Media hiring rebounds as OOH and events drive recovery

Australia's media and events jobs market has recorded its strongest quarter in three years, but the recovery is being driven by sharp growth in events, outdoor and retail media while hiring continues to fall across programmatic, television and streaming.

New data from recruitment consultancy Mercury Talent found 1,166 roles were advertised during the September quarter, up 11% year-on-year and 15% from the previous quarter.

It marks a second consecutive quarter of growth following four quarters of decline and takes advertised roles slightly above the previous high of 1,162 recorded in the September quarter of 2024.

Large-scale events led the increase, with advertised roles soaring 267% year-on-year to 198 as the Rugby World Cup, AFL, Football Australia, Cricket Australia and events platform Fever ramped up hiring.

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OOH and retail media hiring rose 31.4%, reflecting continued investment in the sector and the expansion of retailer-owned networks including Kmart, Myer Media Network and MixIn.

B2B media and events increased 20.4%, while radio and podcast hiring grew 10.3%.

The picture was markedly different elsewhere. Programmatic hiring fell 27.5%, TV and streaming declined 14% for a sixth consecutive quarter and search and social dropped 14%. Publishing was broadly flat, down 1%.

Mercury Talent director Justin Randles cautioned against declaring a full recovery just yet.

“The job market in the media and events industry has been up and down over the past three years so I’m loath to call this result a recovery,” Randles said.

“That said, 1,166 jobs for the quarter is the best news for jobseekers since July-September 2024 so we’re all hoping the bounce we’re experiencing will continue.”

Melbourne continued to outpace Sydney, with hiring increasing 31% year-on-year compared with 8% in Sydney.

There were also signs of changing demand within media businesses. Marketing and communications roles jumped 68%, content positions increased 18% and mid-level hiring rose 25%.

Sales and client service roles, however, fell 9% for a sixth consecutive quarter.

Despite the industry's intense focus on artificial intelligence, explicitly AI-labelled jobs remain tiny. Roles containing “AI” in the job title reached a record 24 during the quarter, up 140% year-on-year but still representing less than 1% of advertised positions.