Following the COVID-19 pandemic, two strikes in Hollywood, and with the impact of streaming and the advent of artificial intelligence, the media landscape has continued to change and consolidate, as David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, recently predicted at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley Retreat 2024.

Zazlav knows what he’s talking about, as his own company has gone through several waves of layoffs following mergers over the past two years. The most recent one was in May this year, when the company closed its TV and streaming service Newshub in New Zealand, with more than 300 jobs lost.

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At the beginning of the year, Paramount also planned to reduce its global workforce by 3%. With the completion of the Skydance deal, further synergies are likely.

The fourth estate has been hit hard. Politico estimates that over 500 journalists have been laid off this year alone. This largely began in January with the Los Angeles Times more than 20% of editorial capacity was cut. Shortly afterwards Time According to CNN, there were also layoffs in the newsroom, with 15% of jobs eliminated.

Since the unfortunate trend seems to be getting stronger while the entertainment industry is still recovering from an avalanche of cumulative factors, Deadline tries to keep track of the changes, listed below chronologically from newest to oldest.

A+E Networks

A+E Networks made layoffs in August, including among the programming teams at Lifetime and History Channel. Those affected included Amy Savitsky, senior vice president of unscripted development and programming at Lifetime, and vice presidents Kim Chessler and Cat Rodriguez, as well as A&E’s Peter Tarshis and Zach Behr, vice president of unscripted programming at History.

Merit Street Media

Dr. Phil McGraw’s news and entertainment channel Merit Street Media laid off nearly a third of its employees in early August. The company worked with Christian broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting for distribution.

Outstanding Global

Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy confirmed a second round of layoffs that will affect 15% of the entertainment company’s workforce in the U.S. The cuts were made at Paramount Television Studios as the production company shut down entirely in August.

RELATED: Nickelodeon marketing executive Sabrina Caluori leaves company amid sweeping layoffs at Paramount

The studio downsized in February when several key executives left the studio. The move affected over 800 employees.

The story continues

Hearst’s very local streaming service

As Deadline exclusively reported, Hearst Television laid off dozens of employees in early August.

Disney Entertainment

The layoffs at Disney Entertainment Television affected 140 people, or about 2% of the workforce. National Geographic was hit hardest, with about 60 people laid off, or 13% of the workforce.

RELATED: Disney Entertainment Television Consolidates Casting of ABC-Hulu-Onyx and 20th TV-ABC Signature

Fox Entertainment

Fox Media has made staff cuts and laid off 30 employees in July.

The layoffs affect employees from all three divisions, the first two being led by Michael Thorn (Network) and Fernando Szew (Studios). The search for a new head of global content sales is ongoing, with Tony Vassiliadis leading the team in the interim.

Sublime entertainment

The production company, which is part of ITV Studios, produces Love Island 15 to 20 roles were examined. This number corresponds to about 10% of the Lifted Entertainment operation, which has around 160 employees.

Warner Bros. Discovery

The company has initiated another wave of layoffs in production, business affairs and finance, a year after a wave of layoffs that resulted in the departure of a number of network executives in the cable business.

Entertainment tonight

As TheWrap reported, Entertainment tonight announced a wave of layoffs that will affect its television newsrooms and editorial departments. The layoffs will take place on September 7, ahead of season 44.

RELATED TOPIC: CNN cuts around 100 staff, CEO reveals new details of its ‘One Newsroom’ strategy; layoffs include media critic Brian Lowry – Update

CNN

CNN has cut 100 employees, laying off about 2.9 percent of its workforce, including media critic Brian Lowry and senior technology journalist Samantha Murphy. CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson unveiled the strategy of merging linear and digital news with the announcement of 100 layoffs.

Chicken soup for the soul

Redbox owner Chicken Soup for the Soul originally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late June. On July 10, the movie rental kiosk’s parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning it would liquidate its business.

