Disney, TikTok Ink Deal To Bring Fan-Made Shorts To Disney+

Disney has struck a deal with TikTok that will give select creators access to assets from hundreds of Disney movies and series, with a curated batch of their fan-made shorts landing on Disney+. The pact is part of Disney’s broader push into vertical video and marks the first time Disney+ will carry TikTok videos from an outside platform. The resulting content will appear on TikTok as well as Verts, Disney+’s vertical-video feed. The deal covers IP across Disney’s portfolio, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, FX and other brands.

For Disney, the pact has a familiar ring as it bears similarities to the company’s scrapped deal with OpenAI, announced last December, which would have allowed Sora users to generate short videos featuring more than 200 Disney characters. Selected creations were also expected to make their way to Disney+.

Disney had planned to invest $1 billion in OpenAI as part of that agreement. The deal unraveled in March after OpenAI shut down Sora as a consumer app and API before the Disney pact had been finalized. No money changed hands.

The TikTok arrangement takes a decidedly less AI-driven route, putting Disney IP in the hands of human creators using conventional creative tools. Rather than generating new footage from text prompts, creators will work with existing Disney assets to produce short-form videos.

The initiative will launch as a U.S. pilot in the coming months, with other markets expected to follow. Creators will have to opt into the program for their videos to be eligible for distribution on Disney+.

Disney and TikTok are also launching a jointly run Creator Ambassador Program, which will offer participants increased visibility, access to exclusive events, career-development opportunities and other perks.

The deal underscores Disney’s effort to turn fan-made vertical content into another piece of its streaming ecosystem, putting creator-driven shorts alongside the studio’s professionally produced movies and series.