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Users will be able to tag a specific work and have access to a dedicated in-app page with relevant information about the title, such as cast, crew release date, run time and more.
By J. Clara Chan
TikTok is licensing data from IMDb to power a new feature that will make it easier for users to search for content related to a specific film or TV title and see relevant data about the work — such as its cast and release date — on a dedicated, in-app page.
The feature, which will first be rolled out to users in the U.S. and the U.K., will allow creators to add a link to the film or TV show referenced in their video. The tagged work will then appear above the caption after the video is posted, and viewers will be able to click that link and be directed to another page with IMDb-powered information about the title, as well as a spread of other TikTok videos that have also tagged the same movie or TV show.
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Creators will also be able to link to their favorite shows and movies on their profiles, which will direct interested followers toward the respective works’ IMDb pages.
The partnership allows TikTok to lean into its users’ existing interests in film and TV content. According to Grace Li, the director of strategic partnerships at TikTok and parent company ByteDance, the platform has seen more than 25 billion combined views for videos tagged with #FilmTok, #MovieTok, and #TVTok — phrases that reference shared-interest communities on the platform.
And as TikTok is expected to surpass $11 billion in U.S. ad revenue in 2024, the feature could potentially offer a more streamlined way to organize marketing campaigns and boost discoverability around certain films and TV shows outside of specific hashtags.
“We’re excited to welcome TikTok as the latest major company to rely on IMDb data to power new experiences for their customers,” Nikki Santoro, IMDb’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “This innovative collaboration enables TikTok creators to showcase and share the movies and shows they love, further extending the IMDb mission to help customers discover and decide what to watch and listen to, wherever they are.”
“As we continue to find new ways to enrich the TikTok experience, this new feature, developed in collaboration with IMDb, gives our community more opportunities to discover, create, and share the content they love,” Li added.
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