Disney’s blockbuster partnership with TikTok could be about far more than giving creators access to Marvel, Star Wars and Toy Story clips.
According to media analyst and professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Evan Shapiro, the deal signals Disney’s next big advertising play — one that could see the entertainment giant package and sell advertising across both Disney Streaming and TikTok, allowing it to compete more directly with social platforms for mobile audiences.
It comes a day after Disney announced a global content-sharing agreement with TikTok that will allow creators to legally use clips from some of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises in their short-form videos.
Under the deal, creators will be able to incorporate clips from Disney’s vast catalogue — including Star Wars, Toy Story and the Marvel Cinematic Universe — into TikTok videos. Selected content will also be distributed on Disney’s own short-form video platform, Verts.
The initiative will launch in the US before expanding internationally. Financial terms were not disclosed.
However, in a recent Substack post shared with B&T, Shapiro argued the creator announcement is only one piece of a much bigger commercial strategy.
“This move allows Disney to begin to compete with social platforms, on mobile, outside the living room,” Shapiro wrote.
“It is also another shoe dropping in the verticalisation of premium television. It’s a careful and 1000 per cent necessary move into mobile.”
Shapiro believes the partnership gives Disney an opportunity to package advertising inventory across Disney Streaming and TikTok, ultimately creating new cross-platform opportunities for advertisers while extending Disney’s reach beyond connected TVs and into the mobile-first environments where younger audiences increasingly spend their time.
He argued the agreement reflects a broader shift in media consumption, with premium entertainment needing to exist where creator communities already are rather than expecting audiences to come solely to streaming services.
Shapiro also pointed to the enduring strength of Disney’s franchises as evidence the strategy is arriving at the right time, noting Toy Story 5 has surpassed US$1 billion (A$1.5 billion) at the global box office, while the broader Toy Story catalogue generated more than two billion streaming hours over the northern summer.
