As an industry known to innovate, it’s time to find other ways to appease Wall Street, improve financials and secure a streaming-first plan.
By Dan Goman
Original article published at: https://www.thewrap.com/how-streaming-companies-can-can-avoid-mass-layoffs/
Major media and entertainment companies are turning to the 1970s-era tactic of laying off thousands of employees, ostensibly in preparation for a potential incoming recession.
Concerns from the wider industry are making these job cuts easier to accomplish, as headcount reductions have become almost expected. But there are more than macroeconomic factors behind these large media companies’ significant losses. The industry is reeling from a painful, initially gradual, and now abrupt, transition from a legacy broadcast model to streaming-first.
The main difficulty is that media and entertainment companies are still figuring out how to make the streaming-first model profitable, a problem made harder as they simultaneously battle rapidly incoming concerns from Wall Street.
So, to appease investors, media companies are doing what most major businesses instinctively do: mass layoffs to improve the company's financial statements. But surely, as an industry that continues to lead the charge in creativity and innovation, there must be a realization that this is a time where more is required than simply pulling out 50-year-old tricks.