Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
It's a brutal, fearful time for American media — with companies scrambling to cut costs and secure cash in a scenario reminiscent of the early pandemic.
Why it matters: The new economic reality means layoffs, hiring freezes, and other cost-cutting measures.
Driving the news: New data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas finds that news media layoffs are beginning to tick up again after a relatively stable summer.
Between the lines: Inflation and supply chain issues have slowed down the ad market dramatically ahead of what's typically the most lucrative time of the year.
The financial stress on Big Tech firms has killed most programs to pay publishers for their content.
The big picture: Plummeting ad sales has forced Big Media to reckon with an even bigger problem — cord-cutting and a slowdown in consumer spending on subscriptions.
News companies are also seeing a significant traffic slowdown in response to a Post-Trump news cycle that's riddled with depressing headlines.
Be smart: For media startups, a murky economic outlook has created a difficult fundraising atmosphere and has killed any incentive to go public.
Yes, but: There remain some points of optimism in the industry.
What to watch: A difficult economic climate is being compounded by an erosion of media trust and a decline in press freedoms.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove a line stating that Puck cancelled fundraising plans this year, as they may still raise a series B round in 2022.