Last evening I saw the news that Buzzfeed is laying off 15% of its staff, over 200 people. On the same day Verizon announced that it is cutting 7% of the staff at its media division (formerly known as Oath). That’s about 800 people. There’s another round of layoffs at Gannet, though the numbers there aren’t clear. This is all just news announced today. I run a much smaller operation. But each time I read these stories, which seem to come with increasing frequency, I feel both a chill of fear and an odd satisfaction that, at least for now, we’re bucking the trend.
Satisfaction isn’t quite the word for it. It’s more like what you feel if you’re sailing in very rough water, made a plan, stuck to the plan and at the other end of the voyage found you were still afloat. It’s not satisfaction. It’s more like ‘We’re still afloat and that’s much better than not being afloat.’ Maybe it’s relief.
I’d first written a more elaborate version of this post. But the point is simple. We’re here and not going anywhere because we have a super dedicated audience, one dedicated enough to subscribe and become members of our community. When you sign up for Prime or Prime AF or Inside, that’s the basis of our vitality as a publication. If you’re a subscriber, we’re here because of you. It’s that simple.
That’s not only incredibly good news for us. It is also a kind of liberation. None of these publications that are slashing staffs are doing so because they got worse at what they did. It’s not because people stopped liking them as much. Maybe no one much valued them or had much attachment to them in the first place. (Here of course I’m not talking about yesterday’s layoffs. I just mean in general, talking about all the publications that have retrenched in the last couple years.) The point is that in no case was it really about them. The reason for the fall was a) changes in the advertising industry, b) the growth of social media platforms (and their affect on the ad industry) or changing expectations from investors (often because of a and b).
In all cases they’re being buffeted by events beyond their control and not intrinsically related to what they even do. If your livelihood is tied to your readers that imparts a certain stability and the knowledge that there will be a connection between your dedication, what you produce and your success. No guarantees but there is a relationship between the two.
