5 ways TikTok is shaping the future of entertainment

Over the past couple of years, TikTok has made its share of waves in the fast-evolving social media landscape. And as its reach and influence continues to expand both in the U.S. and abroad, marketing leaders have become more bullish on the role that the video-centric platform might play in the future of entertainment. At this week’s second annual Ad Age Next: Streaming virtual event, a roster of creative professionals and industry leaders came together to offer their thoughts on how TikTok, once thought of as an app for lip-syncing and dance videos, has fundamentally changed the culture and demonstrated valuable lessons for all things video. Below, five experts volunteer their perspectives on how what TikTok is doing today could be used as a road map for what streaming, TV and media may look like tomorrow. ‘TikTok made me buy it’ QVC and HSN may have pioneered the retail excitement that made consumers say, “I’ve got to buy this,” but in 2021, it’s TikTok’s time to shine in the shoppable world. “I think there’s going to be a lot of, sort of what I would say, modeling around how do we pull that kind of ethos, that type of behavior, that type of opportunity into the streaming realm so that TikTok doesn’t essentially grab all the fanfare for really moving consumer mindshare,” said Albert Thompson, managing director of digital innovation at Walton Isaacson, pointing to the social platform’s influence as noteworthy trend to watch in 2022. In Thompson’s view, TikTok is adding “the notion of community” into the creator formula that has long proved successful for YouTube, and that winning combination has helped spark the “TikTok made me buy it” trend that marketers have sought to tap into. Talent might be hidden in plain sight There are a lot of extraordinary people in the world, according to home improvement personality Chip Gaines. And the rise of social media—TikTok included—has opened up a space for more people than ever before to make their voices heard. “Jo and I weren’t hidden, we were raising a family here in Waco, Texas,” Gaines said of he and his wife, Joanna, who recently launched their own Magnolia Network via streaming service Discovery+. “We were running a business, construction and design. I mean, these were natural, organic things that we literally and sincerely were doing,” he said, adding that it’s people like him who do “sincere, amazing, incredible work” that now have the chance to shine like never before. Don’t discount the creator community The creators behind every TikTok trend and viral video are just as important as the content themselves, and viewers’ attraction to certain TikTok personalities can be so strong that scaling beyond the platform is a real possibility. “We have a great social team that’s making really fun TikTok content—so much fun that we turned that into a YouTube channel, so ‘G4TV Shorts’ is actually TikTok content on a new platform,” said Russell Arons, the president of Comcast Spectacor’s G4. “We see that as another way to capture audience.” Opening up new avenues When content is engaging and well-done, streaming and social media can offer great venues for stories that would otherwise be impossible to tell in a more traditional format such as linear TV. “One of the things that we’re experimenting with a little bit more is doing things that we wouldn’t necessarily do on the traditional newscast,” said NBC News’ senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson, who also hosts “Hallie Jackson Reports” on MSNBC. She cites a recent report on addressing issues in and unpacking the stigmas of mental health, something which Jackson admits she’s personally struggled with in the past. “That’s not something I would ever put in a nightly news piece, right?” A different way of storytelling TikTok creators are making content and telling stories in innovative ways that other platforms simply haven’t before, and that creativity—which has surely helped drive much of TikTok’s success among younger generations—has not gone unnoticed by leaders in the more traditional media and entertainment spheres. “There’s a lot of voices that we’re seeing that are appearing, certainly on TikTok, that we didn’t see anywhere else,” said John Fogelman, CEO of media incubator FactoryMade Ventures and co-founder of the El Rey Network. “The amount of different styles in terms of telling stories is really having a big impact on what we think we’re going to be doing in the next chapter with this.”

5 ways TikTok is shaping the future of entertainment

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