Tech

Apple reported its latest quarterly earnings results Thursday, revealing all-time record-breaking sales for its October-December 2024 period. For the quarter, the first full quarter during which the new iPhone 16 models were available, Apple drew $69.1 billion in iPhone sales. That’s down slightly from $69.7 billion in the period ended December 2023. To put a positive spine

Amazon is raising prices on its Music Unlimited plans, coming two months after it added access to Audible’s collection of audiobooks. In a section of Amazon Music FAQs titled “2025 Subscription Plan Pricing Changes,” the ecommerce giant says, “In order to bring you even more content and new features, we’re updating the price of select

Andre Rohe, who previously held senior engineering roles at Meta, YouTube and Google, has been hired to lead a newly created consolidated product engineering team in the Disney Entertainment and ESPN technology group. Rohe reports directly to Adam Smith, chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, who joined the company last September.

UTA has signed the viral podcast “The Telepathy Tapes,” and its host and creator Ky Dickens, for global representation in all areas. The agency will also represent Dickens’ forthcoming documentary feature associated with the podcast. “The Telepathy Tapes” captured the world’s attention over the holidays, surpassing Joe Rogan to claim the No. 1 podcast spot,

Wholesome Games is set to launch developer Poti Poti Studio’s new puzzle game, “Is This Seat Taken?,” through the company’s Wholesome Games Presents label. The game, which is described as “a heartfelt puzzle adventure that will have you wondering, ‘Does this person really smell that bad?’,” will launch a public Steam demo Feb. 10. It

Netflix is further expanding its partnership with WWE with a new exclusive deal for the mobile versions of the popular “WWE 2K” video game franchise. Made by Take-Two Interactive’s 2K Games studio, the “WWE 2K” mobile games will be available to Netflix subscribers beginning in fall 2025. This furthers Netflix’s relationship with Take-Two, which also

PlayStation has a new CEO again — kind of. On Tuesday evening in the U.S. and the early hours of Wednesday in Tokyo, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that Hideaki Nishino would be the sole CEO of the video game company, following less than a year of serving as CEO alongside Hermen Hulst. At the time

Meta turned in a big beat for the fourth quarter of 2024, with the parent of Facebook and Instagram reporting record quarterly revenue and net profit to close out the year. The strong results come as the company is looking ahead to a massive increase in AI-fueled capital spending in 2025 — and as Meta

A new investigative podcast series about mystery drone sightings, “Obscurum: Invasion of the Drones,” is set to launch Feb. 11, Variety can exclusively report. The series, produced in partnership with Imagine Entertainment, iHeartMedia and Lenners Entertainment, comes on the heels of the public’s recent fascination with mysterious drone sightings over New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

Want to take that full season of “Squid Game” to go? Now Netflix customers using iOS apps can download all episodes of a series season with one tap. On Wednesday, Netflix announced the Season Download button for iOS, a much-requested feature that lets members download an entire season of their favorite shows with just one click.

When Warner Bros. Discovery research chief Natasha Hritzuk first began studying short-form video, the conventional wisdom was that platforms like TikTok and YouTube were having a cannibalizing effect on TV and film consumption. But as she shares in her latest study, the deeper she explored audience behavior, the more she saw that social video served

David Field has stepped down as Audacy‘s president and CEO and as a member of the board, after 27 years leading the radio broadcaster and audio company and its predecessor. The board has appointed Kelli Turner, current Audacy board member, as interim president and CEO, effective immediately. The board has commenced a search for a

Dungeons and Dragons-actual play TV series “Dimension 20” is about to expand its world of intrepid heroes beyond its home streaming service Dropout with an upcoming webcomic set at Webtoon Entertainment. Per Dropout and Webtoon’s description for the “Dimension 20” project, “‘Fantasy High‘ follows a group of misfit teens as they navigate the high-stakes drama

Spotify paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024 — some $1 billion more than last year, the previous record — making its total around $60 billion since it was founded in 2006. The company made the announcement in a blog post Tuesday morning. While that figure may seem questionable considering how little many

Disney+ Hotstar‘s exclusive livestream of Coldplay‘s Ahmedabad, India, concert attracted 8.3 million views and accumulated 1.65 billion minutes of watch time during the three-hour broadcast on Jan. 26. The British rock band’s performance at Narendra Modi Stadium, which drew a massive crowd of over 134,000 attendees, kicked off with frontman Chris Martin winning hearts by

