Amazon Prime Video’s Watch Party feature that allows users to stream content together with their friends remotely has expanded to more devices than before. The feature that only worked on Fire TV devices, desktop web browsers, and the Prime Video mobile app earlier, is now available on non-Amazon streaming devices like smart TVs, Roku, and Xbox / PlayStation gaming consoles.
Watch Party feature came into existence during COVID-19-related lockdowns and has been expanding ever since. Using the feature, you can watch any movie or series available on the platform with up to 100 people with a Prime subscription to view content at the same time. The host can play, pause, skip, and fast forward or rewind for the group, while everyone in the party can chat with text while watching. Watch Party isn’t compatible with live events at present, and for a movie that can only be rented, everyone utilizing the feature must rent it individually.
Currently, Amazon’s Watch Party feature is available only in the US, however, there are other platforms providing a similar social viewing feature.
HBO launched its own synchronized watching feature for subscribers of its “No Ads” plan in partnership with a browser extension called Scener and Hulu. Netflix viewers can watch together using the ‘Teleparty’ browser extension (formerly known as Netflix Party).
