Everyone from pay TV juggernauts to niche OTT applications have rushed to introduce co-watching features to their video experiences to keep viewers socially engaged – but is there any real value in such features, or is co-watching destined to be remembered as a flash in the pan(demic)? While investments in co-watching software have skyrocketed, the underlying technology has been around for some time in one form or another, usually under the guise of synchronization (think Net Insight circa 2015/16). However, this counts for nothing when features are rushed to market, with many co-watching platforms still fundamentally failing at the core purpose of staying in sync. While the co-watching experience itself might feel alien to some, the demand is obvious with…