Watch Party Launches Around the World

Facebook is launching Watch Party to all Facebook Groups around the globe. Watch Party is a new way for people to watch videos on Facebook together in real time.

Once a Watch Party has started, participants can watch videos, live or recorded, and interact with one another in the same moment. Facebook’s been focused on building new ways to bring people together around video, create connections, and ignite conversations; Watch Party is the next step in bringing this vision to life.

Facebook is now starting to test the ability for people to start Watch Parties with friends outside of groups, too, and it will explore Watch Parties for Pages in the future. We believe that if people can start a Watch Party directly from their profile or from a video they’re watching, the experience of watching video on Facebook can become even more fun and social.

Feedback from groups using Watch Party:

• Hosting Q&As around hobbies such as cooking or crafting
• Sharing behind the scenes details of a video
• Swapping tips and tricks for things like home improvement, decorating, or makeup tutorials with members in real time
• Learning new things
• Inviting special guests to join their Watch Party

In Faacebook’s testing, there were highly engaged members often generating hundreds or even thousands of comments while watching videos together. There were even groups that dedicated more than 10 hours to a single Watch Party, with different members coming in and out throughout the day.

Watch Party can be useful for smaller communities, too. For example, recently a group with less than 10 people recently hosted a Watch Party with more than 500 comments. Some describe how this shared viewing experience can be used to bridge distance between close friends and family when they can’t physically be together.

Based on community feedback from the test, Facebook is launching two new features:

• Co-hosting, which lets the host of a Watch Party designate other co-hosts who can add videos and keep the party going.
• Crowdsourcing, which lets anyone in a Watch Party suggest videos for the host to add to the Watch Party.

Weekend of Watch Parties

To celebrate this global launch, we’ve lined up a Weekend of Watch Parties, when Facebook Groups around the world will host Watch Parties to connect their communities from 7/27 — 7/29. Check out a few of the groups who will be participating:

• Buzzfeed’s Tasty Group is a community of foodies where group members share and discuss favourite recipes and cooking tips.
• Fitness Sisters, a community of women supporting and motivating each other on their health and fitness journeys, will host a Watch Party about  building healthy fitness friendships.
• Female Travel Bloggers, a community of like-minded women who write about travel, will host a Watch Party with videos on travel and women’s empowerment.
• Echte Mamas, a German-based moms’ group discussing real stories, experiences, and anecdotes of motherhood will host a Watch Party to share tips and advice from other moms around the world.