NEW YORK—Peacock is launching a new product experience, “Watch With,” that allows fans to stream and watch special episodes alongside their favorite talent, with real time reactions, live commentary, and unfiltered Q&A.
“Watch With” officially launches with the stars of “Bel-Air” Jabari Banks and Olly Sholotan on Feb. 24th at 9 p.m. ET directly following the season two premiere of Peacock’s drama series.
In the future, the feature will soon extend to “Eurovision” with two-time Olympian and NBC correspondent Johnny Weir, “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” with Candiace Dillard Bassett and Marysol Patton, and other content.
“After exceeding our viewership forecasts, we’re highly encouraged by the first test of ‘Watch With’ as a way to super-serve fans with a live communal viewing experience,” said John Jelley, senior vice president, product and UX, Peacock and Direct-to-Consumer, NBCUniversal. “As we work to build an unrivaled audience experience at Peacock, we’re looking to continue experimenting with in-product innovations that enhance the streaming experience and break into the cultural zeitgeist.”
NBCU noted that the series of fan-powered events are designed to present a seamless split screen view that allows talent to answer questions and interact in real time, creating a unique streaming event that can only be found on Peacock. As soon as the user enters the livestream, they will see a video overlay of talent providing commentary on the episode, alongside a count of how many fans are watching. The event will also keep pulse on all live social chatter, bringing buzzworthy moments and questions up to the talent in real-time via the #WatchWithPeacock hashtag.
The “Watch With” feature first appeared in beta form on the platform last year with beloved Miami Housewives, Larsa Pippen and Marysol Patton.
“Watch With” joins Peacock’s growing portfolio of interactive experiences. This includes “Choose Your Reality,” an interactive storytelling feature that grants control to the viewer, with options and prompts to go deeper into select scenes. The feature will launch in season three of “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip,” first on Roku devices.
