Plex Launches ‘Discover Together’ Feature to Add Friends, See What They’re Watching, More
Discover Together is meant to make content discovery simpler, and create a more social entertainment experience for Plex users.
Everything is better when done with friends. Plex certainly thinks so, and the streaming/multimedia platform is introducing a brand-new feature that will combine streaming with social media to create a user experience that makes it easy for friends to share their recommendations and more.
- Plex’s new ‘Discover Together’ feature launches today for users.
- The feature allows users to add friends, see and comment on what they’re watching, and more.
- Discover Together is intended to boost social interaction and aid in content discovery on the platform.
What is the New Discover Together Feature from Plex?
Starting today, Plex is unveiling its Discover Together feature. It’s been in beta testing for the past year, using 150,000 early adopters to thoroughly work out the major bugs. The feature is intended to help customers find something new and exciting to watch based on the opinions of people whose taste they trust. Why force your friends to spend time describing the new shows they’ve watched when you can simply browse the list for yourself?
Users will find Discover Together in the Discover section of Plex. The feature includes:
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Activity: This allows the user to see what their added friends are watchlisting, watching, ranking and reviewing from any streaming service in the Activity Feed. Users can also decide to pull content from that feed to watchlist themselves or comment on the activity of friends.
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People: This is where users will see their friends, search for new friends, and view friend recommendations from Plex.
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Profile: Where users will find their own watchlist, ratings, and friends. This section also allows you to edit your privacy settings to fit your needs.
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Friends History: When selecting any movie or show on Plex and/or through its Universal Search, users will see whether any friends have watchlisted, rated, or watched that specific piece of content.
“Really good discovery has to have a social component, and we believe it needs to be integrated directly into the streaming experience to be useful,” said Keith Valory, Plex CEO. “Viewers are more likely to watch recommendations from people they know and trust, and to integrate that into the viewing experience is surprisingly something that has not been done before. At Plex, we are focused on bringing viewers the simplest, most efficient, and most enjoyable way to discover great new content they’ll love. Discover Together is a huge milestone for us in this quest, but it will only get better and better from here.”
What Can You Watch on Plex?
The addition of Discover Together will be crucial for Plex users, mostly because the platform can be used to watch so many shows and movies. The above-mentioned Universal Watchlist feature on Plex allows subscribers to view content from all the streaming services they’re subscribed to, searching each one and allowing users to pick content to watchlist from all of them.
Plex also offers a huge number of free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels, and the number has been growing. The service had 64% more global FAST channels in the first half of 2023 than it did in 1H 2022, and that growth isn’t expected to slow down. It’s led to a 54% increase in the viewing of FAST channels on the platform since 2022.
Plex also allows users to upload their privately owned media onto their server. But shady customers beware: Plex no longer allows subscribers to use servers hosted by the German company Hetzner, as that firm has been far too lax on users who share copyrighted content without proper legal clearance, at least in Plex’s eyes.
Plex
Plex is a free streaming service that includes on-demand access to 50,000+ movies and TV shows. The service also offers 1,100+ free-to-stream live TV channels in 193 countries. Users can also connect Plex to their computers to stream and share any media they have on their hard drives.