With the advent of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, the rise of the connected television has become the most important entertainment trend of our generation. Long gone are the days where going to the cinema was the best way to stay in touch with current media. Movie revenues decreased 19.5% between 2002 and 2012. Meanwhile, digital movie purchases surged 47% last year alone, and subscription streaming increased 32%. What the connected television market is missing however, is a social layer that truly mimics the experience of going to the cinema with friends.

While many TV shows and movies provide the opportunity to engage with other viewers using hashtags and social media, there is no seamless mechanism to stream a movie or TV show online and watch simultaneously with another person in a different location. The messy solution of being able to watch anything with a friend, family member or significant other online usually involves the use of Skype and counting down to press play at the exact same time. Inevitably, someone is one second ahead of the other and ends up laughing before their friend has heard the punch line to the joke. Several websites, such as InstaSynch seek to solve this pain using the concept of viewing rooms. By building synchronized viewing directly into the product, Netflix could gain a significant competitive advantage and significantly increase subscriptions.