YouTube is expanding its Watch With experiment to more creators, giving selected users another way to build live content around major broadcasts. The format is designed to combine an eligible livestream with a creator’s real-time reaction, keeping both the event and the surrounding conversation inside YouTube.
The feature remains experimental, but its wider rollout suggests YouTube sees potential in creator-led companion viewing. Rather than asking audiences to switch between an official stream and a separate reaction video, Watch With brings both experiences together.
How YouTube Watch With Works
Creators who have access to Watch With can find a React live option through the Share panel while watching an eligible YouTube livestream on mobile. Once activated, the creator can begin broadcasting their own live reaction alongside the original event. The creator’s camera automatically shifts into horizontal orientation, and the camera remains active during the broadcast.
For viewers, the reaction and the original stream are presented together in a vertical viewing format. The idea is straightforward: audiences can follow the main event while also watching a creator respond to what is happening in real time. That could work especially well for sports, entertainment, gaming and other events where live commentary already plays a big role in audience engagement.
YouTube Is Giving More Creators Access
YouTube has been experimenting with Watch With for some time, initially using the format around major sports broadcasts and selected creator experiences. The company previously discussed plans to test Watch With across more sports and other types of live content as it explored ways to make livestreaming more social.
YouTube has also used the concept in large creator-driven events. During its MrBeast streamer competition, more than 10 creators hosted Watch With broadcasts around the event. Expanding the experiment now gives YouTube more data on how audiences respond when creators become part of the viewing experience rather than simply commenting after an event is over.
Creators Can Monetize Watch With Streams
Watch With also carries a monetization opportunity for participating creators. Creators can continue earning from eligible reaction streams through YouTube’s existing monetization system, giving them another potential way to turn live commentary into revenue.
The original broadcaster also benefits because viewing metrics from Watch With streams can be shared with the source broadcast. That creates a more collaborative relationship between creators and rights holders, with creators helping extend the reach of an event while adding their own personality and community around it.
YouTube Is Investing More Heavily in Live Content
Watch With is part of a broader push by YouTube to make live viewing more interactive. The platform has been experimenting with features such as livestream leaderboards, gifts and continuous programming formats that resemble traditional television channels but still include YouTube features such as chat and community interaction.
The platform appears to be treating livestreaming as more than simply creators broadcasting themselves for several hours. It is increasingly testing formats that combine live events, creator commentary, community participation and continuous programming. Watch With fits neatly into that direction because it gives audiences another reason to stay on YouTube during major live moments.
Watch With Could Turn Creators Into Live Event Hosts
One of the more interesting parts of Watch With is the role it gives creators. Instead of acting only as commentators who publish reactions afterward, creators can effectively become hosts for their own communities while an event is unfolding.
That behavior already exists across social platforms. Viewers often watch sporting events, award shows, product launches or gaming tournaments while checking reactions on YouTube, X, TikTok, Reddit or Discord. Watch With gives YouTube a way to bring more of that conversation directly into the viewing experience.
For creators with highly engaged audiences, this could become a natural extension of their existing content. A sports creator could react to a game with followers, while an entertainment channel could build a live discussion around a major show or awards event.
Live Viewing Is Already Important to YouTube
YouTube has a large audience for livestreaming, which helps explain why the company continues testing new live formats. The platform previously reported that more than 30% of its daily logged-in viewers watched live content on an average day during the second quarter of 2025.
That audience gives YouTube a strong foundation for features such as Watch With. Rather than trying to create an entirely new viewing habit, the platform is building on something users already do: watch live broadcasts while following creator reactions and community discussion.
What Watch With Means for YouTube Creators
For creators, Watch With could eventually become another regular content format if YouTube expands access further. Channels built around sports, gaming, entertainment, technology and pop culture may find the feature especially useful because their audiences often want immediate reactions to major events.
The feature could also reduce some of the work involved in producing separate reaction videos after an event. Instead, creators can interact with their audiences while the event is happening, turning the moment itself into the content.
Access remains limited, however. Watch With is still an experiment, and only selected creators will see the React live option when viewing eligible broadcasts. YouTube has not yet announced a full rollout for all creators.
YouTube Is Blurring the Line Between Livestreaming and Television
Watch With reflects a broader shift in how YouTube approaches live entertainment. The platform increasingly sits somewhere between traditional television, creator platforms and social media, borrowing parts of each model while building its own version of interactive viewing.
Traditional television can deliver the event, but creators bring something different: personality, community and immediate conversation. Watch With combines those elements in a single experience.
If YouTube expands the feature further, creators may become an increasingly important part of how audiences experience live sports, entertainment and other major broadcasts. Instead of simply watching an event, viewers could increasingly choose who they want to watch it with.
Sources
The main source for this report is Social Media Today, which covered YouTube’s expansion of Watch With to more creators and explained how the feature works. The original article is available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-expands-watch-with-to-more-creators/829854/
Additional background comes from the YouTube Blog, where YouTube previously discussed Watch With as part of its plans to experiment with new sports and live viewing formats. That announcement is available at: https://blog.youtube/inside-youtube/our-big-bets-for-2025/
YouTube also documented the use of Watch With during its MrBeast streamer competition, where multiple creators hosted companion broadcasts around the event. That announcement is available at: https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/mrbeast-streamer-challenge-one-million-dollars/
