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Variety’s Dea Lawrence on turning a legacy publication into a cultural brand

More than a century old, Variety has transformed from a B2B pure play to a hybrid business and consumer publication. Publisher and co-president Dea Lawrence explains how this shift has helped the entertainment industry’s paper of record thrive through decades of disruption.

Dea Lawrence, publisher and co-president of Variety, is a self-professed hustler. Not the grifter kind; the kind that is simply always on. “I think about Variety from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed,” she told me for The Publisher Podcast. “I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll start sending texts and emails. People are like, ‘do you ever sleep?’”

Listening to Dea enthuse about her job as publisher of the entertainment industry’s publication of record, I’m convinced. In a 40-minute interview for this week’s episode, we covered Variety’s continued print success, how to keep on top of entertainment trends, the role of social media and influencers, the importance of events, international expansion, advertising sales across consumer and B2B markets and how to hire for success.

Variety of 2026 looks very different from the LA trade paper started in 1905 by Sime Silverman with a loan from his wife’s father (it was actually launched in New York). “Let’s not call it an LA trade paper,” Dea chided me. “We’re a global entertainment, media brand, cultural brand.” 

Dea thinks that Mr Silverman would still recognise Variety’s flying-V logo, recounting the legend of how Mrs Silverman designed it on a cocktail napkin. “In addition to the logo, he would recognise that we are committed to his initial goal of being the media company of record for the entertainment industry. Our core business is still writing about the entertainment industry.”

The entertainment industry might still be the core of Variety’s mission, but that industry has changed dramatically over the last century. From its original beat – reporting on theatre and vaudeville productions – Variety now covers movies and music, television and streaming services, podcasts and audio books – whatever is trending in entertainment.

“Microdrama is big in Asia,” Dea told me. Spotting that I had no idea what a microdrama was, she explained: “They’re like soap operas, only they’re one minute long… huge in Korea and in China and now they’re really catching on in the United States.”

Other hot topics include AI, the creator economy, social media and branded content. “We write a lot about branded content. We have an in-house content studio, but many brands are producing film and television shows.”

Blending B2B and B2C

Where Variety was once very much an industry paper, it now blends professional and consumer audiences.

Dea sees B2B as Variety’s core business and says the 70,000 readers of the brand’s print weekly are primarily entertainment professionals. Bucking wider trends, the magazine’s print circulation is steady: “I’ll tell you why, because people still want to see their picture on the cover of Variety. They want to hold it. They want to go on Jimmy Kimmel and hold it up and Jimmy Kimmel is going to say, ‘Oh, you’re on this week’s cover of Variety’. It is a symbol that you have made it in show business when you are on the cover of Variety.”

Variety’s online audience – 5 million social media followers and 20 million monthly uniques on variety.com – is dominated by consumers. “We have a digital footprint of 67 million,” she explains. “They are passionate fans of entertainment, or they are aspirants.”

The brand has one editorial team, but Dea says it has staffers who specialise: “We have people that create social content. We have people that create award season content. Everybody has their beat,” she explains. “We also have different teams that are creating the events.”

Events are a big part of Variety’s long-term diversification and have become a substantial part of the brand’s business. It hosted almost 100 in 2025: an Actors on Actors party celebrating the CNN-aired interview series where big names like Cillian Murphy interview other big names like Margot Robbie; Power of Young Hollywood, where Stranger Things’ Wolff Finhard shared the honours with South African pop-sensation Tyla; and Power of Women held in Los Angeles and London, honouring five A-list women who are giving back to society in a meaningful way.

Dea described Variety’s events as ‘small, intimate, very exclusive’. “Advertisers want experiences,” she says. “What we create are very special moments that you can’t get anywhere else.” Brands that have played supporting roles include Adobe, partnering on an event at South by Southwest where Variety created the panels and ‘curated’ the audience; and Google TV partnering on 2026’s inaugural 10 Creators to Watch list.

Influencer advertising

Variety has some subscription revenue: “If the advertising goes down, you’ve got to have some other revenue,” said Dea. However, advertising accounts for the biggest share of its revenue mix, with separate teams selling around entertainment releases and awards; B2B verticals like software and banks; and consumer brands from luxury goods to technology.

Variety also runs a branded content studio and, to illustrate how Variety is moving into different advertising markets, Dea used the example of a Met Gala activation for US sandwich chain Panera Bread.

The brand had created a limited edition bag to promote a new croissant sandwich and they wanted it to be seen at the Met Gala. The branded content team came up with a three-part campaign that used two influencers to promote the sandwich ahead of the event, and one delivering a reaction shot of a celebrity carrying the bag at the Gala.

“This is something you wouldn’t think of Variety,” De said, “We’re not Vogue, the Met Gala is not our property… but it fits perfectly with our audience. Our audience goes to Panera Bread.” 

Dea explained how these ‘moments’ generate content. “That content then creates room for more advertisers. It’s cyclical. It just builds. It’s like a snowball that just keeps building and building and building and building.”

International expansion

With 25% of Variety’s audience outside the United States, Dea said international expansion is a huge priority. “We have an office in London. Our Head of International is in Paris, along with salespeople. We also have people in Asia.”

Festivals like Cannes, where Variety produces daily print and newsletter updates, are at the core of international efforts. “We’re doing what we did that made us successful in the United States. We’re starting to replicate it more overseas. We’ve always had a global presence, but we’re increasing that right now.”

International expansion isn’t just about boots on the ground, however. 

“We break a lot of news,” said Dea. “We are doing a lot to create our own cultural moments.” She gives the example of the Variety Town Hall where, in an interview with Matthew McConaughey, Timothée Chalamet now famously said people no longer care about ballet or opera. “Did you hear about that? There you go. That’s how we’re creating a cultural brand globally,” she laughed.

I wondered out loud how Dea keeps track of everything Variety has going on and she came back to the hustle, but not just for her.

“Everyone at Variety is critical,” she said. “The most important thing when you are running a company, any company, is to hire well and make sure you have the right people. You need people who are going to be committed, who are going to work hard, who are never going to say that’s not my job.

“You have to have will. Will is really the most essential characteristic when hiring.”

Listen to the full episode in this week’s episode of The Publisher Podcast, available wherever you find podcasts.

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