Disney, TikTok to bring fan-made videos to Disney+ in U.S. pilot
Under the agreement, announced by both companies, short videos made by creators who choose to join the program will appear simultaneously on TikTok and in the Verts section of Disney+. The companies said they intend to extend the arrangement to additional markets after the U.S. rollout.
The videos will draw on characters and storylines from Disney's brands, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and FX. To support the effort, TikTok will give participating creators access to materials tied to hundreds of titles from the Disney library. The selection on Disney+ is to be updated on a regular basis, according to the announcement.
Participation is voluntary. Only creators who opt in will have their work carried on the streaming service, and the collection appearing on Disney+ will be curated rather than drawn automatically from the platform.
The two companies are also setting up a joint initiative called the Disney Creator Ambassador Program, which will operate on a tiered basis. Creators selected for it are to receive rewards, wider exposure, invitations to closed events and support described as career development.
Asad Ayaz, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer at The Walt Disney Company, said storytellers usually begin as fans, and described the arrangement as a way to connect Disney's stories with the creative work they prompt, giving creators a larger audience and Disney+ subscribers more material to browse.
Dawn Yang, Global Head of Entertainment at TikTok, said creators are central to the platform's work and that their videos prolong the public conversation around films and shows. She said the collaboration brings that form of expression to Disney+.
Both companies pointed to the role fan-made material plays in how audiences find and talk about entertainment. According to internal TikTok figures cited in the announcement, users posted an average of 6.5 million videos related to films and television each day last year. The company also reported that nearly half of viewers it surveyed said they later watched a film or program on a streaming service or on television after coming across entertainment content on the platform. Those figures come from the company itself and have not been independently verified.
Neither company disclosed financial terms, a specific launch date or the number of creators expected to take part in the first phase.
The two firms described the deal as the first of its kind, framing it as an attempt to combine a studio's catalog with a social platform's creator base rather than a conventional licensing or promotional arrangement.
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