YouTube adds a Watch Together button to its VR app on Daydream View and Samsung Gear VR that lets users watch and discuss videos with others in a virtual space
Erin Teague / YouTube Blog :
Context & Ripple Effects
Watch Together is the payoff of a promise YouTube made more than a year ago: Google unveiled a voice chat system and shared room feature for YouTube VR in its May 2017 Daydream update, and this button is that feature arriving in shipped form on Daydream View and Samsung Gear VR.
The feature lands on an app that has been building steadily since YouTube launched its standalone VR app alongside Daydream in late 2016, following earlier groundwork in 360-degree video support for headset-less viewers. With [[a:919864|VR heatmaps already showing viewers spend most of their time looking at the front 90 degrees]], social co-viewing gives YouTube a new lever on engagement beyond passive playback.
First-order effects
- Daydream View and Samsung Gear VR owners gain in-app voice discussion while watching, turning YouTube VR from a solo player into a shared room without leaving the app.
Second-order effects
- Creators of 360° videos now have an audience dynamic to design for — groups watching together may distribute attention differently than the front-90-degrees pattern YouTube's heatmap data documented.
Third-order effects
- If co-viewing sticks, VR video platforms compete on presence and social space rather than resolution or catalog alone, pushing rivals' headset apps toward built-in watch-party features of their own.
The trend: VR video is shifting from solitary playback to shared virtual rooms, with YouTube converting its 2017 shared-room roadmap into shipped social features across mobile headsets.