Disney and TikTok team up to bring creator-made shorts to Disney+

The Walt Disney Company and TikTok have announced a landmark partnership that will allow social media creators to officially use licensed characters from globally recognised franchises including Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar in their own short-form videos.

In a joint statement, the two companies described the agreement as an industry first, giving TikTok users access to Disney’s intellectual property to create and share content.

The videos will be available to watch on both TikTok and the Disney+ streaming platform.

The new feature will begin rolling out in the United States over the next few months before expanding to other markets worldwide.

Although the value of the agreement was not disclosed, industry experts regard it as one of the most significant moves made by Josh D’Amaro since becoming Disney’s new chief executive in March, as he works to strengthen the foundations of the company’s business.

Disney expects regularly updated content to encourage subscribers to engage with fan-driven trends in real time, build stronger communities and experience a wider range of storytelling on Disney+.

TikTok currently has billions of users worldwide, making the agreement a potentially important strategy for increasing the Disney+ user base, which stands at about 130 million subscribers globally.

The latest Nielsen data showed that Disney+ was the third most-watched streaming platform in the United States in May, accounting for about 5% of total viewing time.

During a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, D’Amaro said integrating short-form video into the platform would create a more complete viewing experience.

Disney expects the feature to encourage users to spend more time on the app, increase engagement and help audiences discover new programmes.

The development comes only a few months after Disney ended its partnership with OpenAI.

Disney had previously planned to invest more than US$1 billion to give users access to Sora, a generative-video platform, but abandoned the project in March after facing criticism.

Vertical video has become a major priority for leading media companies as changing consumer behaviour drives audiences to spend more time on TikTok and YouTube.

Competing platforms including Netflix, Paramount, HBO Max, which is operated by Warner Bros Discovery, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock have also begun introducing vertical-video features to their apps in recent months as they seek to protect their positions in the increasingly competitive streaming market.