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News and lifestyle media company theSkimm laid off 12 employees in late November, or roughly 10% of its workforce, in the latest of a series of headcount reductions sweeping the media industry, according to three people familiar with the situation.
A representative for theSkimm confirmed the news.
The cuts mark the third round of layoffs theSkimm has conducted this year, following reductions of a similar scope in January and April. The cuts primarily affected sales and sales support staff, although a handful of roles in finance and administration were also impacted.
theSkimm now joins a host of digital media companies—including Condé Nast, The Washington Post, Vox Media and G/O Media—that have laid off staff in recent weeks. More than 20,000 media jobs have been eliminated this year, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Persistent inflation, fears of a recession and rising interest rates led to a pullback in advertising spend across industries in the first half of the year. While certain sectors have since recovered, including the technology industry, digital media companies have continued to struggle.
theSkimm, an early adopter of the newsletter-based media model, has worked to diversify its business to make it more resilient in the face of mercurial advertising revenues.
It launched an affiliate commerce business last year, and in March, the company set up an in-house creative agency, SKM Labs, to expand its branded content capabilities.
It has sought to tap into the growing purchasing power of its audience of millennial women, many of whom are entering into a new chapter of their lives after finding theSkimm a decade ago, chief revenue officer Mary Murcko said at Adweek’s NexTech event in November.
The publisher has also sought to expand beyond newsletters into a multichannel operation. It hired its first editor in chief in October 2021 to bolster its web presence, and it has steadily grown its slate of podcasts and editorial initiatives.
The size of its audience—roughly 12 million people across all channels—has remained relatively unchanged in recent years, prompting the publisher to explore strategies that compel its existing fans to engage with it in new ways.
