Amazon offers virtual parties for Prime subscribers with Watch Party

Amazon offers its Prime members the ability to watch TV shows and movies on Prime Video with friends using its new Watch Party feature.

The feature is slowly rolling out, according to the company, and is only available in the US at this time. Watch Parties will accommodate up to 100 viewers in a group, but each person must have a Prime subscription in the United States. Once inside Watch Party, people can choose from thousands of titles, according to Amazon, including originals and licensed programs and movies.

Anything from the service’s on-demand video streaming catalog is featured in the US This includes originals like Flea bag, The wonderful lady Maisel, Jack Ryan, The great sick, Boys, Homecomingand My spy as well as licensed titles available with an Amazon Prime Video subscription. However, movies and TV shows available to rent or buy are not available to stream on Watch Party.

Watch Party hosts will oversee full synchronous playback controls and a chat feature to speak to all other guests. While Twitch, Amazon’s other streaming service, has a similar feature, those streams are open to the public. Anyone can join a creator viewing session as long as they have a Prime account. Prime Video’s new Watch Party feature is completely private. The host will share a link with family and friends for people to click and join, similar to Zoom.

Prime Video is the latest mainstream transmitter to participate in virtual viewing parties. WarnerMedia, Disney, and Netflix partnered with Scener so that HBO, Disney Plus, and Netflix subscribers can see things together. At this time, Prime Video Watch Parties are for desktop use only. Amazon did not say if a mobile version is on the way.

Update June 29, 6:45 pm ET: The story has been updated to include additional information on which titles can be broadcast.