The company was about $1 billion in debt and about 1,000 employees had to go without pay for two weeks, and in some cases longer. Deadline exclusively reported on the delays in payment and the suspension of health insurance.

Over 24,000 kiosks had to be closed due to the decline.

Media is important for America

At Media Matters for America, more than a dozen employees were affected by layoffs in May.

Allen Media Group

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group announced layoffs across all divisions in May, including at The Weather Channel, TheGrio and a film division.

RELATED: Paramount closes Skydance deal, explains what happens if a competing offer emerges

NoahMedia

Producer of Netflix’ 14 peaks and Sky’s Villeneuve Pironi has undergone a round of restructuring and laid off a small number of employees.

Netflix

Netflix laid off 15 employees in its film division as part of a restructuring after Dan Lin took over from Scott Stuber.

Wonder

Marvel made a small wave of layoffs that affected 15 employees at Marvel Entertainment in New York and Marvel Studios in Burbank.

Fifth season

The studio that produces shows like Severance pay, Nine perfect strangers Season 2, Tokyo Vice And Life and Beth carried out a wave of layoffs at the end of March, affecting nine employees.

RELATED TOPICS: Roku lays off 10% of employees and launches “strategic review of content portfolio”

The Messenger

Less than a year after The Messenger The digital news site was launched and closed in late January (in May 2023). According to founder Jimmy Finkelstein, every possibility of raising sufficient capital to make it profitable had been exhausted.

The startup employed around 175 journalists, and advertising led to its demise. Finkelstein faced a class-action lawsuit for firing 300 employees “effective immediately” without notice, severance pay, or health insurance.

Time Magazine

Time The magazine also reduced its workforce in January 2024. CNN reported that the medium had laid off around 30 employees in its editorial, technology, sales and studio departments.

RELATED: Los Angeles Times lays off 115 employees, DC office ‘decimated’, union criticizes ‘brutal and inhumane’ job cuts – Update

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times Guild union criticized the newspaper for its “brutal and inhumane” handling of the layoffs. Matt Pearce, president of the Media Guild West, initially announced that 94 union members had been informed of the planned layoffs, which corresponds to about a quarter of the editorial staff. The total number of layoffs is around 100.

Sports illustrated

Sports illustrated In early January, the magazine received a warning before completely ceasing its 70-year-old print and online publication due to a payment default, as reported by Authentic Brands Group, and revoking the magazine’s publishing license.

YouTube

YouTube laid off more than 100 employees in January. The moves came after Google laid off more than 1,000 employees across several departments, including development, services and the voice-controlled product Google Assistant.

RELATED TOPICS: Sumithra Barry, SVP Content & Consumer Insights at NBCU, leaves company amid layoffs in department

pitchfork

pitchfork Condé Nast announced that it would move the music website to GQ Magazine after the dismissal of employees. The Chief Content Officer and Global Editorial Director of the publisher fashion I sent the employees a memo by email explaining the next steps. Pitchfork’s Editor-in-chief Puja Patel and eight union employees were fired.

NBC News

NBC News carried out a series of layoffs in January, affecting a double-digit number of employees. A source familiar with the plans said the number laid off would be between 50 and 100 out of several thousand employees.

Hallmark Media

The home of top-notch Christmas films saw layoffs in the executive suites at the beginning of the year. Four positions were eliminated.

RELATED TOPICS: Great American Media lays off staff; CFO, head of marketing and corporate communications among layoffs

Great American Media

The religious and family-oriented media group Great American Media had to make layoffs at the beginning of the year. Around 13 top employees were let go.

Amazon Studios

Several Prime Video and Amazon Studios employees were laid off in early January. The executives let go included Nancy Cotton, Arturo Interian, Marcy Kaplan, Chris Castallo and Uri Fleming from various departments. Most of the departures resulted from the integration of Lindsay Sloane’s MGM Scripted Television team alongside MGM+ and the Barry Poznick-led MGM Alternative TV under Chris Brearton, VP, Corporate Strategy, Prime Video and Studios

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