Disney and TikTok announced a new partnership today that will bring fan-made TikTok videos featuring Disney characters and stories directly into the Disney+ app, starting with a US pilot in the coming months.
The deal, announced August 5, is described by both companies as the first of its kind. Under the agreement, short-form videos from creators who opt into the program will appear on both TikTok and inside Verts, the short-form video feed already built into Disney+. The content will draw from characters and stories across Disney’s brands, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and FX, pulled from hundreds of films and series in Disney’s catalog. Disney says the selection will be refreshed regularly to keep it tied to what fans are already talking about.
Asad Ayaz, Disney’s Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, said the deal reflects something Disney has believed for a long time, that “the best storytellers are fans first.” Fans creating and sharing their own takes on Disney stories is nothing new, but this arrangement gives that fan content an official home inside the Disney+ app itself instead of leaving it scattered across social media.
The partnership also includes a joint Disney Creator Ambassador Program, which will give a select group of TikTok creators extra perks for their Disney-related content, including invitations to exclusive events and support for building their careers further. It’s part of a bigger effort from both companies to treat creators as a real part of how people discover and stick with Disney’s shows and movies, rather than just an audience watching from the outside.
The numbers behind the deal give some sense of why Disney is interested. According to TikTok’s own data, fans posted an average of 6.5 million movie and TV-related videos on the platform every day last year, and almost half of viewers surveyed said they went on to watch something on a streaming service after finding it on TikTok first. For Disney, that’s a direct line between what’s trending on TikTok and what people choose to watch on Disney+, one the company is now trying to build into the app itself rather than just watch happen elsewhere.
No exact launch date has been set beyond “the coming months,” and Disney hasn’t said which countries will get the feature after the US pilot. For now, the rollout is limited to opted-in creators, so it won’t change what current Disney+ subscribers see right away.
