Group Streaming Chrome Extension Makes Netflix Shareable

After I binged through the latest season of Bojack Horseman, queasy spasms of withdrawal twisted me like a heroin addict gone cold turkey. Not that Bojack wants its viewers to come away feeling good, necessarily, but in that moment I wish I’d had a sympathetic friend suffering the same nihlistic tingle. Maybe someone experiencing the same isolation created Showgoers.

Showgoers is a new free Chrome extension that lets you sync up your Netflix viewing with friends in real time, turning the solitary experience of accepting Arrested Development’s fourth season into a social event. It even sends out invitations to your friends, asking them to join the stream so you can have movie night in multiple time zones. That means you can both enjoy and comment on the savage grace of Jason Statham’s amazing Crank movies, which call out for added commentary.

“When you’re in a Showgoers watching party, clicking play/pause or seeking to a specific spot in the movie will cause the Netflix player of everyone else in the watching party to do the same thing,” the apps creators explain. “With your Netflix players automatically connected together, you can focus on just sharing the experience together in real-time.”

Once the program is installed, you just click on the 3D glasses icon in the upper right corner to run it, copy the URL of whatever media you’re streaming, send it to friends who also have the program — and the sync begins. Just try and watch something happy. Might we suggest Wet Hot American Summer?