TikTok Taps IMDb for New Content Discovery Feature

IMDb
(Image credit: IMDb)

SEATTLE—IMDb and TikTok have announced that they are working together to provide TikTok users with a new feature that will help them share and discover movie and TV content and information.

Using IMDb information on movie and TV content, the new TikTok feature allows users to link to movie and TV titles directly within the videos they create. The link directs people to a dedicated in-app page that showcases a collection of other videos that linked to the same title and highlights essential data about the movie or TV show, provided by IMDb, including top cast members, director, genre, release date, runtime, and user rating. 

Users can also add movies and TV shows to the favorites tab of their profiles, allowing followers to access the titles’ information from IMDb. People can link up to five movies and/or TV show titles in a single video. The feature is currently available to users in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

“We’re excited to welcome TikTok as the latest major company to rely on IMDb data to power new experiences for their customers,” said Nikki Santoro, chief operating officer of IMDb. “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.”

"TikTok's global community of movie and TV enthusiasts is incredibly active and passionate, with more than 25 billion combined views for the hashtags #FilmTok, #MovieTok, and #TVTok," said Grace Li, director of strategic partnerships at TikTok and ByteDance. "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.”

TikTok’s licensing of IMDb data and information is fulfilled through AWS Data Exchange, a service that allows millions of Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers to securely find, subscribe to, and use third-party data in the cloud. 

Essential metadata for every movie, TV, and over-the-top (OTT) series and video game title is available for licensing through IMDb via AWS Data Exchange. The large IMDb database is used by many companies to improve their own customers’ experience, power investment decisions, shape sentiment analysis, inform content acquisition strategies, and much more, AWS reported. 

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.