The entertainment industry has had an eventful year, but most worrying is the fact that over 17,000 jobs were cut across television, film, broadcast, news and streaming in the first 11 months of the year.
This figure was up 18 per cent from last year, continuing a trend from previous years as the industry has wrestled with consolidation and other pressures like the double strikes in 2023.
Some staggering figures
News, which executive outplacement firm Challenger tracks as a subset of media and includes broadcast, digital and print, has announced 2,254 job cuts so far this year, 179 of which occurred in November.
November was a particularly significant month as more than 71,000 layoffs were reported by Challenger overall, the second highest figure recorded over the last five years.
Many of these job cuts have been due to major restructuring in the entertainment industry.
For example the Paramount-Skydance merger in July placed the company under CEO David Ellison’s hands, an event during which a whopping 2,000 employees were laid off as part of Skydance’s efforts to exceed $2 billion in cost savings.
Executives at CBS Entertainment, Paramount+, MTV, BET and more were also hit by Paramount’s layoffs in October.
Warner Bros. laid off more than 100 people in June, following its announcement to transform its cable news offerings into a different company.
The layoffs affected the company’s cable television business, which includes TNT, TBS, CNN, Food Network, Discover, TLC, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.
Meanwhile, onsite film production in the Los Angeles area declined 13.2 per cent from July through September compared to the same period last year, according to FilmLA.
“There are far fewer film projects being made in Los Angeles than there were in the recent past,” FilmLA Vice President of Communications Philip Sokoloski said.
“Expanded options for attracting and retaining film jobs – as enacted this past July – are not only good for California’s economy, they are a critical form of protection for working families.”
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Not only restructuring and consolidation issues, but AI
Not surprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) was cited for 6,280 job cuts in November. So far this year, AI has been responsible for nearly 55,000 layoff plans in the industry.
Since its creation, AI has been at the centre of many talks regarding job security and employment opportunities across multiple industries.
AI has offered to replace workers and perform the jobs of many at a lower cost, changing how employers value their employees and how secure workers feel in their roles.
New York became the first state to require employers to disclose when AI is the reason for layoffs this year as more companies seek the technology as a way to increase work efficiency and potentially remove entry level roles.
“Currently, AI aids news workers rather than replaces them, but there are no guarantees this will remain the case,” a report from Columbia University’s journalism school said earlier this year.
“AI is sufficiently mature to enable the replacement of at least some journalism jobs, either directly or because fewer workers are needed.”
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Angelica N. Hall 
Carmela Calling