Revealed: How Sony Pictures Used TikTok To Drive Audience Engagement For Venom: The Last Dance

Looking to break records? The secret is in your TikTok strategy.

The recent success of Sony Pictures’ “Venom: The Last Dance” has proven studios that treat TikTok as a core marketing channel can drive unprecedented audience interaction and brand equity.

With over 20 million comments on just a single post, the film’s TikTok campaign set a world record for brand engagement. More importantly, it reinforced a fundamental shift: film promotion is no longer just about trailers and traditional advertising—it’s about interactive, community-driven storytelling.

Rose Phillips, EVP of Global Digital Marketing and Social Media at Sony, emphasized TikTok’s power in shaping the film’s success, stating, “This campaign has shown that the right social media strategy can help determine the success of a film.” The record-breaking viral success and commercial performance of ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ proves her point.

Leveraging TikTok Spotlight for Maximum Reach

Here’s an insight into this record-breaking strategy from Sony Pictures. The team leveraged TikTok Spotlight, an in-app promotion solution designed specifically to boost discoverability and participation.

And the results of this campaign were staggering, just take a look at the snapshot below:

Spotlight’s uniquely interactive features allowed TikTok users to engage with the film beyond simple passive consumption–they were incentivized to unlock exclusive content, participate in challenges and engage with Easter Egg comment activations, feuling fan engagement.

IP on TikTok is Essential for Fan Engagement & Growth

Today’s audiences expect to engage with entertainment publisher’s intellectual property (IP) in real-time, not just as passive viewers but as active participants. The movies, TV shows, characters and franchises that dominate the entertainment industry are perfect springboards for fan-driven creativity.

TikTok has transformed fandoms into content engines, where users remix, react, and reinterpret their favorite films, fueling viral conversations that extend well beyond a theatrical release.

For entertainment brands, embracing this co-creation model isn’t optional—it’s essential for long-term growth. The more that studios encourage fan participation through clips, challenges, behind-the-scenes content, and creator collaborations, the greater their IP’s cultural relevance, longevity, and revenue potential become.

The Power of Creator Partnerships

Instead of relying solely on traditional ads, Sony collaborated with TikTok creators, turning them into organic amplifiers of the film.

Let’s take a look at some of the creators they leveraged to add to the success of their Spotlight campaign.

• @brandonspam created videos that drove users to Venom’s dedicated TikTok profile and incentivized them to engage with the account to receive limited edition rewards such as picture profile frames.
• @felixfilmreviews used his signature content style to help drive excitement, further blurring the line between audience participation and content marketing.

Data-Backed Engagement Strategies

The Sony Pictures marketing team didn’t just post and hope for the best. They leveraged TikTok analytics to track engagement, refine their content strategy, and optimize audience targeting.

This data-driven strategy ensured that every marketing dollar was spent efficiently—delivering engagement rates twice as high as other platforms and amplifying organic reach through clever creator collaborations.

The result? Every marketing dollar worked harder, skyrocketing ROI and transforming casual viewers into highly engaged fans.

TikTok’s Expanding Influence in Film Marketing

Sony Pictures is not alone in recognizing the power of the global TikTok community in the entertainment industry.

What This Means for Entertainment Executives

Here’s what this means for the bigger picture of your marketing strategy.

• Prioritize an Always-On Strategy – Viral moments don’t happen by chance. A sustained TikTok presence keeps audiences invested before, during and after a film’s release.
• Embrace Fan-Centric IP Strategies – TikTok thrives on co-creation. Allowing audiences to engage with content through challenges, clips, and reactions drives brand affinity and organic reach–the perfect complement to your paid strategies.
• Invest in Interactive Features – Traditional marketing alone won’t cut it. Utilizing tools like TikTok Spotlight and interactive ad formats creates new avenues to drive participation.
• Use Data to Optimize Content – Harnessing real-time analytics to measure performance allows marketing teams to refine their content strategies on the fly–ensuring your marketing budget is funnelled into the highest-performing tactics.

The Bottom Line

Sony’s success with “Venom: The Last Dance” isn’t just a case study—it’s a blueprint for the future of film marketing. The strategic use of creator collaborations and user challenges kept engagement rising and ensured that conversation about the film didn’t drop off after launch.

Audience engagement is no longer a one-way street, and those who integrate that fact into their strategy will reap the rewards. The stronger emotional connection fostered with your audience will lead to improved brand loyalty, higher ticket sales, and greater long-term IP value.

The key takeaway? Entertainment leaders who embrace TikTok’s interactive and data-driven approach will unlock new levels of audience engagement, brand loyalty, and revenue growth.

Sources:

1: TikTok Marketing Science US Custom Theatrical Survey via AYTM, October 2023, Base: TikTok Users 18+, n = 446 (have discovered a new movie from TikTok)

2: Mediacontrol: Cinema charts 2024, Germany, top 20 cinema films. TikTok’s use of this data does not equate to an endorsement.