Walt Disney top streaming executive, Kevin Mayer, will leave the entertainment and theme parks giant to become the chief executive officer of TikTok, the popular video app owned by China’s ByteDance.
TikTok faces regulatory issues, licensing problems, and incoming competition from giants like Facebook and Google, Mayer’s history of negotiating big deals and building relationships in Hollywood and Washington is arguably exactly what TikTok needs.
Mayer is taking on a wide swath of responsibilities in his new role. He’ll be in charge of ByteDance’s “corporate development, sales, marketing, public affairs, security, moderation, and legal,” as well as global development, according to a press release. He’ll also be overseeing “music, gaming, Helo,” a social media app that’s big in India plus “emerging businesses” and helping to scale TikTok even more than the social media app already has in the last three years.
At least within TikTok, Mayer’s experience at Disney seems to set him up for success. He made a name for himself as the head of Disney’s Direct to Consumer & International group, overseeing the launch of Disney Plus. Mayer also helped orchestrate Disney’s four major acquisitions over the last several years: Pixar ($7.4 billion), Lucasfilm ($4.05 billion), Marvel Studios ($4.24 billion), and 21st Century Fox ($71.3 billion).
The New York Times noted that Mayer had been in the running to replace Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO, but wasn’t in a rush to leave despite Bob Chapek getting the nod.
Mayer played a key role in Disney’s internet strategy over the years. He worked on associated sites like Go.com and ESPN.com, but most recently rose to prominence as the overseer for the Disney+ launch. The service has enjoyed early success with over 50 million subscribers in less than half a year (some of them due to a link with India’s Hotstar). And right now, it’s a lifeline with most movie theaters closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s one of the few ways Disney has to distribute new movies to the public.
It’s not clear how the new chief executive will shape TikTok, although his experience with streaming entertainment will come in handy. He’s certainly arriving at an opportune time. Sensor Tower has determined that people downloaded TikTok 11 million times in March as lockdowns began in earnest, or nearly twice as many as in December. There’s plenty of demand Mayer’s trick is to sustain that growth once it’s safer to venture out in public.
