Tech

Americans now spend nearly as much time streaming user-generated videos on YouTube, TikTok and other online platforms as they do watching traditional TV. That’s according to a new study from the Consumer Technology Association analyzing U.S. content creator trends. The trade group’s research report, “Exploring the Creator Economy,” found that overall, user-created content accounts for

In the run up to the 2022 Winter Beijing Olympic Games beginning on Feb. 4, NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock will debut three original documentaries about Olympic athletes. Lindsey Vonn, Tara Lipinski and Picabo Street are among the Olympic gold medalists involved in new docus titled “Meddling,” “Picabo” and “American Rock Stars.” “We’re excited to give

The Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration will again be a less raucous affair — with limited in-person attendance because of a spike in COVID cases — but you can watch all the festivities and music performances live for free, streaming online. The six-hour free livestream, presented without ads, will feature live performances by artists

Even in a world of ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive streaming services, there’s a cluster of freeloaders out there who want to get something for nothing. “WandaVision,” Marvel’s first TV series for Disney Plus starring Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as Vision, was the No. 1 most pirated show of the year on

With less than a week before it’s set to kick off, the 2022 CES trade show remains set to take place in person in Las Vegas — even as more companies continue to bail on the conference because of the resurgence of COVID infections. The latest companies to axe their CES in-person plans amid the

The much-anticipated, action-packed “Hawkeye” finale had fans taking to Twitter once again the week of Dec. 20-26, catapulting the Disney Plus series to the top of Variety’s Trending TV chart. The Easter egg-filled episode featured Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) making good on his vow to spend Christmas with his family, while also setting up more

TikTok is hosting a livestreamed New Year’s Eve party that will feature performances from Charlie Puth, Kali Uchis and Rico Nasty, as many people plan stay-at-home celebrations amid the latest COVID surge. The TikTok New Year’s Eve event will go live on the short-form video app from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. PT on Dec.

Netflix has announced “The Last Movie Ever Made,” an upcoming podcast series that will offer a behind the scenes look at writer-director Adam McKay’s comedic disaster film “Don’t Look Up.” The podcast series will be composed of six episodes and will debut its first installment on Jan. 7, 2022. Along with a glimpse into the

The Variety CES Entertainment Summit will no longer take place next month in-person in Las Vegas, given the recent increase in COVID cases. The event is being adapted as an online-only series of keynote conversations and panel discussions with industry leaders set for Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. The Variety Winter Entertainment Summit: Innovations in Technology

MediaLink nixed its in-person events at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, joining the ranks of other companies that have decided to sit out the tech conference amid renewed COVID outbreaks. The media and entertainment consulting firm — which was just acquired by UTA last week for $125 million — has had a notable presence at

In an unexpected combination, Triller — the TikTok-like social video app that claims to have millions of users — plans to become a publicly traded company through a merger with SeaChange International, a provider of video-streaming and ad technologies. SeaChange will change its name to “TrillerVerz Corp.” when the reverse merger closes. Without explaining exactly

The Consumer Technology Association is still proceeding with plans to host CES 2022 in Las Vegas next month. But a sharp rise in COVID cases due to the Omicron variant of the virus has prompted several companies to drop out of the tech confab. T-Mobile, Amazon, iHeartRadio, Facebook parent Meta and Twitter are among the

Tim Stokely, founder of porn-friendly social media subscription site OnlyFans, has resigned as CEO after five years “to pursue new endeavors,” the company announced Tuesday. Amrapali “Ami” Gan (pictured above), who previously was chief marketing and communications officer, is taking over as CEO. She will assume the day-to-day leadership of the London-based company. Stokely plans

Tis the season to face the music, literally. Are you embarrassed that you’re a full-blown adult with Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” as your No. 1 song? Maybe you’re a Swiftie that’s proud to be in the top 1% of her listeners. Do you feel superior for having your top artists be composed of indie cohorts

AT&T will sell Xandr, its programmatic advertising marketplace, to Microsoft, the telco announced. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews. Xandr has formally been part of WarnerMedia, and the sale of the ad unit to Microsoft comes as WarnerMedia has set a deal

The much-anticipated second-season debut of “The Witcher” landed at the top of Variety’s Trending TV chart for the week of Dec. 13 to Dec. 19. The Netflix series had been long delayed as a result of COVID, but eight fresh episodes finally dropped on Friday, to the joy of fantasy fans everywhere. The fact that

