By Cynthia Littleton
Business Editor
Apple‘s Eddy Cue will be honored next month at Cannes Lions with the festival’s Entertainment Person of the Year Award. The nod comes as recognition for Cue’s role in steering the tech giant’s entertainment and services unit, and for the fast rise of the Apple TV platform since 2019.
Cue, who is Apple’s senior VP of services and health, will deliver a keynote seminar on the first day of the event that runs June 22-26 in the seaside restort town on the French Riviera. Cue will speak with Jerry Bruckheimer, the Hollywood veteran who produced last year’s worldwide box office hit “F1: The Movie” for Apple Original Films.
Related Stories
Simon Cook, CEO of Lions, the festival’s parent company, also pointed to Apple’s singular role in influencing consumer behavior with its trailblazing devices in detailing the decision to fete the Apple veteran this year.
Popular on Variety
“Eddy Cue has consistently pushed the boundaries of entertainment and storytelling, building platforms and experiences that have redefined how audiences engage with culture,” Cook said. “Under his leadership, Apple has not only produced world-class content but has also shaped the future of entertainment through innovation, creativity and an unwavering commitment to quality. We’re delighted to honor Eddy as our 2026 Entertainment Person of the Year.”
Cue’s recognition at the festival of creativity that is rooted in advertising and marketing conversations, along with all the related ad-tech, fin-tech and AI-powered tech that accompany the business of persuasion and reaching consumers with content.
Cue has orchestrated Apple’s expansion into TV and film with the Apple TV streamer and targeted bets with theatrical film releases. Apple earned the Oscar for best picture for its uplifting 2021 drama “CODA,” and at last year’s Emmy Awards, the streamer’s industry satire “The Studio” triumphed with 13 wins, setting a record for a comedy series in a single year as well as for a first-year series. Apple TV launched in November 2019 (as Apple TV+).
“We’ve always thought that art was a big piece of the DNA of who we are,” Cue told Variety in June 2025 of the company’s evolution as a producer and distributor of content. “But we never expected to be creating movies or TV shows.” But as streaming platforms proliferated, “We saw that the world was changing, and it seemed like everybody was going after quantity. We thought there was an opening for us, if we really focused on high quality,” he said.
As the festival approaches, Cannes Lions has confirmed that it will host its first-ever global CMO summit to be held as a closed-door gathering on June 24. It has also named global brewer AB InBev as the Creative Marketer of the Year.
A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast
The Business of Entertainment
