Veteran business journalist Brian Steinberg has joined Variety as senior TV editor.
Based in New York, Steinberg will cover all aspects of the television business as well as other media. His appointment comes on the heels of the installation on Tuesday of three new editors-in-chief at Variety: Claudia Eller (overseeing film), Cynthia Littleton (TV) and Andrew Wallenstein (digital). Steinberg reports to Littleton.
Steinberg has covered the media and advertising industries since 1998, most recently serving as television editor at Advertising Age. He has reported extensively on trends and innovations in the fast-changing TV advertising landscape. He’s managed Ad Age’s popular annual chart of TV spot prices for the past five years and is an expert on Super Bowl commercials.
“As one of the most respected reporters in television today, Brian Steinberg adds depth to Variety’s editorial team and will greatly expand our coverage of marketing and advertising,” said Jay Penske, chairman-CEO of Penske Media Corp., parent company of Variety. “He’ll play a crucial role in the revitalization of Variety online and the relaunch of the weekly print publication starting March 26.”
Before joining Ad Age in 2007, Steinberg spent more than four years as the Wall Street Journal’s advertising columnist, and was instrumental in transforming the focus of the daily column from a spotlight on industry news and campaigns to examining the changes forced on media and marketers by new technologies and DVRs. Prior to the Journal, Steinberg was the lead U.S. media business reporter for Dow Jones Newswires, where he created and launched a weekly column on marketing. He got his start as a news clerk in the New York Times’ Washington bureau and as a business reporter for the Capital newspaper of Annapolis, MD.