Super Bowl LVIII brought us all together in 2024, authentic football fans and Swifties alike. But I think we know all too well what many of us wait for each year during the game—those memorable and trademark-spectacular Super Bowl commercials. This year showed us the DunKings, Mayo Cat, and Queen Bey’s attempt to break Verizon, and they brought Paramount Global, the owner of broadcast and cable TV networks like CBS, record-breaking advertising sales and the highest-rated telecast for the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, as hundreds of Paramount Studio employees will find out on Tuesday, February 20th, when the company announces who is being laid off.
Despite Paramount’s Super Bowl success, the media industry has been struggling to adapt to the evolving landscape, with streaming services gaining dominance over traditional television. The impact of the Hollywood strikes last year didn’t do any favors for the industry, either. And with soft advertising and economic uncertainties, Paramount Studios feels the heat.
With the establishment of Paramount+, the company has been attempting to transition from a traditional linear television studio to streaming. The media industry conglomerate recently made known their intention to lay off 800 studio employees, which is roughly 3% of their staff. Despite their announcement on Monday that the Super Bowl broke previous records with a massive 123.4 million viewers, claiming its place in TV history as amassing the largest TV audience since the 1969 moon landing, Paramount still faces challenges with revenue growth.
With only modest revenue growth in recent years, Paramount intends to focus resources on the company’s “most powerful, resonant franchises, films, and series,” stated Paramount’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Bakish. The idea is to produce fewer local and international originals, and in conjunction with a large number of layoffs, Bakish claims that “these adjustments will help enable us to build on our momentum and execute our strategic vision for the year ahead,”
As the home to well-known film franchises like “Top Gun,” “Transformers,” and “Mission: Impossible,” as well as the popular modern-day western hit television series, “Yellowstone,” Paramount is just one media business to lay off employees in 2024. Earlier in the year, we already witnessed big businesses making huge cuts in staffing. The new industry saw The Los Angeles Times cut roughly 20% of its entire staff, which equates to around 115 employees. The Wall Street Journal also proceeded with layoffs in hopes of restructuring the company. Following the likes of Business Insider and YouTube, Paramount’s goal is to cut costs and produce growth. Bakish believes these “adjustments” will help Paramount “build momentum” while executing its “strategic vision” for 2024.
With a staff of approximately 24,500 full-time and part-time employees around the globe, and about 5,800 project-based staff on its payroll in late 2022, Paramount’s choice to implement staff reductions comes at a time when layoffs are on the rise in the entertainment industry. While losing one’s job is never easy, Bakish does want those who will be laid off to know that Paramount Studies is “incredibly grateful” for their hard work and commitment, stating “Your talents have helped us advance our mission of unleashing the power of content around the world.”
