Globally, we watch millions of hours of content daily. Much of that content emanates from North America’s media industry, taking shape on sound stages across the United States and Canada.

Sound stages have often been overlooked in commercial real estate due to their uniqueness and the relatively small size of the sector. The dynamism of content creation and the expanding reach of institutional capital is rapidly changing that. Over the last decade, sound stages have become more professionalised, leading to a burgeoning asset class.

The media and entertainment industry has been a major force in commercial real estate, especially in chief content hubs such as New York and Los Angeles. Nationally, the industry employs more than 3.3 million people across the performing arts, motion picture and broadcasting sectors. And, in many of the country’s primary markets, it is integral to real estate fundamentals. In Los Angeles, for instance, media companies occupy 18 million sq. ft of office space, and since 2016 these firms have increased their office presence in the region by 7 million sq. ft.

CBRE has identified more than 12 million sq. ft of sound stages in North America, with the greatest concentrations in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York, showcasing production facilities’ increasing importance as part of the media and entertainment industry’s commercial real estate footprint.

Figure 1: Los Angeles has the highest concentration of filmable production space in Los Angeles