.8 trillion rubles;

5. Gastronomy - 0.8 trillion rubles;

6. Media and media - 0.6 trillion rubles;

7. Movies and TV shows - 0.4 trillion rubles;

8. Jewelry - 0.4 trillion rubles;

9. Book business - 0.3 trillion rubles;

10. Performing arts - 0.1 trillion rubles.

At the end of 2023, 4.6 million people were employed in the creative economy of Russia (plus 0.3 million in relation to 2022), or 6.2% of the total number of people employed in the country. This indicator takes into account not only those employed in creative sector organizations, but also representatives of creative professions working in other types of economic activities (for example, designers in banks).^[2]

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