Tech

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, fell just short of Wall Street revenue expectations for the third quarter — which were already lowered — reporting a sales increase of 6%, its slowest growth since going public. The company posted sales of $1.128 billion for Q3 and adjusted net income of 8 cents/share. Wall Street analysts on

Elon Musk admitted he has a bit of buyer’s remorse over his $44 billion acquisition deal for Twitter — but the mercurial mega-billionaire believes the social network will be worth far more in the future. On Tesla’s third-quarter 2022 earnings call Wednesday, Musk commented, “Although, obviously, myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for

Fanatical collectors of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” will get the chance to buy limited-edition multimedia nonfungible token (NFT) versions of the fantasy epic. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is teaming with blockchain company Eluvio to launch “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (Extended Version)

Google exec Leo Olebe, who has worked in the games industry for over 20 years, will move into a new role as global head of gaming at YouTube, the unit that encompasses gaming-related content and partnerships, including livestreaming. Olebe most recently was managing director for the games partnerships team for Google Play, where he and

Howard Stern lashed out at Kanye West during the Oct. 19 episode of his SiriusXM radio show (via Mediaite). West has courted controversy in recent weeks for making antisemitic statements, most recently in an interview with Chris Cuomo where the rapper cited the “Jewish underground media mafia.” Stern compared West to Hitler and criticized his

Audie Cornish’s forthcoming podcast for CNN Audio, “The Assignment With Audie Cornish,” will premiere Thursday, Nov. 17. In this candid weekly show, the CNN anchor and correspondent will have conversations with everyday people “at the center of debates that are rocking the culture.” Topics in the weekly show will span the arts, education, politics, business

Rooster Teeth issued an open statement of apology for “hateful and hurtful” conduct toward employees over the years, coming after a former staff member detailed her experiences of being harassed, underpaid and marginalized at the company. The company, the fandom/gaming/sci-fi entertainment division of Warner Bros. Discovery, responded this past weekend to the allegations — but

Meta continues its attempts to try to make entertainment in VR a thing. The tech giant has enlisted Marlon Wayans to host a show in which he challenges celebrity friends to confront their biggest fears in virtual reality using a Meta Quest 2 VR headset — and users will be able to watch those terror-inducing

Just over three years ago, Netflix unequivocally shot down the idea that it would ever roll out an ad-supported streaming service. “When you read speculation that we are moving into selling advertising, be confident that this is false,” the streamer said in its second-quarter 2019 investor letter. “We believe we will have a more valuable

Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Republic Records and Samsung have teamed on global music collaboration initiative StemDrop – A Song for the World. StemDrop aims to act as an incubator for new talent by providing an opportunity for artists from anywhere in the world to collaborate with iconic songwriting talents. The initiative will

The Duchess of Sussex is in mourning. But we’ll get back to that. First, let’s go to the day we met, this past summer, at the venerated San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, Calif. The ranch is a low-key old luxury resort with simple bungalows tucked into a mountainside overlooking the Pacific coast. It’s the kind

Netflix is just over a year into its active push into games — and it’s doubling down on the strategy. Netflix’s VP of games Mike Verdu, speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 conference Tuesday, announced that the streamer was “seriously exploring” a cloud gaming offering to be able to extend its catalog of games to

Despite rumors to the contrary, Netflix says it has no plans to stop dropping all episodes of a TV show at once for binge-friendly viewing. “We think our bingeable release model helps drive substantial engagement, especially for newer titles,” Netflix said in its Q3 shareholder letter, as part of announcing quarterly results Tuesday. “This enables

Netflix will no longer share projected subscriber targets in upcoming earnings reports — a closely tracked metric among investors — as the company looks to shift the narrative to its financial performance. Starting with Netflix’s fourth-quarter 2022 earnings report in January 2023, it will not provide guidance for the next quarter (Q1 of 2023). The

After two straight quarters of subscriber losses, Netflix returned to growth in the third quarter of 2022 — and told investors it’s expecting a strong Q4 to finish the year, even though it doesn’t expect big gains right away from the launch of its cheaper, ad-supported plans. The streaming giant reported 2.41 million net new

