The entertainment and media industries bled more than 17,000 jobs in 2025, the latest in a brutal, ongoing contraction that’s left newsrooms, studios and streaming giants hollowed out by consolidation, cost-cutting and the accelerating use of artificial intelligence.
US-based media companies spanning TV, film, digital publishing and broadcast announced 17,163 job cuts through November, an 18% increase from 2024, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Layoffs surged fivefold in 2023 compared to the prior year as companies moved aggressively to slash costs, unwind failed growth bets and prepare investors for a leaner future.
The wider labor market has offered little relief, with overall US job cuts topping 1.17 million through November, up 54% from last year and marking the highest level since the pandemic, putting media layoffs within a broader climate of corporate retrenchment.
Through November, US employers announced just 497,151 planned hires, down 35% from the same point in 2024 and the lowest year-to-date total since 2010, according to Challenger, signaling a tightening job market.
Companies cited artificial intelligence for more than 54,000 planned economy-wide job cuts in 2025 as generative tools began absorbing tasks once handled by designers, editors, marketers and junior newsroom staff, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Employers are increasingly pointing to automation as they trim payrolls, streamline operations and rethink how much human labor is needed across content creation, advertising and back-office roles.
The Paramount Skydance merger led to the elimination of roughly 2,000 positions, while Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal each launched their own restructuring campaigns this past year — cutting staff ahead of planned cable spinoffs as traditional television revenue continued to erode.
Newsrooms continue to be hard hit, with advertising declines and shifting audience habits forcing publishers to shrink.
News organizations logged 2,254 job cuts this year, including 179 in November. The total actually marked a 50% drop from last year’s pace, according to Challenger data.
The Washington Post, which billionaire owner Jeff Bezos has sought to overhaul, cut roughly 4% of its workforce around the start of the year — about 100 ink-stained wretches — after posting an estimated $100 million loss in 2024 tied in part to digital ad weakness.
CNN eliminated about 200 jobs early in 2025 as it pivoted toward digital operations and prepared for corporate restructuring tied to its parent’s cable strategy, while CBS News laid off about 100 staffers in October and canceled multiple streaming news programs.
NBC News laid off roughly 150 employees — about 7% of its workforce — as part of Comcast’s cable spinoff into Versant, with newsroom jobs affected by the separation of linear TV assets.
Digital publishers also saw deep reductions. Business Insider cut 21% of its staff, citing a push to operate “AI first,” while Forbes laid off 5% of employees after missing internal financial targets.
Dotdash Meredith, which has been rebranded as People Inc., reduced headcount by roughly 350 jobs as the company moved away from traffic-dependent digital publishing.
Condé Nast shuttered “Teen Vogue” as a standalone operation and cut additional staff across its portfolio as it consolidated brands and reduced costs.
Challenger data points to continued cause for caution heading into 2026, with hiring plans at a 15-year low and companies still citing restructuring, closures and AI as leading drivers of layoffs.
