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Disney is going long on short-form content.
The entertainment giant struck an alliance with TikTok that will have creators on the popular quick-hit video service making
shorts tied to characters and stories from Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, FX and more. The resulting pieces from creators who opt-in to the program will be available on both TikTok and on Disney+ in the form of “Verts,” the company’s vertical video products.
“This collaboration creates a new bridge between the stories we tell and the creativity they inspire, giving creators a bigger stage to share what they’ve made, and audiences more to discover on Disney+ every day,” said Asad Ayaz, Disney’s chief marketing and brand officer, in a statement.
The agreement will launch in the U.S. in coming months, and the companies intend to move it to other markets around the world. Financial terms were not disclosed.
It’s no secret that younger people are watching shorter videos with more frequency, including TikTok vignettes, Facebook Reels, even “whip-around” sports shows like NBC Olympics’ Gold Zone and NFL Red Zone. The format is driving conversations around everything from wellness to food to pop culture. Many prominent advertisers are also investing in it, with big-spending companies including Procter & Gamble and JCPenney creating “microdramas” and “microcontent.”
Disney has telegraphed its interest for months. It already introduced “Verts” to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service, and unveiled plans for short-form video to surface on Disney+. “Short form and creative content, they’ve exploded in the past few years, and it’s an area we’re focused on because we have deeply committed fans who, you know, love our brands and our franchises and characters, and they want to engage with them in this new way,” said Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, speaking during a May call with investors. “This is specifically important when we think about Gen Alpha, obviously, the newest generation of Disney fans. What we’re doing is we’re experimenting with short-form content in a variety of ways.”
The TikTok alliance might fill in for a previous ambitious project that was ultimately scrapped. Disney in December unveiled a three-year deal with OpenAI that would have allowed users of the company’s generative-video Sora platform to generate short, user-prompted social videos using a set of more than 200 masked, animated or creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, as well as costumes, props and vehicles. Disney planned to make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, and receive warrants to purchase additional equity.
The project, however, was ultimately scrapped after OpenAI decided to shut Sora down.
Now TikTok will help Disney move further into the emerging field. Both companies will administer a “Disney Creator Ambassador Program” that will give certain users incentives and access to events and career development. TikTok creators will gain access to assets related to hundreds of films and series from Disney’s vast library, and fans will be able to take part in a Disney-centered experience on TikTok that will be refreshed regularly.
“Together with Disney, we’re bringing the authentic creator expression of the TikTok community to Disney+, inviting audiences to experience the shared creativity that makes fandom so powerful,” said Dawn Yang, global head of entertainment for TikTok, in a statement.
There is some hope that allowing Disney intellectual property to fuel TikTok pieces will have a halo effect for Disney’s films and programs. Nearly half of respondents on a survey commissioned by TikTok and conducted by Ipsos, a market-research firm, said that discovering entertainment content on TikTok spurred them to go on to watch a movie or show on a streaming service or traditional TV.
In January 2026, under a deal brokered by the Trump administration, ByteDance sold a majority stake in TikTok’s U.S. business to non-Chinese investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s state-owned investment firm MGX. Beijing-based ByteDance retains 19.9% of the joint venture; the deal brought ByteDance and TikTok into compliance with the U.S.’s TikTok divest-or-ban law that went into effect in January 2025.
