Eg. during The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3) in June there where multiple YouTube channels streaming with side chat, comments and what not. I think I have seen it with the recent Star Wars releases too. Maybe it is not quite what you describe, but this seems to be a trend
Recording, https://www.twitch.tv/videos/152047092
- Have it be friends-specific. I don't always want to watch with strangers.
- Be able to talk to each other, but modify the audio on-the-fly so that it doesn't overpower the audio from the show. In the ideal case, I want to be able to "hear" from my friend on my "left". Hard to do, but worth it
- If it's totally public, there has to be a way to surface relevant content. Twitch has more of a "stadium" feel. I want something more high-quality. I want to hear what my favorite reviewer from the A.V. Club is saying, for example
- Emoji reactions!!!!!!!! Sticky-text isn't always the best thing, sometimes I just want in-the-moment ephemeral reactions
- Discovery for online watching groups. This can split out to something far better down the line
- Integration with PS4, XBox 1, Apple TV, Roku, and other TV platforms. I don't want to look at my phone while watching Game of Thrones or my favorite movie
It seems to me that this does happen, but for all I know, maybe FB considered your idea, and the idea failed market validation.
Or maybe you're dead on! (shruggie emoticon)
On the downside, it punishes people who can't start exactly on time and prevents people pausing to grab a drink or go to the bathroom, so it isn't purely a no-brainer. People who "fall out of sync" would need to disconnect to avoid spoilers.
They are also big aspects of the value!
When someone says "it sure is hard to get my friends together for a party", it's not completely helpful to answer "so don't get together"
Twitch is the closest thing to a major player in this space that I'm aware of -- they've even gone to the point of simulating the live-chat experience while you watch an old stream, by replaying chat messages at their correct time-offsets.
Things like this for television do exist specifically for group-watching with a known set of friends, but I think the really interesting part would be stumbling into a community you didn't know about in advance, and making new friends.
Anyway, it's a shame that the licensing regimes built around the media that garners these kinds of audiences are unlikely to permit the sort of experimentation required to find the right experience here! Maybe someone will figure it out.
I agree that it's a neat idea. I'm sure the content problem is why there aren't more attempts at the moment.
I am convinced I love twitter as much as I do because I use it primarily as a way to watch and discuss sports with other people who love that team/sport/game as much as I do. Even among my real life sports fan friends, our interest in a particular game or sport differs. Not so much those who are actively watching and commenting on the games on twitter. You are there and engaged because you want to be. Due to this, I was able to meet fans of my teams that live in multiple countries and consistently talk to them, even outside of that particular event. Especially for sports, so much of the interaction happens arounds the games (who to play, who to sign, tactics, etc.). I would hate to only interact with people in that small time frame and miss all surrounding discussion from people whose opinions I find well thought out or think in a similar manner that I do.
The short snippets of text are great for getting stats and updates directly from reporters/teams/leagues, too. Highlights are able to be immediately played via twitter and photos, gifs, and screenshots are immediately shared. The NBA has really embraced social media with its content policies (cannot use more than two consecutive minutes of broadcast footage without a license; 20 minutes of spliced highlights is fair use) that lets fans make mix tapes, instant highlights, gifs, etc, easily and without fear of copyright takedown notices. In turn, the NBA essentially gets free marketing from its fans. This is where the NFL really blew things, even locking down offical team accounts. Teams are starting to use Periscope to broadcast press conferences, interviews, and warmpus to their fan bases.
If you want to see this kind of dynamic live, check out a big game or a night with a lot of games on NBA twitter. A good-ish place to start would be the SB Nation accounts for the teams and who they are RTing and interacting with. It can be a whole lot of fun and it is easy to catch the highlights of the other games or know if someone is having a monster game you should switch over to.
To me, the wider web of people that twitter catches is much more appropriate for these types of interactions than facebook ever will be. If your goal is to have your small group of friends watch a show, I can see where you find current offerings lacking. But when you want to get involved in an existing "event" twitter is really great for that.