15 Mar 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, MARCH 15, 2014 : The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) today reiterated its commitment to drive the growth of the local creative multimedia industry by naming export as one of the catalyst of growth. For the past six years, companies under MSC Malaysia’s Creative Multimedia Cluster (CMC) have displayed an encouraging cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) between 9-10% with companies’ revenues reaching RM6.99 billion in 2012.

In addition, Malaysia is now seen as a significant player in the creative content industry in the region. Creative contents produced by Malaysians are no longer confined to local audiences but also consumed by the expansive international audiences. This is reflected by the fact that 309 companies under CMC have collectively contributed RM487 million in exports to Malaysia’s GDP in 2012.

Speaking at the launch of the Kre8tif! Conference 2014, MDeC’s renowned conference for creative industry players, Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, the Chief Executive Officer of MDeC said “Our creative multimedia industry could achieve higher growth if we manage to effectively tap into the broader international market. The Malaysian creative multimedia industry is currently estimated to be worth around RM16 billion. From 2011 to 2012, new investments by companies under CMC increased by 32% which is equivalent to an additional RM0.3 billion to the country’s GDP. This has also resulted in the creation of 1,887 new jobs. We believe that this achievement combined with the efforts in place under the National Key Economic Area – Communications, Content and Infrastructure of the Economic Transformation Programme driven by PEMANDU, the industry is on track to contribute an additional RM35.7 billion to the country’s GDP and create over 43,163 jobs by 2020,”.

He further concluded, “Through strategic partnerships and programmes such as MAC3, IPCC, CILL and the Master Classes, MDeC provides a conducive and enabling environment designed to enable creative companies to harness their full potential and become a source of inspiration to new companies entering the industry.”

Mr. Kamil Othman, the Vice President of Creative Multimedia, MDeC supported this view saying that, “Facilitating international market access for MSC Malaysia status companies under CMC has worked well for the industry and MDeC will continue to promote Malaysian companies on the international arena. It is a good initial step as the opportunity to market our content to a bigger pool of audience has brought unprecedented gains to our content creators. For example, marketing missions in North America, Asia Pacific & Europe have generated up to RM60.7 million in sales last year. Additionally, 10 projects from Malaysian companies that participated at the Asian Animation Summit in 2012 generated over RM2 million in investment opportunities to date.”

Moving forward, deepening focus on newer avenues and embracing emerging technologies, are some of the growth strategies adopted to enable MSC Malaysia’s CMC companies to thrive in key markets. MDeC is confident of continued growth and believes that there will be even more opportunities for MSC Malaysia’s CMC industry in the future. (Source: www.mdec.my)