Bryan Thoensen has exited TikTok to join Spotify as senior director, head of content partnerships and community for the streamer’s talk creator podcast team. In his new role at Spotify, Thoensen will lead the Talk Creator Content and Partnerships team where he will oversee content strategy and acquisition, business development, partner management and creator community

In his first leading feature role, Drew Ray Tanner (“Riverdale”) will star in “Boot Camp,” a film adaptation of the hugely popular Wattpad story by Gina Musa of the same name. The romantic comedy tells the body-empowerment story of notoriously unathletic Whitney Carmichael, played by Rachel Boudwin, who begins to fall for her off-limits personal

Apple took the wraps off its third-generation Apple TV 4K streaming device, which promises faster performance, HDR10+ support, expanded storage and more — while dropping the starting price to $129 compared with $179 for the prior-generation model. The new Apple TV 4K is available in two configurations: Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi), which offers 64 gigabytes

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has made a final decision and ordered Meta, which operates Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, to sell GIF provider Giphy. Meta will not appeal the decision. Meta’s $400 million acquisition of Giphy in 2020 fell afoul of the CMA, which provisionally found in Aug. 2021 that the takeover of

To celebrate October being National Book Month, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation released a new promotional video for its reading initiative Storyline Online featuring actors and children’s literacy advocates Nancy Cartwright, Terry Crews, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Garner, Joel McHale and Seth Meyers. Endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers, the reading initiative also offers free educational activity

Rooster Teeth, Warner Bros. Discovery’s fandom, sci-fi and gaming entertainment division, came under fire from a former employee who said she was mistreated during her time at the company — including being verbally harassed and severely underpaid. Kdin Jenzen, who worked at Rooster Teeth from 2013 until leaving earlier this year, published a 2,257-word blog

Netflix wants to make it as simple as possible for people who have been using someone else’s account — possibly in violation of the company’s terms of use — to set up a separate paid membership. On Monday, Netflix is launching Profile Transfer, a feature that lets anyone on an existing account migrate their profile

A study funded by Adobe sheds new light on the creator economy, indicating that not only are a large number of people earning money from their original content creations but also that their earning power has grown. Adobe’s “Future of Creativity” study, released Monday, examined how nonprofessional creators — who engage in creative activities as

Kanye “Ye” West has inked a deal with Parlement Technologies to buy Parler, a copycat of Twitter that was started to “fight against Big Tech, Big Government, censorship and cancel culture.” West’s move to acquire Parler comes after Twitter and Instagram restricted the music artist and entrepreneur’s accounts earlier this month because he posted anti-Semitic

G4 is shutting down — again. Comcast Spectacor, the cable and entertainment giant’s sports and esports division, told G4 TV employees Sunday that the gaming network was shutting down effective immediately. The decision has resulted in 45 staff members of G4 TV losing their jobs. In a memo, obtained by Variety, Comcast Spectacor chairman and CEO

Exports of Italian TV series and non-theatrical movies have more than doubled over the past five years thanks in part to the rise of local originals commissioned by streamers, just as investments in production of local scripted content are also increasing. That is the key finding of a report unveiled at Rome’s MIA market by

As Nintendo’s Bayonetta 3 closes in on its long-awaited release date of Oct. 28, the video game franchise’s fanbase has been rocked by a statement shared by the series’ original lead voice actor, Hellena Taylor, who shares that she did not return for the new entry after being offered only $4,000 to reprise her role.

At the inaugural The Gotham + Variety Audio Honors, presented by Wondery, leading podcast creators discussed their top tips for building an audience, and how the entertainment industry can do better to spotlight underrepresented voices. The event took place on Friday, Oct. 14, at Second Floor NYC in Midtown Manhattan. The 10 podcast honorees were

A fairy-winged Vanessa Hudgens wants to lure unsuspecting trick-or-treaters into the “ultimate haunted house” in a new virtual-reality experience created by horror wizard Eli Roth exclusively for Meta. “Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-VR-Treat,” from his Crypt TV banner, will take viewers on a Halloween adventure that goes horrifically awry — culminating in a frighteningly immersive

Things get supernaturally weird in Spotify’s scripted original podcast drama “Case 63,” starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, set to debut later this month. All 10 episodes of “Case 63” will drop on Oct. 25, exclusively on Spotify. In the show, Dr. Eliza Knight (Julianne Moore), a New York psychiatrist, begins treating a patient registered