Tech

Digital-native media platform FaZe Clan is breaking into traditional TV formats with a three-year plan for both unscripted and scripted content, including a “Saturday Night Live”-style series for the Gen Z audience that will launch on livestream service Twitch in June, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “unFaZed,” FaZe Clan describes the weekly show as “the

Dubai-based MBC Group CEO Sam Barnett is navigating what he calls the “difficult transition” of going from being the MENA region’s top satellite free-to-air player to also being its top premium streamer. At the start of the holy month of Ramadan, which is marathon TV time in the region after iftar (breaking fast), Barnett spoke

Twitter has revealed that it’s finally testing one of its most highly demanded features: an edit button. On Tuesday, the company announced through its Twitter Coms account that it is looking to incorporate an edit button onto the platform, and has been working on it since last year. According to the company, the feature will

Peacock President Kelly Campbell is raiding rival streamers in building out her senior team: NBCUniversal announced that it has hired Shannon Willett, previously at Netflix, as chief marketing officer for Peacock, and Hulu’s Brian Henderson as EVP of programming. Both execs will be based in L.A. and join NBCU in the newly established roles at

Elon Musk is joining Twitter’s board of directors, in a deal coming after the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX acquired a 9.2% stake in the social-media network to become its largest single shareholder. Under the agreement, Musk is prohibited from amassing more than 14.9% of Twitter’s stock as long as he remains a director on

Podcast series “Batman Unburied,” a thriller delving into the dark recesses of Bruce Wayne’s psyche and featuring classic Batman villains, is set to launch on Spotify worldwide this spring. The drama series will premiere May 3 exclusively on Spotify. It’s the first project under the audio platform’s multiyear deal with Warner Bros. and DC for

This year’s Webby Awards nominations are out, with Variety picking up three nominations in the annual honors recognizing the best of websites, podcasts, apps and other digital media. Variety‘s nominations for the 2022 Webby Awards were for the Variety Streaming Room event series (in the events & livestreams/social content series & campaigns category), Variety Explains

The people who once said they’d like to teach the world to sing now want to instruct it on how to recycle. Coca-Cola has over the decades used TV commercials to make consumers feel good about buying drinks that range from Sprite to Smartwater. To instill similar feelings about recycling the many bottles and cans

Top creator Markiplier — more than two years after his first YouTube-funded interactive special hit the video platform — is finally back with his next choose-your-own-adventure-style project: sci-fi action-comedy “In Space With Markiplier.” Markiplier (real name: Mark Fischbach) is one of YouTube’s highest-earning and most popular creators, with 32.5 million subscribers. “In Space With Markiplier”

The return to in-person award shows continues to dominate Twitter. Sunday’s Trevor Noah-hosted Grammy Awards on CBS easily topped Variety’s Trending TV chart for the week of March 28 to April 3, pulling in more than 56.9 million engagements. That number toppled last week’s history-making Oscar broadcast on ABC, which until now was the highest

Roku announced that it reached a multiyear extension of its distribution agreement with Amazon, providing for continued access to Prime Video and IMDb TV apps on Roku devices. Terms of the deal, announced Monday, weren’t disclosed. Roku’s stock rose more than 7% on the news, although the share price is still well under half the

“Shotgun Wedding,” a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, is skipping theaters to debut directly on Amazon Prime Video. Lionsgate, which produced “Shotgun Wedding” and intended to release the movie theatrically, sold the U.S. rights to the streamer. Prime Video previously acquired international rights for the amorous action-comedy in several key territories. “Shotgun

Epic Games raised $144 million total for organizations providing humanitarian aid to people affected by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, donating the proceeds that players of its battle-royale game Fortnite spent over a two-week period. Epic previously announced that Fortnite proceeds from March 20-April 3 would go toward Ukraine relief. Microsoft’s Xbox also joined the effort

Sony Music Entertainment’s Global Podcast Division hired media and podcast veteran Serita Wesley, who will serve in the newly created role of head of U.S. entertainment podcasts. Wesley will be based in New York and reports to Tom Koenig, VP, U.S. podcasts, at Sony Music. In her new role, Wesley is tasked with leading the

UPDATED: Elon Musk has acquired about 9.2% of the shares in Twitter, the social network disclosed in an SEC filing Monday, making the billionaire the largest shareholder in the company. Following the disclosure before the market opened, Twitter’s stock price boomed more than 25% in mid-morning trading, to its highest levels since November 2021. Musk

