The job market for working professionals in the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry has turned gloomy due to a slide in readership, the collapse of the Zee-Sony merger plan, and OTTs’ impact on top bellwethers such as PVR, DishTV, and Tata Sky. According to the specialist staffing firm Xpheno, the total current active white-collar openings in the M&E sector are a little over 4,000. However, there are over 70,000 employed professionals from the industry who are currently looking for jobs.
Shincy Morris, Business Head – Direct Hire, Xpheno told Storyboard18 that the M&E sector employs 1.1 million, therefore the current job openings are negligible.
According to Xpheno, the job openings in the sector are in domains like communications, marketing, product services, and design. Some prominent job titles in demand are Public Relations Specialist, Senior Content Writer, Senior Graphic Designer, Content Lead, Communications Officer, etc.
Of the 70,000 job seekers, over 2,400 employees are from top bellwethers (6 percent of the total workforce of these companies).
Morris said that the media industry has experienced a churn rate of 12 percent, which is 1.3 lakh job switches in the country over the past 12 months. “Hence, the current demand from the sector is largely attrition driven, for replacement positions and not so much for expansion or capacity increase,” Morris added.
Staffing firm Foundit.in told Storyboard18 that there has also been a notable increase in freelance journalism opportunities, with many journalists currently working as independent contractors for multiple outlets specialising in niche areas such as technology, health, climate change, and finance. The use of data to uncover and tell stories has gained traction. Journalists with skills in data analysis and visualisation are in high demand. These trends will likely evolve as the industry adapts to new technologies and audience preferences, the staffing firm added.
Foundit.in CEO Sekhar Garisa said, “Economic challenges such as inflation, recession fears, and global market instability over the past year have led to cautious spending by companies, especially in sectors like media and entertainment that are sensitive to economic cycles”.
Salary brackets of jobseekers
According to Xpheno data, employees in sub-Rs 5 lakh CTC form the majority of job seekers, accounting for 45 percent in the M&E industry currently. Employees in the Rs 5-10 lakh bracket make up for one-third of the active pool, those in the Rs 10-15 lakh salary bracket account for 12 percent, applicants in the Rs 15-20 lakh bracket make up 7 percent and the remaining 3 percent are above Rs 20 lakh CTC.
With respect to work experience, employees with less than three years of experience account for nearly 20 percent of the accessible talent pool. Mid-level talent in 6 to 10 years of experience accounts for another 20 percent of the available active talent pool. Senior employee pool with more than 10 years of experience accounts for 22 percent of job seekers across the M&E sector.
In the top M&E companies, most job seekers are from fresher to mid-level positions only. Xpheno data revealed that candidates having CTC sub-Rs 5 lakh account for the majority of job seekers at 25 percent in top M&E companies. And, 41 percent of employees with CTC between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh from the same firms are also on the job hunt.