Following Google’s recent crackdown on popular Discord music bots, namely Groovy and Rythm, Discord has introduced a new feature that allows you to watch YouTube videos with server members. Dubbed Watch Together, the feature is a convenient way for Discord users to start a joint YouTube viewing experience without much hassle. In this article, you will learn everything you need to know to use Discord Watch Together to stream YouTube videos on Discord.
Watch YouTube Videos with Friends on Discord.
Before we get started, I’d like to point out that Discord’s Watch Together feature is rolling out gradually. Discord expects Watch Together to be available on all servers by the end of October. So if you don’t immediately see the feature on your Discord server, be sure to check back in a few weeks. With that out of the way, let’s get started!
Set up Discord Watch together
- Join a Discord voice channel on your server and look for the new rocketicon next to the screen share icon.
- Click on the rocket icon and you will see the option to start a new ‘Watch Together’ session. Unlike what you see in the image below, you will not see games like Poker Night and Chess in the Park on your server. That’s because these games are yet to be fully released.
- Discord will now urge you to review YouTube’s terms of service and privacy policy. Once done, click ‘Continue’ to continue. As mentioned on this screen, you will see ads when you watch YouTube videos on Discord, even if you have a YouTube Premium subscription.
- You will then see another pop-up window to authorize View Together. Click ‘Authorize’, and you’re all set to start an official YouTube viewing party on Discord.
Join YouTube Watch Party on Discord
- If you want to join an existing YouTube viewing party on Discord, all you have to do is open the server, hover over the voice channel, and click ‘ Join Activity‘.
- You can also invite server members to the watch party. To do that, click on the ‘Invite to Activity’ buttonfrom the bottom left corner of the screen.
- From the invitation screen, you can search for your Discord friends or copy the activity invitation link and manually paste it into the chat.
How to use Discord Watch together
Now that you know how to start and join a YouTube viewing party on Discord, take a quick look at how to use the feature.
- When you start your YouTube co-viewing session, you will see three sections: a search box, trending videos, and a thumbnail preview of the participants.
- From the search box, you can search for the YouTube video you want to watch with your friends on Discord. Here, you also have the option to directly paste the YouTube link of the video that you would like to watch. From the search results page, click the ‘+’ icon to add videos to the queue.
- By default, the creator of the View Together session on Discord will have remote control. With the remote you can control the video playback, pause the video for everyone, and select and delete the videos. The changes you make here will be synced and applied to everyone who sees it with you.
Now, you must be wondering: how to share the remote while watching YouTube videos on Discord? If you want to share the remote, turn off the switch below the video queue. It will turn from red to green.
- It is important to note that everyone can select and delete the video when you are sharing the remote control. However, no one (including you) will be able to pause the video for the group. Also, the video quality preference is not synchronized in both cases.
The remote control changes from red to green while sharing the remote control
Frequent questions
- Will I see ads while watching YouTube videos on Discord?
Yes, you will see ads while watching YouTube videos on Discord.
- Will Discord Watch Together have ads if I have YouTube Premium?
From now on, YouTube will show you ads on Discord even if you have a YouTube Premium subscription. That is because there is no login mechanism at the moment.
- Can I watch YouTube videos with friends on Discord Mobile?
No, Discord Watch Together is currently limited to the Discord app and the web client on the desktop. However, you can try to use the function from a web browser in desktop mode.
- Why can’t I see Watch Together on my Discord? server?
Discord is rolling out Watch Together gradually on all servers. You should get the feature by the end of October this year.
- Can I stream Netflix movies and TV shows on Discord?
Yes, it is possible to stream the best Netflix movies and Netflix TV series on Discord. You can check out our linked guide to streaming Netflix on Discord, but note that the feature is not officially supported.
Stream YouTube Videos on Discord
That brings us to the end of our guide on how to stream YouTube videos together with friends on Discord. The only downside here is the presence of ads. It will be interesting to see if the developers of Discord and YouTube team up to create an authentication method that allows YouTube Premium users to watch videos on Discord without ads. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out these cool Discord bots and add them to your Discord server.
