Tech

Perhaps it was inevitable that Spotify and Shopify — with their similar-sounding monikers — would eventually join forces. Spotify on Wednesday announced a new partnership with ecommerce provider Shopify to let artists list merchandise directly on their profiles on the audio-streaming giant’s platform. Any artist globally can already link to their Shopify store if they

What will Facebook’s new name be? The social giant, amid one of the worst PR crises in its 17-year history, is expected to announce a new name before the end of the month, according to a report by tech-news site The Verge, citing an anonymous source. Facebook’s new name is supposed to reflect CEO Mark

Social media giant Facebook has been fined £50.5 million ($69.1 million) for breaching an order imposed by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) during its ongoing investigation into Facebook’s purchase of Giphy. The previously completed merger of Facebook and Giphy, the largest provider of GIFs and meme sharing services, ran into a potential roadblock

Netflix has long said it competes not just with other premium streaming services — like Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max or Disney Plus — but also other activities, including playing “Fortnite” and sleep itself. Now the company has shared a data point that illustrates this dynamic: According to Netflix, on Oct. 4, when Facebook, Instagram

Variety and Twitter have partnered on a unique, first-of-its-kind chart that ranks the most tweeted about TV shows across network television and streaming. The announcement was made on Tuesday at the Advertising Week conference in New York. The three Variety Trending TV charts, powered by Twitter, will detail the top 10 programs that are organically

Tubi is lighting up its push into adult animation. The Fox-owned free, ad-supported streamer has acquired rights to “The Freak Brothers,” a stoner comedy series starring Woody Harrelson, Pete Davidson, John Goodman and Tiffany Haddish. Tubi will premiere the first two episodes on Sunday, Nov. 14. “The Freak Brothers,” Tubi’s first original animated series, joins

Comcast is going direct-to-consumer — offering streaming TV services to consumers across the U.S., including outside its traditional service areas — with XClass TV, a new line of smart television sets built for streaming. For the first time, Comcast’s streaming-entertainment platform will be available to consumers across the U.S., without an Xfinity subscription. The cable

Addison Rae, one of TikTok’s biggest creators, is going to star in her own show on… Snapchat. “Addison Rae Goes Home” will document the influencer-actor’s trip to Louisiana, where she grew up — her first time back since moving to L.A. to pursue her entertainment career. In the unscripted series, Addison will reveal a more

This guest column was written by David Israelite, president & CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association, the trade association representing American music publishers and their songwriting partners. Variety welcomes responsible commentary; please send music-related inquiries and submissions to music@variety.com.  They say there are no secrets in the music industry. But here’s one I’ll bet

Have you signed up for Netflix, Disney Plus or HBO Max just to watch one new show or movie — then canceled for a few months until the next must-see thing comes out? Now there’s a name for this behavior: “churn and return,” a term coined by consulting firm Deloitte. It’s most common among younger

Asia-based TV production firm Beach House Pictures is launching Space Lion Studios, a Singapore-based post-production facility. The move is intended to capture work flowing from the current content boom in Asia and the expansion of streaming video platforms. The facility will offer services ranging from technical consultation and workflow planning, to editing, motion graphics design,

The Roys are back — and bigger than ever, according to HBO. Season 3 of HBO’s family-dynasty drama “Succession,” which premiered Sunday night, drew over 1.4 million viewers across all platforms, the network said. That was a viewership high-water mark for the series, and it was the best premiere-night performance of any HBO original series

Connor Franta shot to internet stardom as a YouTube personality. Since launching his channel in 2010, Franta, who was born and raised in Minnesota but moved to Los Angeles in 2013, has amassed more than 20 million followers across his social platforms. Franta, 29, is also a writer, a photographer and an LGBTQ advocate. His

All products and services featured by Variety are independently selected by Variety editors. However, Variety may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. The podcast boom is still booming. It seems that everyone, from academics and cinephiles to comedians and journalists,

Roku, in another opportunistic programming pickup, will bring comedy series “Children Ruin Everything” to U.S. audiences — streaming for free on the Roku Channel — in an exclusive pact with production company New Metric Media. The new half-hour comedy is created by Kurt Smeaton (“Schitt’s Creek,” “Kim’s Convenience”) and will air on Bell Media’s CTV

