$2.7B Boost in Aussie Drama Spurs Industry Growth

Warwick Thornton behind-the-scenes of Wolfram

Screen Australia's Drama Report shows expenditure on drama production in Australia reached a record $2.7 billion in 2024/25, a 43% increase on the previous year. The uplift points to holistic sector growth driven by high-budget features and subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) production, with a $678 million increase from an expansion of international activity.

Of the 174 titles that entered production in 2024/25, 71 were Australian, with $1.1 billion spent on local stories – a 14% increase in expenditure from 2023/24. The findings reflect Australia's interconnected screen ecosystem where both domestic and international production contribute to the health of the sector, providing economic benefit, infrastructure, training and employment opportunities.

Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan said, "This strong result is a testament to the hard work and creativity of our screen practitioners, who are navigating a rapidly evolving landscape. The numbers reflect a complex story of production value and content volume. While there is moderate growth in local drama expenditure, fewer TV titles entered production across free-to-air, subscription-video-on-demand and children's content, showing ongoing shifts in commissioning behaviour. This presents an industry challenge, but also an opportunity to seek out new areas of collaboration and innovative production to ensure we continue to elevate Australian storytelling."

The Drama Report also highlights an increase in expenditure from international TV and video-on-demand (VOD) productions amounting to $458 million, and a record spend of $1 billion from 20 international features filming in Australia.

Kate Marks, CEO of Ausfilm, a government and industry partnership that promotes Australia as a leading film and television production destination, said, "We celebrate this record level of international production activity, driven by the reformed Location Offset. This activity helps sustain the ecosystem that supports Australian stories by keeping our crews working, funding training, enabling investments into screen businesses and building capabilities. At a time of global industry disruption, the ongoing mix of local and international work makes our screen industry resilient, sustainable and globally competitive."

Screen production in Australia continues to experience the impact of global economic conditions and multi-faceted disruption to distribution platforms and business models, underpinned by evolving audience behaviour and media consolidation.

Brennan continued, "In the current market, research and insights are vital for screen creatives and businesses looking to make future-focused decisions. The Drama Report is an indicator of narrative trends. When assessing the state of the industry, we consider this report alongside the pipeline of projects seeking development and production funding, feedback from global markets and data tracking across all genres including documentary."

As part of Screen Australia's new Corporate Plan 2025-2029, the agency is expanding their research program. In 2026, the agency will release an updated Production Infrastructure and Capacity Analysis (PICA) offering deeper insight into our screen workforce capability and readiness for growth, as well as a landmark Screen Currency report measuring the economic, social and cultural value of Australian screen and games production.

The Drama Report is presented via an interactive Power BI dashboard, with a user guide available.

2024/25 Drama Report Key Findings

• A record $2.7 billion was spent on 174 Australian and International titles.
• $1.1 billion was spent on Australian titles, up 14% on last year. This increase was largely driven by investment in a number of high-budget theatrical features and subscription TV and SVOD titles.
• The number of Australian titles entering production declined year-on-year from 89 to 71. Local productions accounted for 40% of total expenditure, down from 50% in 2023/24.
• Total expenditure on Australian theatrical features increased 76% to $379 million in 2024/25. This was driven by a limited number of high-budget films over $50 million. Features in the $1-5 million budget range dominated, with the number of features made for over $20 million increasing from 2023/24.
• $654 million was spent on 32 Australian general TV/VOD drama titles, 1% down on 2023/24, with a decline in volume (titles, total hours) in 2024/25.

• Subscription TV and SVOD – $492 million spent on 18 titles, up 5% from last year's $471 million (28 titles).
• FTA TV – $162 million spent on 14 titles, a 14% decrease on last year's expenditure on 16 titles.

• Australian and global streaming platforms contributed the largest share of investment (73%) in TV/VOD drama. While the investment value increased this year, the number of titles and hours produced decreased.
• Across TV and VOD - titles, hours and spend all decreased from 2023/24 numbers. Cost-per-hour was the only metric to increase (particularly in the subscription TV and SVOD sub-categories), indicative of both demand for premium production and cost pressures.
• Expenditure on children's content declined further in 2024/25, with $34 million in expenditure, 41% below last year.
• Total Government Sources contributed $430 million of investment across drama production in 2024/25. This includes the Producer Offset which contributed $317 million.
• The proportion of spend for states and territories was 34% in Queensland, 31% in New South Wales, 27% in Victoria, 3% in South Australia, 3% in Western Australia and 1% in the combined states and territories of Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
• International productions, shooting in Australia, recovered with unprecedented levels of activity, with $1.3 billion spent on 22 international feature and SVOD titles, nearly triple last year's result.
• PDV expenditure on both Australian and International titles amounted to $762 million, up 33% on last year.

ABOUT THE DATA

The Drama Report uses available industry data to provide an overview of the production of local and international features, TV/VOD and children's drama titles, as well as PDV activity. All production expenditure is allocated to the year in which principal photography began. PDV employs a secondary method of analysis, which is outlined in the PDV section in the report. 'Drama' refers to scripted narratives of any genre. Titles in the report are categorised according to the platform they were first released on.

RESOURCES

• Read the full Drama Report here.