Screen Currency 2026

Understanding the value of Australian screen and games

Through five reports and supporting case studies, Screen Currency 2026 explores how audiences now engage with Australian screen and digital games and how local content is created, financed and made available.

The research confirms Australian stories and games matter deeply to Australians and increasingly resonate with audiences globally. Future success will depend not simply on producing great content. It requires support to help Australian businesses build enduring intellectual property, strengthen audience relationships, improve discoverability and compete confidently in global markets.

Key takeaways

84% of Australians agree that access to local screen content is important and 75% are interested in watching more.
Games are a mainstream activity, with more than three-quarters (78%) playing digital games in the past six months. Knowing a game was made locally is a “value add”, rather than a driver of choice.
Australian screen content holds both “use value” (benefits of personal viewing) and “non-use value”. The vast majority of Australians acknowledge the broader social and cultural benefits of Australian screen content, including its role in engendering shared understanding and the preservation of stories for future generations. Viewership alone is not considered the sole measure of value or success.

Audiences increasingly rely on algorithms, platforms and recommendations for viewing decisions.
Younger audiences consume content very differently from previous generations, navigating seamlessly across streaming, social media, gaming and short-form platforms rather than relying on traditional broadcast media. Content discovery is driven less by active search and more by algorithms, social recommendations and peer influence, making discoverability more important than audience demand.
Two-thirds (65%) of Australians spend less than 30% of their viewing time on local content, and only 36% say it is easy to locate.

The sector is growing, contributing over $11 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the economy in FY 2023/24 and directly employing nearly 70 thousand people in FY 2024/25.
In terms of GVA, employment and exports, games are growing faster than all screen sectors. The value contributed by games to the Australian economy has more than doubled since 2016/17, albeit off a small base.
Three-quarters (75%) of respondents agree local content reflects the breadth and diversity of contemporary Australia. Qualitative research reveals authenticity is key. There is a clear preference for portrayals that go beyond surface-level stereotypes, and this is especially true among younger Australians interviewed.
Around two-thirds of Australians agree local screen stories support feelings of belonging and connectedness, and/or make them think about their place and identity as an Australian.
First Nations audiences, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities and younger viewers consistently express a similar belief: they feel best represented when their lives, voices and experiences appear on screen in complex and credible ways.

Screen and games exports totalled $1.6 billion in FY 2023/24 and drive interest in tourism, trade and business relationships.
Australian games studios earn 95% of revenue overseas.
The top opportunity recognised by screen production businesses was co-productions and partnerships that unlock scale and financing, with 62% identifying its potential.
Australian content acts as a cultural ambassador overseas. 60% of respondents in China and India agreed Australian content portrays the country favourably, three-quarters (74%) of Chinese respondents claimed it helps them understand our culture and more than two-thirds of Indian respondents (68%) report increased interest to visit following exposure to content.
The strongest appeal for Australian content is reported in India, New Zealand, China and the UK, which show high engagement for Australian stories. Most respondents in India and China agree that Australian content is visually distinctive and high quality – a significant opportunity for future screen exports.

Australia’s screen production sector is driven by a dynamic yet fragmented base of mostly younger small-to-medium businesses (SMEs). As the creative engine rooms of the production sector, these SMEs should be supported to adapt to new business models, drive development of high-quality IP and ensure emerging companies are sustainable over the long-term.
Australia produces world-class content and globally competitive skills, giving the sector a strong base of creative and technical capability to build from.
Internationally connected activity — foreign production, PDV services and export-oriented games — is already growing revenue in global markets, showing where scale and repeatable returns can be captured.
Direct-to-audience content is the industry’s fastest-growing segment, creating value through dynamic self-management, audience engagement and diversified revenue streams.
Diversified, multi-channel revenue models are opening new routes to market beyond traditional commissioning, creating opportunities to retain more long-term value in Australia.

Screen Currency 2026 Value Framework

Insight reports

Insights overview
Audience insights
Industry insights
Economic insights
Global insights

What is the framework?

Screen Currency’s Value Framework shows how contemporary local screen content and games are being made, how audiences engage with them and how they are received.

Drawn from Screen Currency’s research, the framework highlights the relationships between these activities as it outlines the forms of value they generate for Australians as audiences, communities, consumers and citizens.

Click each segment to learn more.

How screen and games value is created and realised

Screen and games are unique, they offer a range of forms of value that are crystallised – and monetised – in creative IP and individual or collective engagement. The ways this value is being exploited, and who controls it, has changed substantially over the past decade. Global media and content industries are shaped by markets, business consolidation and technological developments that are increasingly determining what gets made and how audiences access it.

What Australians value in local screen and games content

Australian screen audiences value local stories for their authenticity in reflecting familiar places, accents and lived experience on screen, their ability to represent Australian diversity and to address real issues and perspectives that are socially and geographically relevant. Australian video game players were less concerned about where games were made, but felt proud when they discovered well-made games were Australian.

What audiences are doing

While audiences are increasingly fragmented across platforms and personalised programming, they still gather in various ways, at various scales, around content. Our audience study showed viewing behaviour across a wide range of content platforms, most differentiated by generation. Video game play is now a hugely popular form of cultural participation for Australians of all backgrounds and generations. Engagement is both individual and social, often leading to social action or connection.

