According to this post from NewTeeVee.com  – “Layoffs and More Layoffs: What about online video?“, some companies are not cutting back. (note: BRASSmedia’s bold and underlining).

So are they letting go of online video staffers or not?

NBCU: Probably. The layoffs are reportedly taking place across all units.

Adobe: No. “The layoffs are intended to help Adobe better focus on its growing online video and Internet-software business,” the WSJ quoted CEO Shantanu Narayen as saying.

Viacom: No. Sources say the layoffs hit their MTV Networks division the hardest, but not the digital groups.

AT&T: Doubtful. The telco has plenty of other troubled businesses. From the WSJ: “AT&T said it would also continue to hire in areas that are seeing faster growth, such as wireless and its nascent TV service.”

Not all online, web based, new media startups, venture capital funded companies, or major enterprise digital content developers or producers are growing. In fact some are cutting back staff with the same ratios, on average 7%-12%, as other businesses. The above quotes are a small sample of the industry but there is a positive note to all of this.

The NewTeeVee.com blog post has some key words which describe new media in general: growing & faster growth. According to other news on the web there are still new jobs being created  in the world of social media. Maybe not in the thousands or millions but it is growing. Why? Simple – the move of consumers to collecting information, news and entertainment from TV, radio and newspapers to the web has increased exponentially during the past few years. As a result  marketing efforts are being diverted from traditional channels to these new media channels. The new web has it own unique characteristics and culture so it naturally needs a group of people who understand this culture to successfully bring marketing, entertainment and news messages to the online communities.

Dean