Next time you watch a TikTok of someone gushing about their favorite TV show, there might be a link in the bottom left corner directing you to even more information.
Called TikTok Spotlight, the tool will aid entertainment studios in turning social media hype into streaming numbers and ticket sales. Whether it's a new release or newly discovered, the feature identifies brand-friendly TikToks and adds a link to the landing page of information about the movie or TV show. The hub will feature details about the show or movie, including the plot, cast, official accounts, and other creator content. TikTok Spotlight explicitly turns organic fandom into marketing material.
TikTok previously partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to promote Dune: Part Two utilizing the same hub approach.
TikTok Spotlight will provide analytics to studios where they "can glean valuable insights into their fandoms, so they can know exactly what their fans want and how to most effectively activate around their title."
The new feature further entrenches TikTok in the ticketing game as users will be directed to both streaming platforms and to purchase movie tickets from TikTok Spotlight. The social media platform recently partnered with Eventbrite to directly link tickets in videos. It first moved into the ticketing space with a nearly identical partnership with Ticketmaster in 2022.
All these partnerships aim to keep you on the app. If all the information about a film or television show is now available in the app, users won't have to leave until they go to watch a show, but even then, in TikTok's ideal world, it plays in the background while you scroll on your phone.
