Many people in the media industry moved to London to secure their first role, which has given them their starting point for a long career in the media industry. Thankfully in recent years, the broadcasters have been pushing to more regional spending and they’re committing to larger offices in cities across the rest of the country. That means it might not be a necessity to move to London once more, with more media jobs based closer to home.
The Old Days
Without a doubt, the media industry has been focused mostly on London. Most of the major broadcasters are based in the capital and many of the top production companies have their headquarters nearby too. People moved to the capital pursuing a media job and many of them have managed to build successful careers in the industry. Whether they started as a Runner, a Broadcast Assistant or a Personal Assistant, many of these roles were based in London at the various companies in the industry, you would rarely find them locally.
That’s not to say that local media jobs don’t exist, they do! However, there are far fewer than the capital. Local journalism and broadcast teams are based in the regions they report from, so they’ll have a small newsroom. Plus you have local radio and TV stations as well, but these roles are often more narrow and the salaries reflect that.
Nations and Regions
Both the BBC and Channel 4 are working on big plans to move significant portions of their staff out of London. The BBC started this move back in 2012 with the move of BBC Children, BBC Sport, BBC Breakfast and select radio stations to MediaCityUK in Salford. They’ve now announced a further 400 jobs will relocate outside of the capital, alongside hundreds of new positions created specifically for the regions.
Channel 4 have made what seems to be the biggest leap though. They’ve committed to a brand new national headquarters in Leeds, which additional offices in Bristol and Glasgow. The new HQ will be operational from 2021 and house around 300 employees.
As these broadcasters spread out from London, many of the connected sectors are following suit. Production companies are launching offices in new locations in the North of the country, regional studios spaces are expanding and facilities based there are experiencing a boom in business.
Jobs outside of London
Thankfully there are many media jobs outside of London. In the West, Bristol has become a hotspot for factual TV production, Manchester is home to major broadcast departments and production facilities, Leeds will soon host large numbers of Channel 4 employees.
On top of that, you’ve got the traditional jobs which need to be local. Local journalism and broadcast teams have to be based in the regions they cover. These are ideal for recent graduates and those keen to pursue a career in the media industry.
With the work from home transition, many have found it’s possible to work the same roles from anywhere within the country – you’re set as long as you have a laptop and internet connection. Will this continue into the future? We’re expecting a return to the office for several days a week, though many companies are looking at more regional offices for their staff.
Final Thoughts
A significant portion of roles will remain in London, there’s no escaping that fact. It’s the UK capital and things are useful when centred around one location, especially in a world with global broadcasters. However, there are large commitments to base significant headcount in new locations across the UK and budgets will come with restrictions on spending within London. All these factors will help boost the number of media jobs outside London, which is a positive feature.
Here at Action Media Jobs, we bring you the very best vacancies in the media industry from across the UK.