Critical Role announced a special live one-shot D&D adventure aimed at continued fundraising for wildfire recovery efforts in L.A. Critical Role will host a “chaotic and interactive” one-shot charity livestream titled “Freaky Thursday,” featuring Bells Hells, the characters from its third D&D campaign played by Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel,

Spotify has set up a velvet-roped VIP section for its most listened to podcasters — with Joe Rogan and Audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” getting the top honors in the streamer’s inaugural Creator Milestone Awards. Evaluated quarterly, Spotify’s Creator Milestone Award are being bestowed on podcasters who reach certain streaming thresholds on the platform. The first group

It’s not clear whether “Severance” — Apple TV+’s mind-bending workplace thriller whose Season 2 budget reportedly topped $200 million — will deliver payback for the tech company. But Apple boss Tim Cook is doing his part to drive tune-in for Team Lumon. Cook stars in a “Severance”-themed promo video released Friday by Apple. In the

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad is exiting his role after 12 years leading the Warner Bros. Games division. Haddad will stay on with the David Zaslav-led company for the next three months as WBD looks for his replacement and to help oversee the transition to his successor. “David has thoughtfully and purposefully chosen

Will TikTok find a way to remain legal in the U.S. under a new ownership structure? A range of possible new owners for TikTok in the U.S. — including MrBeast, Elon Musk and Oracle founder Larry Ellison — have emerged as a federal law banning TikTok in the country went into effect this Sunday, Jan.

“We are a great untold story,” David J. Lee, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Webtoon Entertainment, declared as he explained the growth trajectory of the digital storytelling medium known as webtoons. Indeed, the numbers tell the tale, as Lee illustrates on the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” The Los Angeles-based

Insomniac Games founder and CEO Ted Price is stepping down from his role atop the Sony Interactive Entertainment-owned studio after more than 30 years running the company behind PlayStation‘s “Ratchet & Clank” franchise and “Marvel’s Spider-Man” games. Taking over for Price, who will be staying with the PlayStation studio through March, are a trio of

The Big Red N is flexing its power. Netflix shares zoomed to new all-time highs Wednesday, to nearly $1,000 per share, after the streaming giant posted strong Q4 subscriber additions and announced a series of new price hikes. Netflix stock opened at $997.66/share Wednesday, up 15%, giving the company a market capitalization of more than

Software giant Adobe is making an additional $5 million commitment — on top of its $6 million pledge last year — to support underrepresented creators and filmmakers in the film and TV industries. Established in 2024, the Adobe Film & TV Fund is providing assistance to “thousands of emerging creators, fostering greater representation and inclusion

India-headquartered global animation outfit Toonz Media Group is betting big on character-building entertainment, partnering with BLKBX Originals and MVP Kids to develop a new 3D animated series and Roblox game based on the popular children’s brand. The deal will see the production of 52 seven-minute episodes aimed at expanding the reach of MVP Kids’ diverse

Following 2024’s massive wave of layoffs across the video game industry, one in 10 developers say they were among those cut from AAA studios and indie outlets alike. According to the the Game Developers Conference‘s newly released “2025 State of the Game Industry” report, 11% of the 3,000 developers surveyed say they were laid off

Col Needham, who founded of entertainment info site IMDb in 1990, is stepping aside as CEO of the Amazon-owned property. Needham has transitioned to the role of IMDb executive chair. Nikki Santoro, who has served as IMDb’s chief operating officer since 2021, has been appointed CEO — becoming only the second chief executive in the

German media powerhouse RTL Group and the country’s Deutsche Telekom have signed a pact to renew their cooperation in streamer RTL+ until at least 2030, signalling their determination to continue to undermine Amazon and Netflix’s strong presence in the territory. Under the terms of their bundling agreement – which started in 2020 – RTL+ Premium

Pope Francis had quite a busy weekend. In a rare TV interview, he slammed President-elect Donald Trump’s call for the mass deportation of immigrants in the U.S. as a “disgrace.” He also made his first appearance on TikTok, which was briefly banned in the States on Sunday, to promote his new autobiography “Hope.” The 88-year-old

Cosm shared reality LED domes, based in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Park and in Dallas, will offer live Super Bowl viewing on Feb. 9. The 65,000 square foot Los Angeles venue, adjacent to SoFi Stadium, offers an immersive, curved 87-foot diameter 12K resolution LED dome, which one could think of as a mini Las Vegas Sphere.