29/01/2013 - Great internationalisation capacities and investment into research and development have lifted a sector otherwise dragged down by scarcity of trained personnel and inability to retain talent

In 2012, Spanish-produced animation for cinema as well as for television and other mediums revealed itself to be one of the main motors of the audiovisual sector. According to consultancy company Rooter employed by Diboos (the federation of associations of animation producers) which published the 2012 animation white book, the sector is planning on increasing its income in the next five years by a rate of 19% a year, in order to get to €879 million in 2017 (compared to 306 in 2011).

The overall impact of the animation industry on the Spanish economy amounts to €729 million with over 5,000 people directly employed by it (with those indirectly employed, the amount increases to 8,599). According to growth forecasts, the total amount of jobs will rise to 21,000 by 2017.

Spanish animation cinema is characterised by its great capacity for internationalisation. Indeed, 62% of producers export their content abroad, extracting between 38% and 70% of their revenue from such efforts. Another trait resulting from this openness is the great number of co-productions (70%), mainly involving other countries of the European Union.

Examples of this strong internationalisation include feature film Las aventuras de Tadeo Jones [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (photo – sold in 35 countries, including China) the Pocoyó series (present in over 150 countries) and Jelly Jamm (in 165).

Animation is also investing in research and development, with 67% of companies dedicating between 12% and 30% of their workforce towards such a mission. Other Spanish industries are only investing 2% in these activities.

The news isn’t all good. The biggest hole to be filled in animation is that of training. According to the study, there is a clear lack of trained personnel due to a lack of publically regulated training programmes, creating an inability to attract or retain talent.

The animation white book can be downloaded here.

(Translated from Spanish)