Despite 2020 being a presidential election year and news media outlets seeing record ratings; however, this isn’t enough to save jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year will reach an all-time high in media industry layoffs.
According to Variety, an estimate of 28,637 jobs were cut in the industry by late October. In 2018, the media industry saw 15,474 job losses, and in 2019 it saw over 10,000 job losses.
The spike in job losses started in May during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. After a drop off in June, layoffs picked up in the summer, then dropping to pre-pandemic levels in September and October.
Several major media conglomerates, including ViacomCBS, Comcast, Disney, and AT&T, have announced cuts throughout the year. Although the media has seen several job losses this year, the industry barely cracked the top 20 industries for layoffs. The leisure industry-led with 845,945 layoffs, followed by retail with 179,520 and transportation, with 159,674.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
