Following Google’s recent crackdowns on popular Discord music bots, namely Groovy and Rythm, Discord has introduced a new feature that lets you watch YouTube videos with server members. Dubbed Watch Together, the feature is a convenient way for Discord users to start a YouTube co-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 (2022)
Before we begin, I would like to point out that Discord’s Watch Together feature is getting a gradual rollout. Discord hopes to make Watch Together available on all the servers by the end of October. Hence, if you are not immediately seeing the feature on your Discord server, make sure you check back in a few weeks. With that out of the way, let’s get started!
Set up Discord Watch Together
1. Join a Discord voice channel on your server and look for the new rocket icon next to the screen-sharing icon.
2. 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 have not been fully released yet.
3. Discord will now urge you to review YouTube’s terms of service and privacy policy. Once done, click on ‘Continue’ to proceed further. As mentioned on this screen, you will see ads when you are watching YouTube videos on Discord, even if you have a YouTube Premium subscription.
4. Up next, you will see another pop-up to authorize Watch Together. Click on ‘Authorize’, and you are all set to start an official YouTube watch party in Discord.
Join YouTube Watch Party on Discord
1. If you would like to join an existing YouTube watch party on Discord, all you have to do is open the server, hover over the voice channel, and click on ‘Join Activity‘.
2. You could also invite server members to the watch party. To do that, click on the ‘Invite To Activity’ button from the bottom-left corner of the screen.
3. From the invite screen, you can search for your Discord friends or copy the activity invite 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 watch party on Discord, take a quick look at how to use the feature.
1. When you start the YouTube co-viewing session, you will see three sections — a search box, trending videos, and a thumbnail preview of the participants.
2. 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 you would like to watch. From the search results page, click the ‘+’ icon to add videos to the queue.
3. By default, the creator of the Watch Together session in Discord will have the remote control. With the remote, you can control video playback, pause the video for everyone, and select & scrub the videos. Changes you make here will sync and apply for everyone watching together with you.
Now, you must be wondering – how to share the remote while watching YouTube videos in Discord? If you would like to share the remote, turn off the toggle below the video queue. It will turn from red to green.
4. It’s important to note that everyone can select and scrub the video when you are sharing the remote. However, no one (including you) will be able to pause the video for the group. Moreover, the video quality preference is not synced in both cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Will I see ads while watching YouTube videos on Discord?
Yes, you’ll see ads while watching YouTube videos on Discord.
Q. Will Discord Watch Together have ads if I have YouTube Premium?
As of now, YouTube will show you ads on Discord even if you have a YouTube Premium subscription. That’s because there isn’t a login mechanism at the moment.
Q. 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 desktop. You could, however, try using the feature from a web browser on desktop mode.
Q. Why am I not seeing Watch Together on my Discord server?
Discord is gradually rolling out Watch Together to all servers. You should get the feature by the end of October this year.
Q. Can I stream Netflix movies and TV shows on Discord?
Yes, it’s possible to stream the best Netflix movies and Netflix TV series on Discord. You can check our linked guide to stream 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 inconvenience here is the presence of ads. It will be interesting to see if developers at Discord and YouTube team up to build an authentication method to enable YouTube Premium users to watch videos on Discord without ads. Meanwhile, do not forget to check out these cool Discord bots and add them to your Discord server.
