There are plenty of downsides to reviving an older brand. When I talk to people on the phone, the questions are different than you’d get for a startup.
They’re not “so, what is Mediabistro?” or “what are you doing?”
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It’s usually more like a sense of shock mixed with nostalgia. “Mediabistro, really?”
“You’re back?”
Yeah, it’s back. A lot of people know it, but they know it from like a decade ago. Mediabistro was a larger company back then, and built an incredible reputation among publishers and broadcasters.
It’s always hard to distill the exact magic of what made something work in the first place. But I think it boils down to two things:
- Great personal connections and community
- Intense focus on a valuable niche (writers, journalists, publishers)
We’re going to continue both of those things. But we’re planning a lot more, so I thought it would make sense to explain a little bit about our plan for this year — what I want it to be.
Media is so Darn Important
The job market for media professionals has been absolutely brutal. Job opportunities for journalists, reporters, editors, graphic designers, and others have been challenged by big legacy media consolidations, and now AI — and the companies using AI as cover for the somewhat broken business models that can’t support the same headcount they used to.
But is distribution itself less important than it was a decade ago, or more important?
I think distribution is harder to achieve than ever, and media professionals who specialize in driving interest, eyeballs, and engagement will be in demand. That becomes especially clear as soon as companies wake up to the fact that they can’t achieve breakthroughs with pure AI-driven content.
AI will help get the task done — writing pieces of content or developing branded ads and presentations faster. But the goal of all these tasks is engagement and attention. In a world awash in content, does AI achieve that end goal?
It’s pretty clear it doesn’t, at least not without a lot of thought and strategy behind it.
For a few minutes in 2024-2025, I was a bit of an AI-doomer. It seemed like the “price of the written word” was quickly going to zero, and graphics and video would soon be in the same place.
But in 2026, I’m suddenly much more optimistic. We seem to be back to basics. Media companies need attention as much as ever, and there’s a welcome audience of humans who are more receptive than ever to spending real time with content. Non-media companies like tech need attention too. And with traditional methods like organic social and PPC decaying, they’ll need professionals to drive breakout ideas and unique ways to capture engagement.
That’s why we think Mediabistro can be very important. We’re aiming to be the center of media talent. And this is going to be a great market to be in.
The Community Has Expanded, and So Have We
Mediabistro did a great job inside a niche. The media industry itself — broadcasters, streamers, newspapers, magazines — has always been a focus, and we can continue there and rebuild relationships with all the leading firms.
But the profession has expanded so much beyond the media industry. It would have been unthinkable a decade ago to see tech companies buying media firms. You also wouldn’t have thought that non-media companies would employ editors, journalists, social media experts, and graphic designers in-house. But here we are.
These companies are building distribution and authority intentionally, out of a pressing business need.
Most of my data is anecdotal, but I know that certain job types are expanding — brand journalism, content managers, and others. The storytellers are having a bit of a moment, and I don’t think this is a blip. It feels like a long-term structural reality of business.
So in terms of our focus, we’re moving from an industry niche to a specialization niche. We have legacy in publishing and media companies. We’re going to expand and build an incredibly deep talent pool of all types of content specialists, for all kinds of companies. And this is a market I feel confident will continue to expand.
Jobs Are Changing, So We Will Too
Mediabistro has traditionally focused on full-time jobs, and we’ll continue to drive that. We’ve seen a lot of roles lately that are, frankly, incredible mixings of executive strategy and editorial direction. Full-time roles are expanding their functions and requirements. Companies are hiring carefully and selectively for roles that require a broad understanding of actual business, alongside editorial and engagement taste. I see this continuing and growing.
That said, project work is taking up a bigger piece of the total employment pie. Agencies have become real forces in the industry and talent magnets. And more and more individuals identify as “1099,” hopping between companies, lending their expertise to multiple clients, and learning good things along the way.
We are building project capabilities inside Mediabistro, and we’re going to do this sooner rather than later this year. I’m excited about it. More on this soon.
A lot of freelance platforms get in the middle and end up causing quite a bit of friction. Contractors feel like they’re “on the outside,” companies have to deal with separate payment systems outside of their normal payroll, and both sides lose a percentage of the margin.
That model made sense when trust between strangers online was harder to establish. But media is a relationship business, and most of the people using Mediabistro already know how to work with each other — they just need the connection.
We’re building a straightforward project system that allows for direct connection — not a payment system, but a connection system, very much like a regular full-time job application. Get out of the way, let the relationship form.
The point being: projects are coming to Mediabistro.
So, Mediabistro, really?
The answer is yes. We’re bullish on media talent, even in the age of AI. It’s a time to double down and focus, as we build back and forward.
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