The Big Picture
It will surprise nobody to hear the employment market has been tough for a while now. The headwinds are well known: geopolitical instability, high inflation and low growth, a large budget deficit, cautious business outlook, increased costs of hiring – the list could go on.
Despite this, the UK economy’s performance has been much like a mid-range pillow: soft, but not quite down. Growth has been less disappointing than anticipated[1][2], and it appears reports of the UK’s productivity death were greatly exaggerated.[3][4]
Similarly, there are signs of life in the job market – the latest REC/KPMG report highlights a rise in permanent placements (the first since Sep 2022), while temp billings marked a fifth consecutive month of growth.[5]
Nevertheless, a big picture view always obscures nuance. Different sectors face different challenges and opportunities, which don’t always sit neatly in a macro summary.
This article is an attempt to look beyond the headlines and answer the question: “how are the sectors that we serve faring?”
Media & Publishing
Sentiment
Media and publishing is a sector containing multitudes.
Book and journal publishing is enjoying a surprise golden age: UK publishers reported record revenue of £7.4bn last year, with digital sales up 7% and exports continuing to grow.[6] This is part of a much larger trend, with total revenues up 68% in the last decade.[6][7]
In contrast, news publishing is experiencing something more akin to a bronze age, in that a collapse seems to be unfolding. Amidst a backdrop of legacy news media fighting to maintain profitability in the face of behavioural shifts and social media encroachment, there is now a new threat to contend with.
The evidence suggests AI summaries are already diverting significant traffic from major news outlets. Reach (publisher of the Mirror and Express) reported a 55% drop in Google referrals in the first half of the year,[8] while an independent analysis of UK news outlets found that for certain searches, click-through rates can fall by 35-60% when an AI summary appears.[9] The recent CMA ruling granting publishers the ‘right to opt out’ of AI summarising should hopefully alleviate some pressure,[10] but structural challenges very much remain for news media.
Zooming out, the advertising market, which funds much of the sector, looks healthy on the surface. UK advertising investment rose 9.3% year-on-year in Q1 and is forecast to grow by 8.2% this year and 5.9% next.[11] Advertiser sentiment is strong too, with marketing budgets revised up in the second quarter.[12] The catch is where the money is going. Growth was led by social media (up 18%), retail media (18%) and search (10%), which on its own takes around £4 in every £10 spent. Meanwhile, spend on news and magazine brands fell by 6% and is forecast to fall again this year, and TV was broadly flat.[11] In other words, a buoyant advertising market isn’t the same as a buoyant media sector: much of the windfall is going to tech platforms and retailers rather than to the publishers and broadcasters who employ most of the UK’s media workforce.
Job market dynamics
As is covered in the full report, we have used vacancy rates as a key data point in assessing job market dynamics in most sectors. However, media & publishing has no ONS category of its own. The nearest category – information and communication – is dominated by telcos and IT, which aren’t necessarily reflective of media and publishing. We have therefore used a different measure: Indeed’s job postings index.
Briefly, the index tracks the number of jobs advertised against a pre-pandemic baseline (1 February 2020 = 100). A reading below 100 means fewer roles are being advertised than before the pandemic, and a reading above 100 means more. Like the vacancy rate, it is a useful barometer of employer demand.
As far as vacancies go, Indeed’s data shows postings for media and communications roles down 16% on a year ago.[13] This is almost twice the decline across all UK jobs (9%), and leaves job postings around 55% below the pre-pandemic level. And while it’s worth noting that Indeed’s data is role-based rather than sector-based, other sources seem to support a contracting job market in media and publishing.
Cuts have been deep and widespread within news. Alongside Reach cutting over 300 roles,[14] the BBC plans to cut around 2,000 jobs (about 10% of staff) and Channel 4 has announced intentions to cut more than a quarter of its workforce by the end of the year.[15] While this may be expected given the parlous environment news organisations find themselves in, it seems jobs are being scythed in better performing verticals too. Despite the record revenues in book publishing, and their own 154% profit increase, Bloomsbury are cutting 55 roles as part of a restructure.[16]
The ONS’s business survey offers a longer, though less up to date, view. This dataset suggests book publishing employment remaining flat over 2019-24[17], while revenues rose from £6.3bn to £7.2bn.[18] The same data shows the sector’s main area of growth has been film and TV, where employment rose by nearly 50% between 2015-24.[17] However, that too may be stalling now, given spend on new UK film and high-end TV productions fell by around 16% in the first half of 2026.[19]
Stitching together these sources into an overall picture, it looks like the positive commercial momentum isn’t translating into jobs. Where the wider environment is challenging, as in news publishing, job cuts aren’t surprising. However, it also seems employment isn’t forthcoming even in the sector’s bright spots. Unfortunately, it’s far from the only sector where one would currently rather be a shareholder than a professional.
Media & Publishing: the bottom line
Media and publishing may contain multitudes, but its job market does not. Book and journal publishing is enjoying record revenues and advertising is growing strongly, yet job postings are well below pre-pandemic levels, and cuts have spread to healthy corners of the sector. Much of the advertising growth is going to (comparatively lightly staffed) tech platforms rather than media employers, while AI summaries are eating into legacy media’s traffic.
For employers: cuts across the sector have left an unusually deep pool of experienced editorial, production and commercial talent, so those hiring can afford to be selective. The roles still being created tend to call for editorial judgement combined with digital and audience skills. After successive restructures, a clear sense of stability and direction may count for as much as salary in winning those people over.
For candidates: this is a tough market, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. But editorial, storytelling and communication skills are highly transferable and desirable, both within media and well beyond it, so cast the net wide. Pairing those strengths with digital and commercial know-how will strengthen any application.