Disney+ Might Be Launching a Group Watch Feature

As Hollywood continues to navigate a world with the coronavirus, studios and OTT providers have [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

As Hollywood continues to navigate a world with the coronavirus, studios and OTT providers have had to innovate at a record pace as they roll out new content to the masses in whatever ways possible. One interesting new report says Disney+ could be working on a group watch feature, a method of innovation that would likely be a hit with those still choosing to quarantine as the pandemic reaches into the latter parts of 2020.

The news comes from the superfans over at Disney Plus Informer, an outlet that managed to take a dive into the platform's code to uncover the feature. Group Watch, as the Mouse is calling it, will allow Disney+ users to invite each other to a party that watches a movie or show together. Furthermore, the report suggests there will also be an emoji and chat component involved in the feature that will allow you to interact with other members of the party Though it has yet to be announced by Disney, Group Watch will reportedly allow parties of seven people and can only be used on computers or mobile devices and not smart televisions or other pieces of hardware.

As of now, the Informer reports the feature could roll out in time for Mulan's Premier Access roll out this weekend, a premium VOD movie that will be available for purchase to all Disney+ subscribers for $29.99 . On that front, if you're hoping to do a group watch for Mulan, the report says all members within the party will have needed to purchase the movie.

You'll only be able to join on Group Watch party at a time.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed earlier this year the company currently plans for Mulan and its Premier Access cost to be a one-time offering. He then followed it up by saying the company will be carefully monitoring the performance of the feature over the weekend to see if it will also be a viable offering for other movies currently on the studio's theatrical release schedule.

"We are looking at Mulan as a one-off as opposed to saying there's a new business windowing model we are looking at," Chapek explained. "That said, we find it very interesting to be able to take a new offering to consumers at that $29.99 price and learn from it and see what happens not only in terms of the uptick of the number of subscribers we got on the platform, but also the number of transactions we get on that PVOD offering."

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