Consider this a PSA: The owner of the verified Twitter @willsmith account is not the disgraced actor Will Smith who just resigned from the Academy after slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards. The actor Will Smith does not have an official Twitter account. After the actor announced Friday he was relinquishing his membership

Redbox Entertainment, which operates a national network of DVD-rental kiosks and a streaming-video business, said it laid off 150 employees, roughly 10% of its total headcount. The company, which disclosed the layoffs in an 8-K filing Friday with the SEC, said it was cutting jobs because of “the ongoing adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic”

Amazon chief executive officer Andy Jassy’s compensation last year totaled $212.7 million, a nearly sixfold increase from his pay package in 2020 when he headed the tech giant’s AWS division. Virtually all of Jassy’s 2021 comp — $211.9 million — was in restricted stock that vests over the next 10 years, according to Amazon’s proxy

Chinese filmmaker, artist and influencer Yi Zhou has launched a cluster of companies that have begun making feature movies for the metaverse. Zhou, who departed China in 2011, trained in Paris and London, before settling in Rome for several years where she worked as an installation artist, fashion influencer for Chinese streaming site Tudou (now

E3, which has historically been the game industry’s biggest conference, is not happening at all this year. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade group that produces E3, confirmed the 2022 event’s cancelation and said that it was focusing on making sure “the revitalized showcase sets a new standard for hybrid industry events and fan

In today’s podcast news roundup, Cole Sprouse is returning for more nightmares in QCode’s “Borrasca” Season 2; Ricki Lake will look back at her TV talk-show legacy in an upcoming podcast from Lemonada; “Dead and Gone” is coming back in a second season to dig into more cases of Grateful Dead fans who have been

Italian TV host Alessandro Cattelan will be among the three MCs of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, along with Italy’s Grammy-wining singer Laura Pausini and Lebanese/British pop star Mika. In addition to preparing for the biggest night for music in Europe, he recently made his debut on Netflix with one-man show “One Simple Question.” In

Archewell, the media production company founded by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has quietly hired former Sony Pictures Entertainment exec Fara Taylor as head of marketing. Prior to Archewell, Taylor spent more than 11 years at Sony Pictures, most recently as VP of global marketing partnerships. She joined Beverly Hills-based Archewell in September 2021, according

In a bid to beef up its sports programming, Netflix is teaming up with Tour de France organizers A.S.O. to create a documentary series on the 2022 cycling competition, with the participation of public broadcaster France Télévisions. The eight-episode series will follow the journey of eight teams taking part in the iconic cycling race, starting

The Daily Wire, a conservative media organization with no history of producing children’s programming, is using Disney’s opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law as a rallying point to enter the business of kids entertainment. The Nashville-based company announced Wednesday that it plans to invest at least $100 million over the next three years into

In a small but notable change, digital media providers with “reader” apps in Apple’s App Store — such as Netflix and Spotify — will now be able to provide links in their iOS apps to let customers sign up for and manage accounts on the companies’ own websites. Previously, Apple prohibited app developers from including

ABC wasn’t the only network to see a ratings boost for this year’s Oscars. E! more than doubled linear viewership for its post-show and more than quadrupled cross-platform audience engagement with its Oscars coverage amid interest in Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the ceremony, Variety has learned exclusively. Led by new “Live From E!”

Katy Perry will bring to life the story of Elizabeth Taylor in a new podcast series, which promises never-before-heard stories about the legendary actor and entrepreneur billed as Hollywood’s “original influencer.” “Elizabeth the First,” a 10-part podcast series narrated by Perry, is slated to premiere later this spring on all major podcast platforms. The series

Brut, the rising digital media startup whose backers include James Murdoch and François-Henri Pinault, is set to bring the Cannes Film Festival into Epic Games’ Fortnite, as well as grow its global presence and creator economy platform. The Fortnite operation is one of the many young adult-skewing initiatives spearheaded by Brut as part of its

Disney has hired Jeremy Doig, an 18-year veteran of Google, as the new chief technology officer of its streaming organization, leading the global technology teams that run Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Plus and Star Plus. Doig takes over for Joe Inzerillo, a key architect of Disney Plus and the Mouse House’s other streaming services, who joined