Disney put $1 billion on the table for a deal that would let it generate unlimited AI videos of Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters.
That bet fell apart in 15 months.
But this week, the card Disney played instead wasn't AI — it was videos fans were already making on TikTok.
Why did the $1 billion bet fall apart?
In December 2024, Disney signed a three-year licensing deal with OpenAI. It opened up more than 200 Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters to Sora (OpenAI's AI video generation service), and in return would receive $1 billion worth of equity in OpenAI. The stated rationale was "responsible storytelling" paired with "protecting creators' rights."
But just 15 months later, OpenAI shut Sora down entirely. On March 24, 2026, OpenAI announced it was ending the service, citing skyrocketing compute costs against an active user base that had dropped below 500,000 — and Disney reportedly found out less than an hour before the public announcement.
"We're saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you."
— OpenAI
Disney's response was brief: "We respect OpenAI's decision to exit the video generation business and shift priorities." No money had actually changed hands (the equity investment hadn't been executed yet), but the entire strategy of "mass-producing character content with AI" disappeared along with the partner that was supposed to power it.
So what card did Disney play next?
Five months later, in August, Disney went in the opposite direction. Instead of having AI "generate" character videos, it decided to formally embrace the fan videos people were already making.
Disney and TikTok now co-run the "Disney Creator Ambassador Program." Participating creators get access to approved scenes and assets from Disney's library — Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, FX, and more — and the videos they make get featured simultaneously in TikTok and in the "Verts" section inside the Disney+ app. It's a tiered structure: the better a creator performs, the more special rewards, exclusive event invites, and career development opportunities they unlock. The program is launching first in the US, with plans to expand globally. The news was big enough to make Korean tech media, which covered it under headlines like "Making shorts with Marvel and Star Wars."
The reason Disney chose this direction comes down to the numbers. TikTok sees an average of 6.5 million movie- and TV-related posts a day, and roughly 50% of people who discover content that way go on to actually stream the title. The one thing AI still hasn't managed to do — pulling fans into streaming — human creators were already doing every single day.
Disney's head of marketing summed it up like this: "The best storytellers are the fans. Today, fans are expressing our stories in new ways." Industry analysis is landing on a similar point — fan-made content is no longer a marketing byproduct, it's become part of the product experience itself.
Disney's not the only one doing this, right?
Right — this is actually an industry-wide shift. Streaming services are all building short-form social feeds into their own apps. But there's a split between the ones that "just built a feed" and the ones that "built creator relationships too."
| Service | Short-form feed | Creator relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | Mobile-only vertical feed | - |
| HBO Max | Shorts (AI scene extraction + human editing) | - |
| Prime Video | Clips (personalized by watch history) | - |
| Disney+ | Verts | Creator Ambassador Program |
| Tubi | - | TikTok creator incubator for moving into long-form |
On its 'Shorts' feed, HBO Max uses AI to pull scenes out of thousands of hours of footage, but a human editor makes the final cut. Tubi, building on a track record of 16,000 episodes made with 200 creators over 10 months, just teamed up with TikTok to launch an incubator that moves creators into long-form originals. The spot AI was supposed to fill is, in the end, being filled by partnerships with human creators.
Can our brand run this same play?
You don't need Disney-level IP to borrow the skeleton of this playbook.
- Find the fan content that's already being made
Search your brand or product name on TikTok and Instagram. Before building this program, Disney first confirmed there were already 6.5 million related posts a day. - Build an approved asset kit
Bundle logos, clips, and usage guidelines and distribute them. Creators need material they can use without worrying about copyright before participation picks up. - Design tiered rewards
It doesn't have to be cash from day one. Even Disney's tier-one perks are exposure, event invites, and career opportunities. Start with a structure that adds more as creators show results. - Create a home for this content on your own channels
Make sure there's a spot — app, website, newsletter, wherever — where fan content is consistently featured. Staying inside TikTok alone just means staying dependent on someone else's platform. - Track discovery-to-conversion rates
You need the numbers on whether people who see fan content actually go on to buy or watch — that's what justifies continuing to invest in the program next quarter.
Want to go deeper?
The Walt Disney Company and TikTok Announce a Global Content-Sharing Deal The official announcement of Disney's Creator Ambassador Program. thewaltdisneycompany.com
Disney+ pulls TikTok creators into streaming discovery An analysis of the partnership through the lens of "fandom became the interface." contentgrip.com
HBO Max embraces vertical video with a new 'Shorts' feed How a competing streaming service blends AI and human editing. techcrunch.com
Tubi Partners with TikTok to Offer Creators a Pathway to Develop Premium Long Form Content Another streamer's experiment in moving creators up to long-form originals. corporate.tubitv.com
마블·스타워즈로 숏폼 만든다… 디즈니, 틱톡 크리에이터 전격 수용 A Korean tech outlet's coverage of this news. tech42.co.kr
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