Apple is introducing a new Apple Music plan — available exclusively through Siri — which will be half the price of its regular individual plan, aimed at driving up sales of Siri-enabled devices. Apple Music Voice will cost $4.99/month, launching in 17 countries this fall. It will let listeners launch any song (choosing from more

“Squid Game,” the hyper-buzzy Korean drama that has become Netflix’s biggest-ever TV show, is on track to deliver an astounding payback for the streaming service, according to the company’s internal estimates. Netflix paid $21.4 million for the nine-episode series, which premiered four weeks ago, and the company estimates “Squid Game” will deliver more than 40

Netflix terminated an unidentified staffer who shared “commercially sensitive information” with someone outside the company that was included in a Bloomberg news report, violating the streamer’s policies. The data included Netflix financial figures for Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer” stand-up special, which has stirred a major backlash both inside and outside the company over the comedian’s

Sybel, France’s rising subscription-based podcast platform, has reached a two-year agreement with the French audio producers guild (PIA) to set up a revenue-sharing model for content creators. The service is also expanding with the launch of a freemium model that will be financed by advertising and will include 500 more podcast titles. Available in French,

It’s been just over a year since YouTube launched YouTube Shorts — and the video giant says it’s still in the early days of capitalizing on the massively popular feature. As of this summer, YouTube Shorts was generating over 15 billion global daily views, more than doubling from 6.5 billion in March 2021, Alphabet/Google CEO

Get back! The Beatles, one of the most iconic rock groups ever, have officially joined TikTok. For the first time, TikTok creators will be able to officially soundtrack their videos with 36 of The Beatles’ most popular songs. Those include the 12 songs from “Let It Be,” including hits like “Get Back,” “Across the Universe”

Tech giant Microsoft has withdrawn its LinkedIn professional social media service from mainland China, citing the difficulties of compliance in the Middle Kingdom. The move marks the withdrawal of the last major western social media operation in China, where the Communist government is simultaneously pushing back against tech firms, private capital and western influence. The

The cutting edge of the convergence of digital storytelling and technology will be on display at the upcoming View Conference, at which industry pros at various levels, fans and geeks of different stripes will be able to take a deep dive into the latest developments in animation, VFX, virtual production and games. Event runs Oct.

On the evening of March 12, 2015, Critical Role had its first public showing. In a livestreamed event from a dimly lit studio in Burbank, eight players sat at a table immersed in a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game for nearly three hours — their first foray in a form of storytelling that would bloom

The buzz about “Squid Game” hit the radar of North Korea’s repressive socialist dictatorship, which slammed the Netflix breakout hit as proof that South Korea’s capitalist culture is a “beastly” failure. North Korean propaganda site Arirang Meari, in a report about “Squid Game,” excoriated the high-concept survival drama as depicting the “sad reality of a

Actor-singer-activist Anika Noni Rose will host the next season of “Being Seen,” centering on stories of Black women — and the need for the entertainment industry to prioritize narratives that actively seek to reduce stigma and bias. Season 3 of “Being Seen” will premiere Oct. 26 on all podcast platforms and via beingseenpodcast.com. “Black women

This month marks 40 years since the release of U2’s sophomore album, “October,” and to celebrate, the group have today announced the launch of the biggest ever “Artist Takeover” on Pandora. Members of the group will take fans through the making of their first three albums — “Boy,” “October” and “War” — sharing stories, details

Jon Gruden, the disgraced former coach of the Las Vegas Raiders and one-time “Monday Night Football” analyst, is getting pulled from the latest edition of EA Sports’ popular “Madden NFL” video-game series. “EA Sports is committed to taking action in maintaining a culture of inclusion and equity,” the game developer and publisher said in a

Fans of Fox’s “The Masked Singer” will soon be able to buy limited-edition digital collectibles of the gigantic, disturbing Baby character along with masks from characters that have appeared in all six seasons of the show. On Wednesday, Fox Entertainment and its Blockchain Creative Labs launched The MaskVerse (maskverse.com), an NFT marketplace and community for the hit

Solange’s Saint Heron studio and platform has announced the launch of its free library of “esteemed and valuable” books by Black creators for research, study and exploration. Each reader will be invited to borrow a book of their choice for 45 days, completely free of charge. It is available via Saint Heron’s website, saintheron.com starting