Variety's SXSW week is built around rooms most badgeholders never see. In 2026 its invite-only cover party, presented by Neon, celebrated cover star Keke Palmer with Boots Riley and the cast of I Love Boosters on the night the film debuted, and an invite-only creator brunch put creators, studio talent and executives at the same tables. SXSW itself drew 309,300 people in 2025, which is the backdrop rather than the guest list. The same week Variety launched its True Crime Summit, presented by Investigation Discovery with SimpliSafe as a partner. Thirty speakers took the stage, led by a Nancy Grace keynote, with MrBallen in a fireside chat and Natalie Morales on the reporting panel. Earlier Variety SXSW programs paired Hannah Einbinder, Samantha Bee and John Leguizamo on comedy in 2024 and Marques Brownlee, Sean Evans and Rhett and Link on podcasting in 2025. What happens in those rooms travels far beyond them. Variety covers its SXSW events on Variety.com, which draws 20M monthly unique visitors (2026), and on social, where it had 3.6M Instagram, 3.6M Facebook, 3.1M X and 3.85M TikTok followers in October 2026. The cover story also ran in Variety's print weekly, read by 70,000 people who are mostly entertainment professionals. Presenting partners at Variety's SXSW events get their name on the invitation and often a seat on stage. Google TV put an executive on the brunch panel in 2026, and Audible presented a Variety music storytelling panel in 2023. SXSW 2027 runs March 15 to 21 in downtown Austin. The Custom Package, priced at $25,000, covers the design and build of a custom brand activation, scoped with Variety's events team around its 2027 SXSW program.