When The Show Is The Strategy: How TikTok Originals Are Becoming Brand Backed IP

Scrolling isn’t just for entertainment anymore - it’s primetime at your fingertips. With 1.12 billion daily users on TikTok, 500 million on Instagram, and 122 million on YouTube, creators are now posting as well as producing. 

Creators have leveled up!  What began as short clips has evolved into episodic series, filmed on phones and distributed through feeds.

This episodic, story-driven content has become the entertainment people are choosing. For brands, that shift is transformative. Instead of being squeezed into 15-second ads, they now have the chance to co-create narratives, fuel plotlines, and appear as recurring characters in the universes creators build.

In this model, brands aren’t simply funding creators for a quick mention or a one-off unboxing video -they’re immersing themselves fully into the content (and the loyal following) these creators have built.

When a creator drops a single viral video, it’s exciting for that moment, but when they drop episode four of a recurring series and fans are quoting lines in the comments before it ends, that’s something else entirely.

The shift to episodic series creates an ongoing relationship with the audience. Viewers return for familiar characters and evolving storylines. It’s entertainment with depth—and that consistency builds emotional connection and loyalty with every new post.

That’s the sweet spot for brands. 

Instead of being the one-off ad spot people may mute while waiting for the show to return, the brand gets to appear inside the story woven into the moments fans care about most. 

This is a level of access traditional advertising has chased for decades.

Proof of concept: How series like the Group Chat use brands as part of the cast

You don’t have to squint to see this model already in play. It’s all over TikTok and YouTube -creators building serialized formats and brands stepping directly into the story.

Take The Group Chat from Sydney Robinson. It’s a social-first reality show powered by the chemistry of a recurring cast, the rhythm of unfiltered friend conversations, and brands as important cameos. 

The creator @thatgirlsydjo seamlessly includes ordering Dominos in an episode of The Group Chat. Dominos shows up, not as a 30-second ad break but as part of the conversation, but with a key role to advance the storyline forward.  This is the new frontier of social entertainment: creators as showrunners, brands as cast members, and audiences as loyal fans tuning in for the next drop.

Where this new format starts to matter

And other brands get a role as well. Garnier shows up during a hair prep scene. Hilton and TripAdvisor play into the travel arcs. These brand moments don’t pull you out of the story, but instead they become the story beats.

Even celebrity brand-owners are paying attention. Ryan Reynolds, for example, entered The Group Chat with Mint Mobile, blending his signature self-aware, lo-fi ad style with the show’s chaotic, confessional energy. This appearance was a tonal crossover that felt like Reynolds had always been part of the friend group.

Rod Thill brings workplace humor and millennial anxiety to life in short-form formats—sharp sketches set to punchy text overlays and familiar beats of corporate culture. His characters and recurring themes build familiarity. When a brand weaves its way into these relatable setups, it shows up in the world he’s already built.

Even in long-form, the formula holds. Creators like MrBeast are producing multi-episode YouTube challenges that rack up tens of millions of views. Sponsors are integral to the competition's mechanics, meaning they appear whenever the stakes rise.

This is what brand integration looks like when it’s woven into a recurring universe: the product becomes part of the world fans are invested in, which is a huge win for brands.

And there’s an added bonus. 

When the series gains traction, there’s a chance for exponential organic growth. Other creators start riffing on the concept, referencing it in their own content, or remixing scenes as part of the cultural moment.

Domino's presence in The Group Chat sparked a wave of new videos that played off the format. These spin-offs, Stitches, Duets, and nods from other creators give the brand added reach without added spend.

When the original show becomes a format others want to copy, the brand becomes part of the trend itself.

How brands can integrate fully into this new entertainment model

When your brand appears in a creator-led series, it becomes part of the world that audiences quote, follow, and return to. These moments build recognition, affinity, and momentum.

Here’s how to make your presence count:

1. Get in early

Joining the series from the beginning means your brand’s presence is part of the original arc. You grow alongside the characters, appear in defining moments, and become familiar to the audience as the world expands. Plus, you edge out competitors that haven’t caught on to this new trend yet (bonus!).

2. Treat the brand as a character

Don’t use products as props. Instead, give the brand a full role with personality, purpose, and recurring presence in the plot. When the brand is part of the cast, it grows alongside the characters and becomes a familiar figure to the audience.

3. Or turn the brand into a subplot

Maybe the show’s characters are planning to launch a coffee cart—and that cart happens to be your product’s backstory. Over several episodes, the audience sees the idea take shape, from sourcing beans to designing the cart to the grand opening. The reveal could be your brand’s actual origin story, baked into the series they’ve been following all along.

4. Build story arcs that audiences follow to the finish

Let the brand live inside a narrative that unfolds over time—a trip being planned, a makeover in progress, a competition heating up. Each installment adds a new layer, builds anticipation, and gets the audience speculating about what’s next. When the moment of payoff arrives—a reveal, a win, a transformation—it lands as a cultural moment the brand owns alongside the creator.

5. Create fan participation hooks

Open the door for the audience to play an active role in the unfolding story. That could mean a challenge where fans submit outfit ideas for a character’s big date, voting on which city the cast visits next, or spotting hidden Easter eggs that hint at future plot twists.

In a mock-office series, viewers might pitch ridiculous meeting topics for the next episode. In a reality-style TikTok series, they might send in “dares” for the characters to complete on-camera. When fans see their input woven into the narrative, the connection with both the creator and the brand becomes personal—and the brand becomes part of the community conversation.

6. Invest in crossover episodes

Picture the cast of a mock-office TikTok series showing up in a creator’s travel vlog, with your brand as the reason for the mashup—maybe they’re all attending a brand-sponsored “offsite” in another city. Fans get the thrill of two worlds colliding, and the brand becomes the connective tissue between two highly engaged audiences.

7. Bring the world into real life

If a dating show parody is set in a “branded” beach bar, open that bar for a weekend pop-up in Miami. Fans could walk into the set they’ve been watching for months, order the same drink their favorite character loves, and take photos in front of recognizable backdrops. The experience keeps the brand in the spotlight long after the pop-up closes.

8. Drop in-world props as collectibles

When a cooking series uses a signature spice mix, make it real and sell it. If a fictional band in a creator’s universe has a branded tour tee, put it on your e-commerce site. These “props” feel like inside jokes fans can own, and every purchase deepens the bond between the show, the brand, and the audience.

9 Spin off character-led social accounts

Give the “brand character” its own Instagram or TikTok account—posting in voice, interacting with fans, maybe even teasing upcoming episodes from “their” perspective. It’s a way to keep the energy of the show alive on days when no new episodes drop, and it lets the brand develop its own lore alongside the creator’s.

10. Make bonus content to deepen the world

Stay inside the show’s universe and give fans more reasons to linger there. Behind-the-scenes videos, styling breakdowns, limited-edition merch drops, or character playlists keep the narrative alive between episodes. Imagine the fashion sponsor of a makeover series releasing a “post-episode, styling secrets” clip on TikTok. These touchpoints add depth to the story and strengthen the bond between the audience, the creator, and the brand.

The next stage of social ad strategy is serialized, creator-driven, and story-led

Creators are now building worlds audiences return to week after week. These stories have structure, stakes, and momentum, and they’re unfolding in real time.

For brands, this is a chance to become part of something bigger than a single post or placement.

It’s time to seek out creator partnerships. It’s the new model to transform from a supporting role to a cultural fixture.