Amazon introduces Watch Party for virtual Prime viewing with friends

With recent world events keeping us at home, it can be hard to stay connected with friends and family.  Social events like going to movie theaters might not be an option right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t watch a movie along with your favorite group of amateur film critics. Amazon is introducing a feature called Watch Party that lets groups of up to 100 Prime members view content together simultaneously.

Watch Party is only available for movies and TV shows that are streamable with a Prime subscription, which that means that random Adventure Time episode you bought four years ago is not eligible. Groups are limited to Prime members in the US right now, so you won’t be able to invite your overseas pen pal to the party.

All you need to do to begin hosting a Watch Party is navigate to the Prime video you want to watch and select the Watch Party button from the details section. This will generate a link that you can share through any method you choose, but the people you send it to will still need to be Prime subscribers based in the US in order to join. While watching the video, a chat panel appears on the right hand side of the screen for your live-critiquing pleasure.

A few caveats apply, like the fact that only desktop browsers are supported (but not Safari or Internet Explorer). Still, this is a super handy feature that’s often only doable via third-party services like browser extensions and plug-ins. Amazon implementing this officially for Prime members is a big deal, and it gives the company yet another means by which to entice people into joining Prime.

• Source:
• Amazon