Heads up, Critters! “The Legend of Vox Machina,” the animated fantasy series from D&D role-playing collective Critical Role, is hitting Prime Video a week earlier than previously announced. Amazon announced that the 12-episode Season 1 of the show will now premiere on Jan. 28, 2022, available to Prime and Prime Video members in more than

Like Nastya, the 7-year-old YouTube megastar, has inked a deal with internet video distribution company Jellysmack to expand her reach on Facebook. Jellysmack will optimize and syndicate Like Nastya’s content to reach new audiences on Facebook, where her official page currently has just 18,000 followers. The hugely popular Russian-American youngster joins Jellysmack’s roster of creator

Tom Segura and Christina P’s YMH Studios podcast network signed an exclusive, multiyear distribution and development deal with SiriusXM and its Stitcher subsidiary, which encompasses their long-running comedy show “Your Mom’s House.” Under the multiyear agreement, YMH Studios — created and owned by the married hosts and comedians — will integrate its staff into podcast

Disney and Google said they reached a deal to restore ESPN, ABC and other channels to YouTube TV, two days after a contract dispute knocked them off the streamer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Google said the price for YouTube TV would remain $64.99/month with the Disney renewal but that it would still

Disney’s suite of networks — including ABC and ESPN — have gone dark on YouTube TV after the media conglomerate and Google failed to forge a new deal before the midnight ET deadline Friday. It’s the first major blackout for YouTube TV over a carriage-fee dispute in its nearly five-year history (although YouTube TV dropped

Hulu elevated Kelci Parker to VP of comedy on the streamer’s originals team and announced the hiring of Dougie Cash, formerly a development exec at Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, as VP of drama. Both are newly created roles. Kelci, who joined Hulu in July 2020 and previously served as executive director of comedy, continues to

Academy Award-winner Spike Lee and his 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks have formed a multi-year creative partnership with Netflix, following successful collaborations on “Da 5 Bloods” and the “She’s Gotta Have It” series. News of the deal comes after Lee and Netflix collaborated on four projects, with Lee writing and directing “Da 5 Bloods”

You don’t hear much about a “war on Christmas” this year, but you do hear murmurings about a war on comedy. It’s a loggerheads that has Spotify under scrutiny for removing a significant number of comedy albums from its service, in response to many comics and their reps believing they have a right to the

And just like that — Peloton’s ad featuring Chris Noth is gone. The exercise equipment company over the weekend had rushed out a tongue-in-cheek ad featuring the actor, following his character’s untimely death in the first episode of HBO Max’s “And Just Like That,” a revival of “Sex and the City.” Noth’s Mr. Big, who

Spotify has acquired Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform whose core capability lets radio broadcasters convert their existing audio content into on-demand podcasts. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Spotify said it plans to integrate Whooshkaa’s broadcast-to-podcast technology into Megaphone, the enterprise podcast and ad platform it bought last year for $235 million. Spotify

Issa Rae’s media company Hoorae has named industry veteran Kaylin Cotton as its new chief of staff. Before joining the team at Hoorae, Cotton worked for Live Nation and Shondaland, bringing her extensive background in music, entertainment and television to support Rae’s ever-growing vision for the future of the media company. Formerly Issa Rae Productions

As the calendar flips over to 2022, DirecTV customers will again see their rates go up — in some cases, as much as 10% — continuing its pattern of annual price hikes. The pay-TV provider is again blaming the increases on higher programming costs. The price increases will apply to most DirecTV plans and go

Neymar Jr., the Brazilian soccer player who’s one of the most popular athletes in the world, is joining Facebook Gaming to stream gaming content exclusively on the platform. It’s a huge feather in Facebook Gaming’s cap, amid its ongoing battle with Twitch and YouTube to land deals with top gaming personalities. Neymar Jr. will stream

South Korean entertainment-tech firm Kakao Entertainment has acquired Wuxiaworld, a Hong Kong-based online platform for English-language, Asian fantasy fiction. The acquisition was handled through Radish Media, a New York-based Kakao subsidiary that pitches itself as a mobile fiction platform for serialized storytelling. Deal terms were not disclosed. Wuxiaworld boasts millions of page views per day