Entertainment and Media Sector Sheds 17,000 Jobs in 2025, Up 18% from 2024's Job Losses

Survive until 2025, they said after covid and the twin strikes, expecting that 2025 would be a comeback year for the media.

That has not happened.

And 2026 will be worse.

The media is dying. It's finally dying and nothing can save it now.

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.

In corporate business generally -- not just the media -- 54,000 jobs were lost to AI automation. That will eventually decimate the media.

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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.

Hollywood's creative collapse will bring down the movie exhibition industry -- theaters -- as well.

Some comeback!

The past 12 months were supposed to turn things around for struggling cinemas. But instead of heralding a dramatic return to moviegoing, 2025 is running neck-and-neck with the middling 2024 box office, and will fall far short of the $9 billion in domestic ticket sales that most analysts expected the theatrical movie business to easily eclipse. Prior to the pandemic, North American revenues would regularly hit between $10 billion to $11 billion. The 2025 results are a massive disappointment that no amount of spin can change. (Already there's talk of how much better 2026 will be.)

Yes but they thought 2025 would be better. "Survive until 25."

"There's an unfortunate trend, which that we just can't get the industry to $9 billion at the domestic box office," says Mike Sherrill, the chief operating officer of dine-in cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse. "It looks like it's going to be two years in a row that the industry flatlined."

More worrisome is the reality that many of the movie business's biggest franchises are showing signs of oversaturation or fatigue. Marvel continued to struggle with its B Team heroes; February's "Captain America: Brave New World" and May's "Thunderbolts" lost tens of millions during their theatrical runs, while July's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" will only eke out a modest profit. And even though "Avatar: Fire and Ash" ($760 million and counting), "Wicked: For Good" ($504 million) and "Jurassic World Rebirth" ($869 million) will rank among the year's top-grossing releases, they will fail to match the revenues of previous films in their respective series. Clearly, the theatrical industry can't thrive on sequels and spinoffs alone.

It would be easy to declare an end to comic book movies. That said, genres have risen and fallen throughout Hollywood history -- just look at musicals or westerns or raunchy comedies, which have faded in popularity after once being surefire draws. What really has theater owners and some studio chiefs concerned as the year closes out is what the future will hold if Netflix is able to secure government approval for its $82.7 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Already, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has hinted that he believes that "windows," industry jargon for the amount of time that movies play exclusively in theaters, are too long. He told Wall Street shortly after the pact was announced that he expects that they will "evolve" in a more "consumer friendly" direction. Everyone knows exactly what he meant by that.

Yes, they mean that they're going to crush theatrical exhibition and set themselves up as a monopoly for showing movies. I can't see how the Justice Department can approve this.

Don't worry, Netflix knows exactly what the public wants to see.

A series of teenagers coming out as gay, from sea to fabulous sea.

Critics are review-bombing "Stranger Things'" penultimate episode, calling character Will Byers' coming-out scene "cringey" and accusing the creators of prioritizing politics over storytelling.

In the show's most recent episode, "The Bridge," Will gathers all his friends and family for a tearful confession, telling them that he's just like his friends in almost every way -- except, he says, "I don't like girls." Fans noted that the timing of his monologue seemed odd and forced, as the cast was in the middle of trying to defeat Vecna, the series' villain.

"Woke ruins everything," one user wrote on X, blasting the development as "LGBTQ+ nonsense."

"Netflix decided to RUIN their most popular show of all-time, Stranger Things, by focusing their final season on Will coming out as a homosexual, promoting the propaganda that Will's superpowers are because he's 'embraced his sexuality' & the villain telling Will that his friends won't like him if they find out he likes dudes..." he added.

Another user said, "How did Stranger Things go from such a great show to the only way they could defeat Vecna is if Will tells everyone he's gay first."

Brandon Leslie, founder and CEO of Florida's Voice and RightLine news, also weighed in by seizing on a tweet that discussed creators Matt and Ross Duffer's intent for the scene, more specifically that Byers had to face his fears and accept himself in order to fully face Vecna.

"Netflix is doubling down on pushing the gay agenda -- the 16-year-old boy couldn't kill a dark magic demon unless he came out of the closet," he wrote, adding, "Horrible and forced."

The now-infamous scene wasn't the only source of upset, as other fans critiqued the final season's pacing, acting, plot and more.

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One user likened the latest season to "Game of Thrones," arguing that both were too rushed to adequately complete the story.

I watched the first season and quit watching in the second season, two or three shows in. I never understood the hype. It was a semi-cute idea, but... who cares.

posted by Ace at 04:30 PM

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