(Menlo Park, CA, Monday, September 14, 2020) – Earlier this spring, Facebook rolled out several features to help us stay more connected with the people we love, no matter where they might be. Now, Messenger is going one step further, with the launch of ‘Watch Together’ today – a new feature that lets you watch Facebook Watch videos with your friends and family and see their reactions in real time over Messenger video calls and Messenger Rooms.

More Video, More Connections 

Connecting through video has understandably become more important for our Messenger community in the past few months. Every day, there are more than 150M video calls on Messenger, and more than 200M videos sent via Messenger.

Messenger created Watch Together to make spending quality time with friends and loved ones feel as close to an in-person experience as possible. Whether it’s watching a trending video, a movie, a sports highlight, a makeup tutorial, or a Facebook Watch original, the feature allows you to watch your friends’ reactions at the same time. More selections coming soon.

Watch Together is also great for creators. Whether you’re an artist, DJ, chef or personal trainer, your community can watch and engage with your video content in a Messenger video call. To celebrate this launch, Messenger partnered with celebrity fitness trainer and author Melissa Alcantara to create a series of fitness videos to enable people to virtually work out together with their friends and motivate each other to achieve their fitness goals. According to a study conducted by Messenger in the US, 70% of people who work out with a partner have achieved a fitness goal in the past 6 months; only 45% of people who work out alone have done the same. At a time when we may not be able to physically be together, Watch Together enables creators, friends, and fitness buddies to connect, inspire, and motivate one another.

Here are more details on Watch Together:

• Watch Together enables you to watch your friends laugh and cry while watching the same video at the same time in Messenger and Messenger Rooms 
• You can watch Facebook Watch videos for whatever you’re into — whether that’s live events, shows, sports, news or music videos. More content will be added in the coming months.
• Watch Together is also great for creators, enabling their community to watch and engage with each other while consuming the video content in a Messenger video call, in real time.
• To celebrate this launch, celebrity fitness trainer Melissa Alcantara created a series of fitness videos for the new Watch Together feature, helping you keep yourself and your friends accountable while you train together. You can actually watch them working out with you and cheer each other on while watching the same video!
• Start a Messenger video call or create a Messenger Room then swipe up to access the menu and select ‘Watch Together.’ You can select a video suggested for you or choose from a category such as ‘TV & Movies,’ ‘Watched,’ ‘or ‘Uploaded’ tab to start your Watch Together experience!
• Watch Together is free and rolling out globally this week in Messenger and Messenger Rooms on mobile (iOS & Android). Watch with up to 8 people on a video call and 50 people in Rooms