Employment
2,525
Total employees (Census CBP)
Information ·NAICS 512120
NAICS 512120 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Motion Picture and Video Distribution - Industry Benchmarks
$119,223/yr average annual pay, with 14 SBA loans on record for NAICS 512120.
- 7.7%
- Information sector margin
- 3K
- Workers employed
- $119,223/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $2M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 512120
California leads Motion Picture and Video Distribution activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Information sector runs a 7.7% net margin.
- 7.7%
- Information sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 3K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $119,223/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $2M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Motion Picture and Video Distribution's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Motion Picture and Video Distribution is reported here with financial measures from IRS Statistics of Income and workforce measures from Census County Business Patterns. The page keeps those source systems distinct, shows unavailable fields rather than estimating them, and links the underlying industry context so readers can compare the same NAICS activity before interpreting a margin or payroll figure.
Source: IRS SOI (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Motion Picture and Video Distribution
Motion Picture and Video Distribution sits inside Information, a sector that runs a 7.7% net margin overall.
493 establishments employ 2,525 workers (5.1/location) at $119,223/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by New York and Florida.
Motion Picture and Video Distribution sits in the 2nd percentile for employment among 6-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$119,223/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
493
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment decreased by 288; establishment count increased by 13. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Subscribe to this industry's release updates (RSS)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $301.0M
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 5.1
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 859 |
| New York | 690 |
| Florida | 102 |
| New Jersey | 36 |
| North Carolina | 21 |
| Arizona | 7 |
| Arkansas | 6 |
| Michigan | 5 |
Showing top 10 of 24 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
14
Total Loan Volume
$2M
Avg Loan Size
$170K
Jobs Supported
45
Program Breakdown
7(a) 14 (100%)
504 0 (0%)
Top SBA Lender
BayFirst National Bank
4 loans in this industry
New Business Share
28.6% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (6 yrs)
2020 1
2021 2
2022 2
2023 4
2024 3
2025 2
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Motion Picture and Video Distribution?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 512120 level. California leads this industry nationally. The broader Information sector runs a 7.7% net margin (IRS SOI 2013 C corp).
How many businesses are in Motion Picture and Video Distribution?
493 business establishments. Together they employ 2,525 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Motion Picture and Video Distribution?
$119,223/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 5.1 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Motion Picture and Video Distribution employment?
California leads with 859 workers. New York (690) and Florida (102) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Motion Picture and Video Distribution receive?
Motion Picture and Video Distribution businesses received 14 SBA loans totaling $2 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $170K. These loans supported 45 jobs at origination. Most lending (100%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Motion Picture and Video Distribution, both at NAICS level 6 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Motion Picture and Video Distribution ranks #782 of 801 U.S. industries at the 6-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (2,525 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Information · Rankings
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.
Sources: IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) Business Tax Statistics · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023
NAICS 512120 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released its 2023 County Business Patterns dataset in June 2025, PlainBizBench benchmarks 2,002 U.S. industries against Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income data. See our methodology for the full compilation process.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns / SUSB Industry employment scale, payroll, and firm-size benchmarks · 2023
Every figure on PlainBizBench is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates profit-margin, payroll, entity-type, and SBA-lending benchmarks for this industry, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.