eople like to watch the same thing at the same time. Whether it’s a sporting event, a wedding,
tends to reduce social cohesion, makes us more isolated in our thinking and more lonely. People still want to watch things together, but how do you do that when your loved ones are all on separate devices, or in separate houses, cities – separate countries, even? Covid-19 has pushed this sense of isolation to the extreme. Enter the ‘watch party.’ In July 2018, Facebook introduced the idea – the first time it was offered by a major platform. With Facebook Watch Party, users could share videos, live or recorded, and interact with one another in real time. It was first made available inside Facebook Groups and then rolled out to the wider platform. Facebook Watch, the platform’s ill-begotten VOD offering, was launched at roughly the same time – and it certainly would have been a no- brainer to integrate Watch Party into a VOD platform that famously claimed it wanted to find ways of bringing people together. Instead, the Watch Party, and Facebook’s slate of ambitious original programming, didn’t seem to gel with the business model. Facebook is a data company, not an entertainment
A year in lockdown has made watch parties a must-have for VOD consumers
a trial, or just two idiots letting road rage get the better of them, human beings enjoy witnessing moments in groups. It must be deeply embedded in our DNA to seek a collectively watched experience – an arrangement allowing us to compare notes and improve the group situation. In the 20th century, there were two great communal viewing experiences: the cinema and broadcast television. In the cinema, audiences sat together in a darkened room and laughed, screamed and cried collectively. TV audiences also shared identical experiences, but in their own homes. The number of total viewers was huge, but the viewing groups were small. The most crowded living room would make for a virtually empty cinema. The age of internet-based content means anyone has access to anything or anyone, anytime. You need a really good reason to watch something together now. There are plenty of experts willing to tell us that this ability to access anything your heart desires
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