Hampshire has one of the largest creative and cultural presences outside of London.
Business and employee concentrations in the creative sector are above the national average, notably in the upper M3/M25 corridor. At its heart, we have the ‘Hollywood of Videogames’, a cluster of globally-renowned creative content excellence in Guildford. With more than 10% of the UK's game development workforce located in the Guildford and Aldershot travel to work area alone and an ongoing history of strong inward investment, the region’s position as an example of creative prestige is secure.
Overall, this sector is worth an estimated £4.5 billion, 8% of the total economy of the area. This past year has seen growing demand for creative and cultural talent, with Guildford, Rushmoor, and Basingstoke and Deane seeing the highest demand for jobs. Creative IT software and computer services are the largest sub-sector, but creative media production has experienced robust business growth over the past decade.