In 2025, the U.S. entertainment industry faced another difficult chapter. More than 17,000 jobs were cut across television, film, broadcast, news, and streaming in the first eleven months of the year, an 18% increase from 2024. The headlines came frequently but told only part of the story. Beneath the figures lay deeper structural challenges that have been building since the double strikes of 2023, when writers and actors shut down production for months and disrupted an already strained ecosystem.
For many workers, 2025 did not feel like a recovery year but rather a continuation of the turbulence that began when traditional cable revenue declined and digital platforms started cutting costs to satisfy investors. The wave of consolidation that followed mergers, acquisitions, and content library reductions reshaped how studios decide what and who to invest in. Netflix, (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) both spoke openly during the year about reprioritizing profitability over constant content expansion, a theme echoed by nearly every major studio during quarterly earnings calls.
According to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, overall U.S. industry growth slowed to just above 3% in 2025, down from projections earlier in the decade that foresaw double-digit expansion. Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends Report noted that subscription fatigue among consumers has forced streaming companies to reintroduce advertising tiers and scale back large-scale productions that were once used to draw in new viewers. Those strategic recalibrations have a direct consequence: fewer roles for production staff, editors, and creative talent.
“The industry is recalibrating after a decade of overextension,” said Kevin Westcott, Deloitte’s U.S. technology, media, and telecom leader, in a November interview with Variety. “We’ve reached a point where audience demand, technology capability, and production economics are out of sync.” His observation resonates across Hollywood, where studio backlots that once buzzed with back-to-back shoots now face reduced schedules and downsized crews.
Artificial intelligence also entered the discussion in a tangible way. While AI-assisted editing tools and script development software have improved efficiency, they have simultaneously raised anxieties about workforce displacement. PwC analysts estimated that automation could reshape up to 20% of behind-the-scenes roles in production and post-production by 2028. That potential transformation creates both optimism and unease some executives frame it as evolution, while labor unions describe it as erosion.
Union dynamics continued to influence employment patterns in 2025. The ripple effects of the 2023 strikes still lingered in negotiations between studios and guilds such as SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. These talks increasingly centered on revenue sharing from streaming and protections from AI-generated content. The long-term outcome of these agreements remains uncertain, but they are likely to set precedents that define job stability across the next decade.
Financial analysts suggest that the layoff trend could persist into early 2026, though possibly at a slower pace. McKinsey & Company forecast that production budgets across major studios will decrease by another 5% to 7% next year as companies complete merger integrations and reassess their content pipelines. At the same time, opportunities may emerge in live events, sports broadcasting, and interactive entertainment, which continue to attract new investment as traditional scripted projects contract.
Still, the human dimension cannot be ignored. Each job cut signals a reshaped career, a paused dream, or a disrupted creative process. Industry veterans are increasingly turning to independent production, podcasting, or freelance digital services to stay connected to the field they helped build. While the broader economy continues to show resilience, the business model of Hollywood is being rewritten in real time, balancing cost control with creative ambition.
The story of 2025’s entertainment layoffs is not solely about loss. It reflects an industry rethinking what growth means after years of rapid change. If the past two years redefined what it takes to produce and distribute stories, the next few may decide whether the U.S. entertainment sector can find equilibrium between innovation and sustainability.
