Ricky Strauss is exiting from his role as head of marketing at Apple TV+ after leading the department for nearly a year and a half. An Apple spokesperson confirmed Strauss would be stepping down from his Culver City-based role.
Another insider familiar with Strauss’ moves indicated that the exec is looking to pursue other creative endeavors. It is unclear whether the now-vacated position will be filled and who will step in if so.
Hired in January 2023, Strauss’ responsibilities included overseeing marketing campaigns, advertising and promotions for Apple TV+ programming, working under Tor Myrhen, Apple’s vice president of marketing communication.
Prior to his time at the tech giant, Strauss had spent nearly a decade at Disney and held the position of president of content and marketing for Disney+, helping steer the launch of the streaming service in 2019. He had also served as president of programming for Hulu and Disney+. Prior to those positions, Strauss served as president of marketing for Walt Disney Studios, leading advertising strategy for its feature films, with hits like the relaunched “Star Wars” franchise, Marvel Cinematic Universe entries and animated features like “Incredibles 2” and “Moana.”
Popular on Variety
Before working at Disney, Strauss spent seven years as president of the now-defunct Participant Media, which produced Oscar-winning features with social justice-focused campaigns like “The Help” and “An Inconvenient Truth” under is tenure. Following the banner’s closure last month, dozens of actors and directors have since signed an open letter in response — imploring the industry to continue to effect change through film and television as the defunct company once did.
Matt Donnelly contributed to this report.