Discord, YouTube Working Together, Testing Video Integration Feature

Discord and YouTube appear to be working together to add a new video-viewing feature to the VoIP, instant messaging and digital distribution platform.

A few weeks after YouTube forced two popular Discord music bots Groovy Bot and Rythm to go offline, Discord has reportedly started testing a new feature called Watch Together. The said feature has been released on select Discord servers, which will enable users to watch videos together.

Watch Together is similar to Discord's built-in option that broadcasts user screens to others, a new report from The Verge revealed.

The new feature was developed with YouTube in mind and comes with options to create playlists and provide other members the chance to control video playback.

Although Watch Together is not the same as Rythm and Groovy Bot, members can use it to listen to music through YouTube in Discord. The messaging platform warns members, however, that they may see ads during YouTube videos.

As for the details of the new feature, Discord has very little information to share.

A Discord spokesperson told Engadget, "As a company founded in innovation, we're always experimenting and building things we believe our users will enjoy."

"We don't have anything more to share right now, but stay tuned," the spokesperson added.

Since the feature is only available to select members, there is a chance some Discord users may not see the Watch Together feature for now.

The test run reportedly started Wednesday, with a much wider beta launching in the coming weeks. Rumors have it that Discord should have this new feature officially running for everyone by the end of October.

The new feature came out after YouTube sent cease and desist letters to Discord bots, Groovy Bot and Rythm. These are two fan-favorite tools for playing music from YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services directly on Discord.

YouTube's move forced these apps to shut down. It is currently available on Discord's Game Labs server.

Discord has been updating other parts of its platform over the past months. It changed the platform's logo in May and announced in July that it would add threads to allow further interaction.