Munich, media hotspot
Munich: Study and train in the media business city
Why study in Munich? In many respects, Munich is highly conducive to professional success and is the perfect environment for entering the media business. Indeed, this is one of the driving forces of the capital of Bavaria. At the end of 2002 there were 14,014 media businesses situated in the Munich region with over 187,000 employees and a turnover of 24.5 billion euros. Permanent staff numbers increased since 1999 to 102,000. In the same period of time, the number of freelance staff more than doubled, reaching 85,000 by the end of 2002.
Print media
Almost 40% of the permanent staff in the media sector work in print media. With 280 publishers, Munich is the second most important publishing city in the world after New York. Apart from book publishers like dtv, Heyne and Piper, there are countless magazine publishers and five daily newspapers on the media landscape.
Munich, the film and television city
Film and TV productions made in Munich account for 23% of production turnover in Germany. The greater Munich area boasts several television stations. Apart from Bayerische Rundfunk (BR), the educational channel BR-Alpha and a ZDF local studio, private stations like Pro Sieben, Kabel 1 and Premiere can be found on the banks of the River Isar. Other private television stations include RTL2, FoxKids, NeunLive, the German sports television broadcaster DSF and local station tv.muenchen. Then there are international stations like Eurosport and the Discovery Channel.
Multimedia/Electronic media
Multimedia mainly comprises the sectors of TV and radio, Internet, music and film. There are around 3,500 companies in the fastest-growing sector of the media industry. In spite of the nationwide recession, the number has almost doubled in the last 3 years. The number of permanent employees rose during the same period by 28%, and the number of freelancers by 150%. Overall turnover increased by 45%. Platforms for internet advertising in particular achieved record-breaking results in 2002.
Advertising and market communication
Of the almost 6,000 companies in Munich, most are small businesses which employ 4 permanent staff and 5 freelancers on average. This branch’s plans for the future tend to be conservative. There are, however, good opportunities out there for freelance work.
Information services and agencies
Approximately 3.3% of all media businesses in the region are information providers or agencies. Casting agencies and event agencies have increased in number in recent years. Most companies are young and small. Together they employ about 2,800 people.
Business and industry
Multinational companies from many sectors are situated in Munich. Siemens, BMW, Allianz, for example, have their headquarters in Munich and have specialist departments in which positions for experts in media management, media production and public relations are available.With such a geographical proximity to the media industry, students have an excellent opportunity to put their qualifications to the test even before they finish their studies and to make contact with potential employers and business partners.(Quelle: Landeshauptstadt München, Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft, 18.10.2004) – (Source: City of Munich, Department for Labour and Industry)
