A proliferation of media and journalism jobs was caused a decade ago by the dawn of the VC-backed, digital-first, hyper-growth media startups, and also by the emergence of higher speed internet. Many companies like Trinity Mirror brought new jobs to the market, requiring new skills. The New York Times employ more journalists now than at any point in their illustrious history, and companies such as BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox employ thousands of journalists around the world. Many of these companies and these roles didn't exist before the turn of the millennium, and while the industry is supporting the employment of more journalists than ever before, the slice of the advertising pie gets smaller for each of these companies as more and more competitors enter the market. As anyone who has ever worked in a media company's sales department will know, sometimes it's much easier to sell something fresh and shiny than it is to sell the same tried and tested solution you've been selling for years. Though it's hard to accurately measure, I still believe there are more paid opportunities out there for content creators and journalists than ever before, and the best creators no longer have to spend years making tea and coffee in TV studios or newsrooms before they're allowed to prove themselves, because social media and blogging gave us all an opportunity to build our profile and prove our abilities. Good sponsored content means that users see advertising that's relevant to them, which yields a good ROI for the advertiser, which means the media company can charge healthy CPMs or CPCs. If it's driven by good data and targeting, then there aren't many advertising methods out there that are more effective. Read more