Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the culture and sport sectors in Canada decreased by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2025, a second consecutive quarterly decline following a 0.3% decrease in the fourth quarter of 2024. On a nominal basis, GDP for the culture and sport sectors increased 0.2% in the first quarter of 2025 following a 0.4% increase in the previous quarter.
The total number of jobs attributable to culture and sport fell by 4,862 (-0.6%) in the first quarter of 2025. This followed a decrease of 4,332 jobs (-0.6%) in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Film and video faces challenges in recent quarters
Nominal GDP for the culture sector edged up 0.2% to $16.5 billion in the first quarter of 2025, following a 0.3% increase in the fourth quarter of 2024. Growth occurred in six of the nine culture domains in the first quarter, led by a 0.8% increase in visual and applied arts. However, overall growth was curbed by declines in the written and published works domain (-1.0%), the audio-visual and interactive media domain (-0.2%) and the live performance domain (-0.3%).
As part of the audio-visual and interactive media domain, the film and video subdomain posted a particularly large decrease in the first quarter (-4.3%). This continued a downward trend from the previous two quarters as US film and media spending failed to recover as expected following the Hollywood strikes and Canadian media companies continued to struggle financially.
The decline seen in the live performance domain reflected a return to more usual levels following the exceptional increase recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024 (+4.6%), coinciding with Taylor Swift's Eras Tour dates in Canada.
Nominal GDP in the sport sector grew 0.8% during the first quarter of 2025, following 0.6% growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. The largest growth was seen in the organized sport subdomain during both quarters, increasing 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 1.7% in the first quarter of 2025 as the world junior hockey championship spanned across this period.
Chart 1: Culture and sport nominal gross domestic product (GDP), quarterly
Description - Chart 1
Data table: Culture and sport nominal gross domestic product (GDP), quarterly
Note: Q = Quarter.
Source: Table 36-10-0652-01.
Culture jobs continue to decline
The culture sector lost 5,602 jobs (-0.8%) in the first quarter of 2025, the third consecutive quarterly decline. The audio-visual and interactive media domain has been the main contributor to job losses across all three quarters, with jobs falling by 9,866 since the second quarter of 2024. All areas of this domain experienced challenges, with job losses in the film and video subdomain joined by smaller declines in both the subdomains of broadcasting and interactive media. The written and published works domain also contributed to the recent declines, with decreases of 1,366 jobs (-1.5%) in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 741 jobs (-0.8%) in the first quarter of 2025.
Jobs attributable to sport grew by 0.7% (+740 jobs) in the first quarter of 2025, following little change in the fourth quarter of 2024. There was little impact on organized sport employment in the fourth quarter of 2024 (+0.4%; +145 jobs) despite the presence of the world junior hockey championship. This likely reflects an uptick in hours worked of existing venue employees rather than an increase in the number of jobs at these venues.
Chart 2: Change in jobs by culture domain, first quarter of 2025
Description - Chart 2
Data table: Change in jobs by culture domain, first quarter of 2025
1. The heritage and libraries domain includes only private institutions. All institutions owned or operated by the government (federal, provincial or municipal) are included in the governance, funding and professional support (culture) domain.
2. Government-owned or government-operated institutions (except schools, colleges and universities) are in the governance, funding and professional support domain even if their activity falls within the scope of one of the other subdomains. For example, a government-operated library would be included in the governance, funding and professional support (culture) domain and not in the libraries subdomain.
3. The multi-domain category includes culture industries that are associated with more than one culture domain: the culture portion of the convention and trade show organizers, manufacturing and reproducing unrecorded media, lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets (except copyrighted works), and Internet broadcasting and web search portal industries. These culture industries all affect more than one culture domain but cannot be easily allocated to a single domain; therefore, they have been aggregated. As of 2017, publishers publishing exclusively on the Internet were moved from the multi-domain to their associated subdomain within written and published works.
Source: Table 36-10-0652-01.
Note to readers
The National Culture Indicators are an extension of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account and the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI).
With this release, Quarterly Trade in Culture and Sport indicators are now available upon request.
Revisions
With this release, data for the first quarter of 2025 and fourth quarter of 2024 are being released for the first time. Alongside this, data back to the first quarter of 2021 were revised to incorporate the changes in the annual 2023 PTCI. See Revisions under the PTCI for more information.
Data
Data are available for gross domestic product (GDP) in nominal, basic prices and constant prices (2017 prices).
Data on real GDP (corrected for price changes) are provided as a means to examine economic growth within the culture and sport sectors, as well as to make comparisons with other sectors.
Unless otherwise stated, GDP in this release refers to nominal GDP, at basic prices.
Growth rates in this release are represented as the percentage change in the series from one quarter to the next unless otherwise stated.
Data have been seasonally adjusted. All data are based on the product perspective.
Information about which products are incorporated into each subdomain is available in the Canadian Culture Satellite Account methodology.
Audio-visual and interactive media and visual and applied arts
Refinements to the video game publishing and design and development industries and to the computer systems design and related services industry were introduced starting in the first quarter of 2016 to improve estimates around video game development and website design. They affect the design and interactive media subdomains of the visual and applied arts domain and the audio-visual and interactive media domain, respectively.
There is a noticeable break in the data series in the interactive media and design subdomains from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016. This break does not represent a real change in economic conditions. Estimates prior to the first quarter of 2016 are on the old basis and should be used with caution.
Reference
Data table: 36-10-0652-01.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5360.
Previous release: National culture indicators, third quarter 2024.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).