Scener, the RealNetworks spinoff that lets people connect and interact virtually while watching their favorite streaming content, is expanding its platform as it experiences substantial growth during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Seattle-based company announced Thursday that it will be the exclusive watch party affiliate for Comic-Con@Home, supporting a lineup of virtual screenings for films, shows and anime tracks as the popular San Diego Comic-Con goes all virtual next week.
Scener uses a free Google Chrome extension and its Watch Party Platform allows anyone to host a screening with up to 10 co-hosts on video chat and up to 1 million viewers. The service now allows playback of Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Funimation and Vimeo. Participants (on laptop or desktop) must all have a subscription to the service being screened.
PREVIOUSLY: Born inside RealNetworks, Scener is a new Twitch-like commentary platform for streaming media
Scener is capitalizing on lockdowns during the ongoing health crisis and the desire for social gatherings.
“We’ve grown over 70X since March and consistently (for over a month now) see north of a million minutes spent watching on the platform each day. That will obviously surge next week with Comic-Con,” Scener co-founder Joe Braidwood told GeekWire. “We hit new daily records when ‘Hamilton’ came out [on Disney+], validating that our multi-service product is something consumers want.”
Braidwood added that he thinks the multi-service option sets it apart in the space from competitors, such as Netflix Party. Deadline reported Hulu and Amazon Prime have recently announced they are adding “party” features to their services in response to the trend.
HBO used Scener to add a video chat feature to its HBO Now and HBO GO apps back in May.
As part of the Comic-Con news, Scener signed a deal with Sony’s Funimation, which will power the anime track on Scener for Comic-Con@Home, and participants will get a free month on Sony’s premium tier for showing up.
“This is a very important milestone because it’s part of our larger vision to build community events on Scener,” Braidwood said. “We want to be a destination for people to have social and community co-viewing experiences; a much more ambitious and compelling goal than building the best tool for synchronized viewing with friends (which we’ve already done). If we pull it off, Scener will become a nightly destination for social TV watching.”
The Comic-Con@Home Virtual Screenings will feature two tracks — films and anime — with live community chat. The lineup includes: “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope,” “Clue,” “Knives Out,” “The Angry Red Planet,” “Battle Beyond the Stars”, “George Lucas in Love,” “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,” “Troops,” “Day of the Triffids,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Dragonslayer,” “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”, “Fantasia,” “Max Fleischer’s: The Complete Animated Superman,” “Man of Steel” and “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.”
Scener also has a partnership with RiffTrax, who will be doing a live performance of their “Stranger Things” original episode riff on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. PT.
