Candle Media and TikTok have announced a partnership that will span multiple brands and formats. Candle, which has put together a lineup of prominent media properties, will team with TikTok to co-develop premium programming and branded content.
The new projects will expand Candle’s existing presence on TikTok. The deep-pocketed firm, led by former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has used its acquisitions to reach approximately 600 million followers across all social platforms. Some of its properties, such as the political brand ATTN and Latin American media outlet Exile Content, have made inroads with TikTok’s growing audience.
Candle’s deal with TikTok will give advertisers direct access to those properties. The media company is joining the TikTok Pulse Premiere program, which the ByteDance-owned app announced during its most recent NewFronts presentation. Through Pulse Premiere, brands will be able to buy space next to videos from ATTN, Exile Content, Reese Witherspoon‘s Hello Sunshine, and other publishers.
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Hello Sunshine will play a key role in Candle’s TikTok plans. Witherspoon is an avid reader who has her own book club, and with her help, Candle will reach the literary fanatics who have contributed about 150 billion views to the #BookTok tag.
#BookTok has already turned some of TikTok’s favorite authors into best-sellers, and Candle wants to bring some of those beloved books to new screens. Its goal is to uncover underrepresented writers who are heralded on TikTok in order to turn their works into film, TV, and podcast adaptations.
Hello Sunshine will also add a TikTok sponsorship for the forthcoming round of the LitUp Writers Fellowship Program, which provides funding, mentorship, and marketing to women in the literary world. Witherspoon will chronicle LitUp’s next chapter through her Reese’s Book Club TikTok account.
In a statement, Witherspoon stressed the value of “identifying, elevating, and amplifying underrepresented storytellers,” which is a shared mission of both Hello Sunshine and #BookTok. “TikTok continues to experience explosive growth, and has become a critical platform for storytelling and marketing,” added Mayer and Staggs. “We are thrilled to work with the TikTok team to create compelling branded content, and for Hello Sunshine to shine a light on the thriving #BookTok community, which is home to a new generation of storytellers.”
This isn’t the first time that Candle has looked to expand its properties through film, TV, and podcast development. It has used those formats to grow CoComelon, the most notable brand owned by Candle subsidiary Moonbug.
