Media industry hiring fell 3.8 per cent year-on-year in the March 2026 quarter, with sales and client service roles driving the decline, according to new data from Mercury Talent.
From January to March 2026, there were 1,045 media job ads posted. That was up 22 per cent on the seasonal dip in October to December 2025, but down from the recent peak of 1,163 roles recorded in July to September 2025.
Sales roles led the decline
Sales and client service recruitment fell 14.9 per cent year-on-year to 370 roles, making it the biggest factor behind the overall drop. The sharpest decline came in TV and streaming, where sales hiring fell 51.6 per cent.
Programmatic also recorded a 31 per cent fall in sales hiring. By contrast, out-of-home and retail media was flat, while large-scale events more than doubled sales activity from a small base.
Justin Randles, of Mercury Talent, said the latest result pointed to a market that may be stabilising, even as job movement slows.
“We’re yet to see the impacts of recent large acquisitions, but my feeling is that the media industry has stopped getting smaller and that the latest decline in hiring activity is more a reflection of reduced movement in the job market overall,” Randles said.
“People are less willing to take the risk of changing jobs.”
Justin Randles
Operations and product roles keep growing
While commercial hiring softened, product and operations was the strongest-performing category. Roles in that area rose 6.3 per cent year-on-year to 336 and now account for 32 per cent of all media hiring, up from 24 per cent two years ago.
The shift showed up across several sectors at once, including programmatic, TV and streaming, out-of-home and retail media, and radio and podcasting. Marcomms hiring was broadly stable at 107 roles.
Content roles also continued to trend down, falling 10.2 per cent to 202. Mercury Talent said content’s share of total industry hiring has dropped from almost 29 per cent in early 2024 to 19 per cent in early 2026.
Media Industry Hiring Activity, Jan-Mar 2026
Publishing remains the largest hiring sector
Publishing was the largest hiring sector in the quarter with 422 roles, followed by TV and streaming with 181, radio and podcast with 116, and B2B media and events with 111.
Radio and podcast stood out, up 19 per cent on six months ago, led by hiring from ABC, ARN and SCA. TV and streaming also rebounded from a softer December 2025 quarter, with Nine, ABC and SBS lifting recruitment, although sales hiring in the sector remained under pressure.
Media Industry Hiring Activity by Media Type, Jan-Mar 2026
Company hiring patterns shift
At a company level, Domain nearly tripled hiring compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The growth spanned sales, product, operations, and executive roles.
Google more than doubled its product and operations hiring year-on-year. Uber Advertising and QMS also recorded increases from smaller bases, while TikTok’s hiring eased from 39 roles in Q1 2025 to 25 this quarter.
Top 10 Hirers, Jan-Mar 2026
More senior roles in the mix
The data also suggests employers are hiring more selectively. Executive-level roles held steady, while manager-level roles fell 11.8 per cent, lifting the share of director and senior management positions modestly higher.
Mercury Talent said several businesses, including Domain, Seven Network, Cartology and Nova, showed a clearer tilt towards senior hires during the quarter.
Questions over AI and content hiring
The continued decline in content roles, alongside growth in product and operations, also points to a broader structural shift in how media companies are building teams.
Mercury Talent said the trend raises questions about the impact of artificial intelligence on media employment. With content hiring falling consistently since mid-2024 and the seniority mix within those roles staying largely stable, the data suggests the change may reflect more than short-term cost-cutting.
Whether that is driven by AI-assisted production, editorial consolidation, or both, the latest figures indicate the media jobs market is changing shape rather than simply shrinking.