Amazon expands Prime Video’s Watch Party function to Roku, good TVs, and extra

It simply acquired means simpler and extra handy to remotely watch Amazon Prime Video’s TV exhibits and films along with your folks. The service’s “Watch Party” function has acquired a a lot wanted growth from the restricted use instances the place it labored earlier than — on Fire TV units, desktop internet browsers, and the Prime Video cell app — and it now helps non-Amazon streaming units, good TVs, and Xbox / PlayStation gaming consoles. TechCrunch first reported on the growth.

Watch Party permits for as much as 100 folks with a Prime subscription to view content material on the similar time. The host is ready to play, pause, skip, and quick ahead or rewind for the group, and everybody can chat about what they’re watching.

For now, Amazon’s Watch Party function stays obtainable solely within the US. “An error message is displayed if you are using a VPN,” Amazon notes in its FAQ. Everyone shares entry to content material that’s free to stream with a Prime subscription. But if you wish to watch a film that may solely be rented, everybody should accomplish that individually. Watch Party isn’t suitable with stay occasions (like Thursday Night Football), Amazon Prime Video Channels, or Freevee (previously referred to as IMDBtv).

While many of those group viewing experiences popped up amid COVID-19 lockdowns, Amazon started testing Watch Party in 2019 by way of its Twitch service. Hulu provides a similar feature by the identical identify, Disney Plus offers GroupWatch, and streaming TV apps like Sling TV have additionally joined in.