What’s driving audiences

Many respondents to the audience survey cited relaxation and entertainment as the main drivers for what to watch and for game play. The kinds of content considered relaxing or entertaining varies across groups and generations, and is accompanied by a range of other drivers, including to learn new things or stay informed, as a shared experience with family or friends, to deal with stress, anxiety or depression, or to improve wellbeing and general happiness.

What content is getting made

While overall production investment has increased, market concentration and regulation changes have had a huge impact on the ability to finance TV and film/screen projects and find pathways to market, especially for some kinds of content, e.g. streaming services are now the main commissioners for TV drama, favouring bigger budget projects with global appeal; children’s TV has now disappeared from commercial free-to-air television; and small indie games developers make great content but have limited control of how it is positioned on platforms.

Who’s making local screen and games content

Australia’s screen and games industries are made up of a highly skilled workforce, clustered in smaller production companies and indie games studios, where their work is increasingly precarious – often involving holding multiple jobs. The ability for smaller companies to realise the value in the IP they create has been challenged by new deal terms in the global digital marketplace.

What supports content creation

The screen and games industries receive meaningful public support through federal and state incentives and investments, including content funding, programs, workforce training, industry development, infrastructure and tax offsets, alongside local content requirements on broadcasters and streaming services. Together these are designed to sustain production activity and the creation and distribution of Australian stories.

Economic impact and spillovers

Screen and games contribute to the economy, exports, employment, skills, tourism, trade and innovation. The process of creation and production can also build new capabilities and opportunities, contribute to Australia’s complexity economy and support a range of public goods that benefit Australian communities – as a unique cultural resource.

Global impacts of local screen and games content

Screen stories and games carry unique soft power. They help form the way global audiences think and feel about a place and its people, and shape how much cultural affinity and connection viewers feel towards another country. The cultural affinity generated by global engagement with screen stories can translate into increased tourism and trade. Successful Australian screen and games profile Australia as a creative nation.

Explore all five reports

Insights Overview
Audience Insights
Industry Insights
Economic Insights
Global Insights

Insights Overview

This report summarises Screen Currency’s key findings and explores interactions in the screen and digital games industry in Australia.

It surfaces what local and global audiences value in Australian screen content and games, what they are watching and playing, and the drivers of those choices. It summarises industry and economic dynamics that are shaping engagement, and how they impact production and discoverability of local content and its outcomes.

Explore Insights Overview

Audience Insights

This report focuses on the social and cultural value of Australian screen and games from the perspective of local viewers and game players. It draws on a wide range of research methods to explore what these audiences are doing and why, what they think about local content and what it does for them in their daily lives.

Explore Audience Insights

Industry Insights

This report maps contemporary Australian screen and games industry value chains and reveals the dynamics, tensions and areas of opportunity in a landscape undergoing significant change. New data and sector perspectives have generated insights around the strengths and challenges of local content production and how it can continue to reach audiences in a global media environment.

Explore Industry Insights

Economic Insights

This report is a trend analysis of the economic characteristics of Australia’s screen and games industry. It builds an evidence base of the size and impact of these sectors and how they have been affected by industrial and technological changes. It includes analysis of screen and games’ contribution to the nation’s economy, the size and characteristics of the workforce, and analysis of production trends by content type and exports data.

Explore Economic Insights

Global Insights

This report covers new research into the reception of Australian screen and games in key global markets, and the impacts and spillovers generated by these forms of international exchange and engagement. It provides an evidence base for the many global impacts of Australia’s screen and games production and distribution – including how much our neighbours and partners know and understand contemporary Australia, their perceptions of our creativity, skills and culture, and how that can lead to greater connection, tourism and trade.

Explore Global Insights

These 16 case studies explore how projects originated, what supported their production and how creative ideas were realised through talent, skill and sustained effort. The unique ways they were made underpin the social, cultural, economic and industry benefits they deliver for Australians.

"While audience choices become increasingly global and algorithm-led, Screen Currency 2026 confirms local TV, film, direct-to-audience content and games matter deeply to Australians and clearly resonate around the world.

Australia has extraordinary talent and internationally recognised capabilities, but there is no doubt we are in a pivotal moment of transformation for the sector. We want our communities and experiences reflected on all screens, but ensuring we reach people is now as important as producing that content. Future success will require support for Australian businesses to build enduring intellectual property, strengthen audience relationships, improve discoverability and compete confidently in global markets. This is a creative industry worth investing in."
Deirdre Brennan, CEO Screen Australia

Accompanying information

Screen Currency Q&A registration National Cultural Policy Submission Podcast episode Media release

Screen Currency 2026

Understanding the value of Australian screen and games

Key takeaways

Screen Currency 2026 Value Framework

Insight reports

What is the framework?

How screen and games value is created and realised

What Australians value in local screen and games content

What audiences are doing

What’s driving audiences

What content is getting made

Who’s making local screen and games content

What supports content creation

Economic impact and spillovers

Global impacts of local screen and games content

Explore all five reports

Insights Overview

Audience Insights

Industry Insights

Economic Insights

Global Insights

Case studies

Unpacking

The Dry

War on Waste

Little J & Big Cuz

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Bluey

First Australians

Heartbreak High

Love on the Spectrum

MasterChef Australia

Mystery Road

Untitled Goose Game

Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga

Bad River: The Cooks River

Talk to Me

Deadloch

Accompanying information

Research partners