EDINBURGH — TikTok’s reach into theatrical film marketing was part of the closing industry panel at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. At the ‘Woman With a Movie Account,’ TikTok U.K.’s public figures lead Beatrice Mustocea opened: “These guys have a track record of democratizing fandom and turning that into a career.” The panel consisted of film content creators Meg Hughes, Indigo Stafford, and Jamilo Mohamed (j_watches).
“I see people going to the cinema because of recommendations I’ve given,” Irish creator and aspiring director Meg Hughes told Variety after the event. “I don’t just tell people they should see it in cinemas; I explain why that film deserves to be seen there.” For Hughes, TikTok is not just a stepping stone to filmmaking, but a potential tool for preservation: “If you can get that passion, if you can utilize creators like myself who want to keep this industry thriving and booming and growing and glowing, and seeing cinemas staying open.” she said.
Numbers partially back her up. A TikTok-commissioned U.S. survey of 446 users found that 73% who discovered a film on the app went on to watch a trailer, 42% looked up showtimes, and 36% bought a ticket. A TikTok-commissioned LiveRamp meta-analysis of 34 U.K. film campaigns found an average box office lift of +23.5% for films with TikTok ad exposure, along with a +21.2% uplift in incremental audience reach. While striking, these figures reflect platform-driven campaigns rather than the organic creator efforts exemplified by Hughes.
Authenticity, Hughes argued, is what drives trust, “If your film is a certain genre, find the creator who matches what the film represents. Don’t just go for someone with numbers.” She pointed to how comedian Eva Victor, whose feature “Sorry, Baby” played the festival out of comp, has used TikTok to shape a creative voice, and how Ryan Coogler’s aspect-ratio explainers drew millions of views: “Possibly the way forward is more of that, opening up the conversation: hey, this is how we did it.”
Fellow panelists echoed the point. Journalist-turned-creator Indigo Stafford noted how TikTok audiences wanted contextual decoding of Netflix’s “Adolescence.” Jamilo Mohamed described her enduring chick-flick fandom videos as proof that conversational engagement, not disposable virality, keeps fans coming back.
What exhibitors and studios still lack causal data on is whether this enthusiasm consistently converts to ticket sales, but that is true of most marketing campaigns. For now, niche film creators getting millions of views offer Hollywood a double promise: they can speak with authenticity to their audiences, and have confidence those audiences may indeed step into cinemas. Whether that promise holds at scale remains to be seen.
