TikTok has partnered with Cineplex to bring curated short-form content to the big screen.

Starting Friday (Nov. 4), Cineplex will air two-minute segments of existing Canadian and international TikTok content during its pre-show, including at its VIP locations. The segments will offer ad integration, with beauty brand Deciem featured in the November kick-off.

The partnership is an expansion of TikTok’s existing strategy to take its content beyond mobile devices, Dan Page, head of global distribution, new screens, tells Playback Daily, noting that the big screen launch is a “global first” for the platform.

“Anywhere there’s an actual screen, we’d like to find a use for TikTok,” he says. “We think the possibilities of what we can do with this palette are endless.”

TikTok has already partnered with Loop Media in the U.S., a digital out-of-home platform used in bars, retail stores and restaurants, to create a dedicated TikTok channel with more than 10,000 hours of curated and family-friendly content.

Page says each two-minute segment is curated around a specific theme that fits with that month’s advertising partner. He says content creators do not receive any of the ad revenue, but each account is attributed on-screen and TikTok ensures that creators give permission before their content is used outside of the platform.

As for the content itself, Page says the segments will keep TikTok’s vertical format and utilize the rest of the space for additional artwork.

While a mobile platform and a movie theatre chain seem like an odd pairing, Page says Cineplex has a history of embracing smartphones, including the Cineplex app and the introduction of TimePlay during its pre-show.

“It also allows us to showcase that we are an entertainment platform,” he says. “There are people that have never used TikTok, so this allows people to see exactly what TikTok looks like.”

TikTok is no stranger to Canadian industry partnerships. It became the presenting sponsor of the Toronto International Film Festival’s short cuts program this September, and set up the TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators with the National Screen Institute in Winnipeg in 2021. The program recently unveiled its second cohort, with 40 creators from all corners of the country selected for a digital, customized training course.

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