Following the unexpected launch of Amazon Prime Video watch parties, people have wondered if Netflix might add a similar feature. If there was ever a time for it, that time is now.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, people quickly adopted video chat services like Zoom in droves. Those platforms helped millions of us work remotely and still keep many businesses afloat. Shortly thereafter, people popularized using video chat apps for social interactions outside of the professional space. This led to things like Zoom happy hours and the rise of apps like Houseparty, but it also ushered in the watch party: grouping up with friends to watch a video on a streaming platform in sync.
Amazon lept on the watch party train early, becoming the first major video streaming service to officially offer a watch party option. The system has even expanded to Twitch, another Amazon property. With one of its biggest competitors now holding a slight advantage that will only become more meaningful the longer the pandemic continues, the pressure is on for Netflix to launch its version of a watch party. There are good reasons to believe it will and won't ever happen.
Should We Expect a Netflix Watch Party
From a purely competitive standpoint, Netflix should have a watch party. Amazon has a slight edge due to it owning Twitch and therefore marketing the watch party feature to an audience that has always been fond of watching video content with friends, but Netflix still holds the lead in subscribers. There's no way the company doesn't see the value in such a feature, not just because its competition has it, but also because the unofficial Netflix Party Chrome extension has been a runaway success. The program, which easily sets up watch parties on the browser version of Netflix, says it has now surpassed 10 million users. That means almost a tenth of Netflix's subscriber base has an interest in a watch party feature.
Furthermore, up until now, we've only seen these options on browser versions of streaming platforms. According to Vox, 70% of Netflix viewing happens on TV screens. The video game console and smart TV versions of the Netflix app are far more popular than the desktop browser alternative. That could mean whichever service gets a watch party on people's televisions (or something like a smartphone or tablet) first could hold a massive advantage in the streaming business. Netflix set the pace for non-PC viewing originally, and could once again be a trendsetter here.
Those are reasons the company might want to add watch parties, but there are some arguments against its necessity as well. When it comes to bringing watch party to TV screens, there's the technological barrier: most people don't have a means of chatting using their TVs. Watch parties work well on computers where people have keyboards, webcams, and headsets, but most people don't and won't have these items set up for their TV. At best, there could be a way to open a watch party on an app and then chat via syncing a phone app, but that's not ideal. Netflix would have to do some serious engineering work to solve this problem. Otherwise, its official watch party feature would be limited to PC, which is a very small segment of its viewership.
Ultimately, the feature is probably coming. With Amazon on board, Hulu testing the option, and the success of the unofficial Netflix Party, it's hard to imagine the company simply ignoring this wave.
Source: Vox