Variety is an American weekly magazine covering theatre and entertainment. It was established by American journalist and publisher Simon (Sime) J Silverman, and first published on 16 December 1905. It originally covered theatre and vaudeville. Its main rivals were Silverman’s former employer The Morning Telegraph, The New York Clipper and the New York Dramatic Mirror.

Silverman acquired rival trade publication The New York Clipper in 1922 and merged some of its features into Variety in 1924. Variety started reporting box office grosses in 1922.

Variety’s writers developed a form of jargon known variously as ‘slanguage’ and ‘varietyese’, based on the slang used by actors during the magazine’s early years. Variety is credited with introducing the terms legit, sitcom, sex appeal, payola, and striptease. Reporters who also wrote reviews did so under four-letter pen names.

In 1933, Silverman introduced a Daily Variety edition, alongside the original Weekly Variety. Daily Variety concentrated on Hollywood news, including reports from film sets, exclusive news and Hollywood gossip, while Weekly Variety covered national and international theatre and entertainment news. Daily Variety ceased publication in 2013.

By 2013, Variety’s coverage included film, television and digital. The publication is available in print and online, and includes tv programming through Variety Studio. Its online presence started in 1998, with the launch of variety.com, and now includes the app Variety-on-the-Go and @Variety across various social media platforms.

Variety was published by the Silverman family until 1987, when Variety Inc was sold to Cahners Publishing. The company was sold again in 2012 by Cahners Publishing’s parent company Reed Business Information to Penske Media Corporation (PMC). PMC continues to publish Variety across all media.