The market has known about Disney’s deal with TikTok on sharing fan videos since 5 August. At the fan event D23 in Anaheim, California, which ran from 14 to 16 August, Disney leadership explained what the deal is for. Creators are moving from the layer around marketing into the core of Disney+ programme strategy.
The decision rests on fandom figures. According to data that Disney and TikTok published about the deal, TikTok users shared an average of 6.5 million posts about films and television a day last year, and nearly half of surveyed viewers went on to watch a series or film after discovering it on TikTok.
Verts is used daily by 40% of users
Verts, the vertical feed in the Disney+ mobile app, was launched by Disney in the US in March 2026. The feed shows scenes and moments from films and series in the catalogue and is meant to raise daily engagement and bring viewers to mobile.
Erin Teague, Executive Vice President of Product at Disney Entertainment and ESPN, speaking on the D23 DTC panel, according to analyst Ben Woods, said that 40% of Disney+ users use Verts daily. No public Disney report has yet confirmed this figure.
Woods describes what the feed changes. Content discovery stops being scrolling through rows of tiles and becomes a moment-driven experience, in which the viewer chooses what to play after a dramatic scene or a trailer. Between major premieres, engagement is meant to be kept up by regular creator content and podcasts, so that the viewer does not disappear for months until the next series returns.
The feed as ad inventory
In his analysis Woods separates the immediate benefit from the bigger prize. The immediate gain is longer time spent in the app and more frequent visits. According to him, the larger bet is on advertising revenue.
At that level, the feed could, in Woods’s view, offer ad inventory directly inside Disney+ and compete with TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts for vertical ad revenue. It would also open up room for a free tier in markets where subscription penetration is low, combining creator content with selected shows outside the exclusive core offering.
That free tier is also relevant to Central Europe. Woods frames it as a tool for markets where viewers are used to free content on YouTube. However, the TikTok deal pilot is so far running only in the US, and Disney has not given a date for other markets.
Netflix, Max and the abandoned Sora bet
Disney is not the first in short-form. Netflix, Max and Prime Video have already launched similar vertical feeds. Disney itself, moreover, preceded its deal with TikTok with a more expensive step. It put roughly $1 billion into video generation with OpenAI and its Sora model, and ended the initiative in March 2026.
“Disney’s TikTok partnership feels like a do-over of its failed Sora initiative,” said Mike Proulx, Vice President and Research Director at Forrester, according to Marketing Dive. “With TikTok, Disney is basically plugging into the world’s largest fandom platform.”
Disney’s next short-form legend
According to Woods, Eric Schrier, President of Disney Television Studios, said on the DTC panel that the next creator to become a Disney legend will emerge from short-form content. Woods sums up his analysis by saying that “Disney is sold on creators”.
Comments