Tubi and TikTok Team Up to Turn Viral Creators Into Longform Storytellers
The line between short-form content and traditional TV keeps getting thinner, and now two major players are pushing that evolution even further.
Tubi and TikTok have joined forces to launch a new incubator designed to help digital creators make the leap into longform series. It’s a move that could reshape how the next wave of shows gets made and who gets to make them.
The program is built to take creators who’ve built audiences on TikTok and give them the tools to develop original shows that will premiere exclusively on Tubi.
These projects will span both scripted and unscripted formats, giving creators room to experiment with storytelling beyond the bite-sized videos they’re known for.
Importantly, the creators themselves will remain in the driver’s seat creatively, with Tubi stepping in to provide support and resources to help bring those ideas to life.
TikTok will play a key role in identifying which creators are ready for that next step, with the first wave of participants expected to be revealed sometime this summer. It’s a interesting pipeline that taps into TikTok’s massive talent pool while giving Tubi a steady stream of fresh, creator-driven content.
Both platforms bring serious reach to the table. Tubi has grown into one of the biggest free streaming services out there, boasting over 100 million monthly active users since being acquired by Fox in 2020.
TikTok, while no longer in its explosive early growth phase in the U.S., still commands more than 200 million monthly users domestically and far more worldwide.
This partnership also arrives after a significant shift in TikTok’s U.S. ownership structure. Following years of political tension and regulatory scrutiny, a deal finalized in January moved control of its U.S. operations into a new joint venture. That group includes American investors like Michael Dell and Oracle, while China-based ByteDance still holds a 19.9% stake.
Tubi, meanwhile, hasn’t been sitting still. The platform has been making a clear push into creator-driven content, adding more than 16,000 episodes from over 200 creators in just the past 10 months. That momentum was front and center at CES earlier this year, where Fox introduced its Creators@Fox initiative to advertisers and media buyers.
Rich Bloom, General Manager of Creator Programs and Executive Vice President of Business Development at Tubi, summed up the vision behind the TikTok collaboration: Tubi is “doubling down on giving creators a real bridge from digital platforms to premium long-form storytelling.”
From TikTok’s side, Dawn Yang, Global Head of Entertainment Partnerships, highlighted the bigger picture: the partnership “will give the next generation of entertainers more opportunities to expand their audiences, tell bigger stories, and turn their creativity into lasting impact.”
For creators who’ve mastered the art of grabbing attention in seconds, this is a chance to stretch those skills into something bigger. For audiences, it could mean a new kind of streaming lineup driven by voices that didn’t come up through the usual Hollywood system.
This could either deliver some great and fun new projects, or be wasted on more crappy content.