North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada 2022 Version 1.0
51 - Information and cultural industries
This sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in producing and distributing (except by wholesale and retail methods) information and cultural products. Establishments providing the means to transmit or distribute these products or providing access to equipment and expertise for processing data are also included.
The unique characteristics of information and cultural products, and of the processes involved in their production and distribution, distinguish this sector from the goods-producing and services-producing sectors.
The value of these products lies in their information, educational, cultural or entertainment content, not in the format in which they are distributed. Distribution of these information and cultural products via the Internet are included. Most of these products are protected from unlawful reproduction by copyright laws. Only those possessing the rights to these works are authorized to reproduce, alter, improve and distribute them. Acquiring and using these rights often involves significant costs.
The intangible nature of the content of information and cultural products allows for their distribution in various forms. For example, a movie can be shown at a movie theatre, on a television broadcast, through video on demand, or rented online; a sound recording can be aired on radio, distributed online, or sold at a record store; software can be bought at retail outlets or downloaded from the Internet; a newspaper can be purchased at a newsstand or read online. In addition, improvements in information technology are revolutionizing the distribution of these products. The inclusion in this sector of telecommunications services providers reflects the increasingly important role these establishments play in making these products accessible to the public.
The main components of this sector are the motion picture and sound recording industries, the publishing industries, the broadcasting and content providers industries, the telecommunications industries, the computing infrastructure providers, data processing and hosting services industries, and the web search portals, libraries, archives, and other information services industries.
There are establishments engaged in culture-related activities that are classified in other sectors of NAICS. The most important are listed as exclusions below.
Code | Subsector |
---|---|
512Motion picture and sound recording industries | Motion picture and sound recording industries |
513Publishing industries | Publishing industries |
516Broadcasting and content providers | Broadcasting and content providers |
517Telecommunications | Telecommunications |
518Computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services | Computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services |
519Web search portals, libraries, archives, and all other information services | Web search portals, libraries, archives, and all other information services |
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