Disney’s Verts feed was built to fight TikTok. Now it’s running on TikTok
Disney and TikTok struck a first-of-its-kind deal to bring TikTok creator videos into Disney+. Here’s the twist: Disney launched its Verts short-form feed last March, marketing it as a TikTok competitor that could run Disney-owned clips. Now they announce this deal.
Five months ago, Disney announced its own answer to TikTok where creators could use Disney clips. Then today, Disney released details on a deal to fill the thing with actual TikTok.
I guess if you can’t beat them, join them.
Disney and TikTok announced a new original global content-sharing deal on August 5, 2026.
TikTok creators who opt in will get access to clips and assets from hundreds of Disney movies and shows, spanning Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and FX.
The videos they make will live in two places: on TikTok, and inside Disney+, in a feed called Verts.
That last part is where it gets interesting, if you remember what Verts was five months ago.
What the Disney and TikTok deal actually does
Basically, they are swapping content.
TikTok’s creators get to legally use Disney’s characters and footage. Disney gets a stream of fan-made short videos to pump into its app.
The answer to how Disney could generate creator content without the proper tools to do so - do it off-platform.
Creators who join the program keep their videos on TikTok and also get them featured in Verts on Disney+. There’s a Disney Creator Ambassador Program run jointly by both companies, offering top creators perks, events, and what Disney calls career development pathways.
They tried this before by buying Maker Studios to control YouTube, and it didn’t work. They offered similar perks then too.
It pilots in the US in the coming months, with other countries to follow. Neither company said what the financial terms are.
The pitch from Disney’s side is discovery. The theory is that a fan seeing a great Marvel edit on TikTok might tap through and watch the actual movie on Disney+. TikTok’s own data claims nearly half of surveyed viewers went on to watch something on streaming after seeing it on the app.
Disney built Verts in March as its own TikTok competitor
Disney announced Verts at CES in January and rolled it out to US Disney+ users in March.
Verts is a vertical, swipeable video feed inside the Disney+ app, in the same format as TikTok. People immediately pointed out that it was Disney’s attempt to copy TikTok’s homework in an attempt to appeal to younger, mobile-first viewers.
The whole selling point back then was that Verts ran Disney-owned clips only. Scenes and moments from Disney’s own movies and shows, professionally produced, brand-safe, no messy user-generated content.
That was the pitch: a TikTok-style feed that wasn’t TikTok, built entirely on Disney’s century of IP.
PNP covered it at the time and questioned whether it was really the TikTok and YouTube competitor Disney claimed. The answer, five months later, is that Disney decided they couldn’t do it alone.
From “our answer to TikTok” to “powered by TikTok”
To recap, in March, Verts was Disney’s controlled walled garden, using its own footage, its own app, no outsiders. Brand safety first. Which was all a terrible idea that real creators would find suffocating.
In August, Disney is opening the gates and letting TikTok creators pour in.
The clips that were supposed to be Disney-only are now going to sit next to fan edits made by TikTokers.
Disney seemingly realized that creativity is what makes short-form video addictive and fun, and Disney can’t manufacture that in-house.
Two, if fans are going to make Disney edits anyway, Disney would rather host them, control them, and get people onto Disney+ in the process than watch it all happen on somebody else’s app.
Either way, Disney’s fully controlled version fell flat fast.
Why the TikTok deal also fills a hole the Open AI plan left
Back in December, Disney had a $1 billion OpenAI deal that was cancelled by the AI company. It was supposed to let fans generate short clips using over 200 Disney characters on Sora. That was going to be a major channel for user-made Disney shorts.
Then in March, OpenAI pulled Sora, and Disney went all in on Verts.
Instead of fans making Disney shorts with a text prompt on Sora, they’ll make them the old-fashioned way on TikTok, with Disney’s blessing and Disney’s footage.
Whether Verts is better with TikTok creators in it than it was as a Disney-only feed, you’ll get to judge yourself once it goes live. The short-form feed nobody asked for is about to get the one ingredient it was missing, which is other people.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
The Walt Disney Company (August 5, 2026), the official TikTok deal announcement, the Verts integration, the Creator Ambassador Program, the Asad Ayaz quote, and the participating brands
Variety (August 5, 2026), the ByteDance ownership context and the deal’s ties to Disney’s earnings day
Deadline (August 5, 2026), the Sora connection, the December OpenAI deal, and OpenAI pulling Sora in March
TechCrunch (January and March 2026), Verts’ CES announcement and March rollout as a TikTok-style feed
Dataconomy (March 13, 2026), Verts launching with Disney-owned clips only and competing with Netflix’s vertical feed