Editor

Revenue for the motion picture and video production and distribution industry increased 7 percent in 2007, reaching $66 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Revenue from Web search portals increased 25 percent for a total revenue of $12.1 billion, and their online advertising space grew 32.7 percent with total revenue of $8.7 billion.

These new data come from the 2007 Service Annual Survey: Information Sector Services, a series of tables that is part of a larger survey that tracks economic activity in the services sector, which accounts for 55 percent of economic activity in the United States. This sector includes companies that produce and distribute information and cultural products, as well as companies that provide the means to transmit or distribute these products.

“Whether online news or a wireless signal for a mobile phone, the unique products that make up the information services sector play a significant role in our everyday lives,” said Mark Wallace, chief of the Census Bureau’s Service Sector Statistics Division. “Not only does this survey provide us with information, but it also demonstrates how profoundly this sector contributes to our overall economy.”

Other details about the information sector include:

• Between 2006 and 2007, Internet publishing and broadcasting revenue grew to $15.5 billion, a 20.4 percent increase.
• The revenue from domestic licensing of rights to television programs grew 10 percent in 2007 from $9.5 billion to $10.4 billion.
• Radio networks increased their revenue 17 percent to $5.2 billion.
• Cellular and other wireless telecommunications revenue increased 10.1 percent between 2006 and 2007, from $156.7 billion to $172.5 billion.
• Cable and other program distribution revenue grew 13.6 percent, from $88.8 billion to $100.8 billion.
• Internet access revenue from cable and other program distribution grew 19.8 percent, from $13.8 billion to $16.5 billion, while revenue from Internet access from Internet service providers declined 9.2 percent to $10.4 billion.
• Software publishing revenue grew 8.7 percent, from $132.3 billion to $143.7 billion.
• Operating systems software revenue grew 15 percent, from $16.3 billion to $18.7 billion.

The estimates are based on data from the 2007 Service Annual Survey based on the 2002 North American Industry Classification System and apply only to employer firms. Estimates contain sampling and nonsampling errors. To keep the identity of an individual firm confidential, some estimates may be suppressed. Users making their own estimates, based on the survey estimates, should cite the U.S. Census Bureau as the source of the original estimates only. See http://www.census.gov/svsd/www/cv.html for measures of sampling variability and other survey information.