A watch party is a great way to gather people with similar interests and share their passion together. As a content creator, holding a live watch party can help you build stronger connections with your audience and drastically boost the engagement rate of your show. James Jackson, a videographer, shared his secret of getting high engagement during his live stream, "Watch party of new products is probably my favorite type of live event. I would watch these product launches together with my fans and give my reactions to these products, and my audience would also share their thoughts with me in chat. It's just a great conversation every time."

There are many benefits that come with live watch parties:

• Boost engagement rate. Needless to say, having a watch party is a great way to hook your audience's attention and boost your engagement. Just find an event that interests you and your fans, and you will be surprised by how many chats you will receive. Just look at all how many live comments James got in his show!
• Reach larger audience. When people are searching for specific events like product launches, YouTube will not only recommend regular pre-recorded videos targeting those keywords but also suggest the on-going live streaming with the same topic. Since there are much fewer live streams than pre-recorded video for any topic, your live show will have a much higher chance to show in the search result.
• Answer questions in real time. James mentioned that the best part about having a watch party with his audience is to answer any questions about the product his fans have on the spot. Compared to asking your viewers to leave questions in the comment section and getting back to them later, a live watch party enables you to answer what questions your viewers might have on the spot. When it's a live show, it's like it's right there and you can get respond to their questions much faster.

• Build stronger connections and lasting relationships with your audience. In our conversation with James, he mentioned that people who come to the watch parties are more likely to subscribe to his channel because they feel a stronger connection with him.
• Higher conversion rate for sponsored products. If you are looking to monetize your YouTube channel through affiliated marketing, there is no better way than doing a live watch party for that product. People are always more prone to make a purchase when they are watching a live show on the product. The live Q&A will also help clear up their questions or doubts about the products.