Something to look forward to: Discord has started testing a feature to let multiple users watch YouTube videos together. This comes a few weeks after Google shut down a Discord bot that allowed users to stream music together from multiple sources including YouTube.
The new feature, called Watch Together, started appearing in a small number of Discord servers this week. It works similarly to screen broadcasting in a voice server, and the button for it even appears in the same place. Users can search or paste YouTube links while sharing, and even create playlists to watch with other users. A remote button lets users share the ability to control playback. Those interested in testing it out can do so in Discord's Game Labs server.
Discord tested a similar feature last November called Social Party Games, which it designed to let users hop into games like Poker Night and No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em through Discord. According to The Verge, Discord resurrected the feature as Watch Together in response to Google's shutdown of the music bot.
Groovy Bot was a popular app that for five years let users listen to music together in Discord. It worked by streaming from sources including but not limited to YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud. The app's creator shut it down at the end of August in response to a cease-and-desist letter from Google.
The Verge says Discord seems to have specifically designed Watch Together around YouTube, and listening to music is one of the things users can do with it. However, they may encounter YouTube ads while using Watch Together. The feature could launch for all users in October, but may be preceded by more progressively wider tests and betas.
