What’s behind the recent media bloodbath? The dominance of Google and Facebook

It seems like with each passing day, the small world that is the media industry gets a little smaller.

On Tuesday, Time, Inc. announced it would be laying off or buying out 300 people as part of a plan to re-engineer its cost structure and become more efficient, according to a memo sent to employees by CEO Rich Battista.

Then, HuffPost laid off 39 people Wednesday as part of broader cuts made during parent company Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo.

Finally — as if the first two weren’t enough — Vocativ announced Wednesday that it would be cutting its entire editorial department in a strategic move to triple its investment in video production and partnerships.

This all sounds like a lot, right? And it was only two weeks ago that The New York Times offered buyouts to newsroom employees in an effort to shift the focus from its editing staff to reporters.

So, what’s behind all the doom and gloom? For the most part, the continued financial success of Silicon Valley titans Google and Facebook, whose dominance of the advertising sector has left publishers fighting over scraps.

“There is a clear correlation between layoffs and buyouts with the growth in market share for the duopoly — Google and Facebook,” said Jason Kint, CEO of the trade organization Digital Content Next, in an email to Poynter.

If that’s the case, then journalists can expect even more staffing changes in the future.