PlutoTV

PlutoTV Rooms

During lockdown, every streaming platform rushed to build watch parties. As a fast step toward native integration, we built a Chrome extension that let PlutoTV viewers create a room and watch live TV with up to ten friends.

Company: PlutoTV · Paramount
My role: Product Designer
Team: A product owner and three developers
Platform: Chrome extension over pluto.tv
Outcome: 10,000+ users on the Chrome Web Store

PlutoTV live TV in the browser with the Rooms panel showing friends on video.

The idea

Social TV, without waiting for the platform.

Lockdowns were going to last a while, people were lonely, and PlutoTV usage was spiking. Native watch-party features would take time across every app. A browser extension could ship in weeks and teach us what people actually wanted. I was the product designer, working with a product owner and three developers to design, build and deploy it.

The flow

Create, invite, watch.

The extension lives in a compact panel over the PlutoTV player: pick a display name, create a room or join one, share an invite link, then switch between live video and chat — without covering the thing you’re there to watch.

Rooms panel open over the player: “Now you can watch live TV with up to 10 friends”, with name field, create a room and join a room.

Room created: room ID and invitation link with copy buttons.

Active room with participant video grid beside the player.

Active room with chat panel beside the player.

Outcome