Rave Lets Long-Distance Couples Watch Their Favorite TV Shows & Movies Together

The Short Version: Rave is a watch party service that allows users across platforms and streaming services to watch movies and TV with those they love. Michael Pazaratz, Rave’s CEO, talked to us about the service, its features, and how long-distance couples can use it to connect. Rave connects watchers on smartphones, tablets, and laptops and includes a built-in live chat feature. Long-distance relationships come with their own set of challenges, but with tools like Rave, couples can stay connected despite the distance.  

When the world went into lockdown for COVID-19, I had recently taken a semester break from college and moved home with my parents. My best friend attended college in my hometown, and we were ecstatic to be back together after a year apart. Our favorite activities were going to her parents’ house, hanging out with her sister and her mother, and watching a movie. 

Just a month into my return, we could not see each other despite being only miles away. We started doing what many people did — watching more Netflix than we ever had before. Eventually, we found a way to watch movies together and texted each other constantly throughout each movie. 

Looking back, the time we spent together was essential for maintaining my mental and relational health. Many people found new ways to connect with the people they love despite not being together physically during the pandemic, and in the years since, we’ve held on to many of those new ways of connecting.

Rave is a service that allows people to enjoy their favorite streaming services with their favorite people, even if they can’t be physically together. Michael Pazaratz, Rave’s CEO, talked about the service, its story, and how long-distance couples can use Rave to stay connected.

“Living in Canada and working as a medical doctor, many of my friends were in distant cities,” Michael told us. “I was looking for something where we could watch movies together, and I couldn’t really find anything. We’ve totally lost the art of watching stuff together, and Rave is trying to bring that back.”

Technology has changed how we watch movies just about as much as it’s changed how we date. Michael said that watching movies looked very different in his childhood, and as streaming services became more popular, the old ways of watching movies with other people changed.

“I think a lot of the inspiration for Rave goes further back than med school,” he said. “It goes back to my childhood. Growing up in the ‘90s, many of my most cherished memories were watching things. I realized it was really the context of who I was watching a movie with that made it special.”

Movie watching isn’t as precious as it was before streaming became a thing. Michael pointed out that most people have more screens in their houses than people, and watching TV or a movie is a popular solo activity for many viewers. “It’s not like everybody’s waiting for “Star Trek” at nine o’clock anymore,” he said. “Now it’s whenever you want, as much as you want.”

Streaming services are convenient, but convenience usually comes with some disadvantages. Michael said the disadvantage of streaming is that watching a film or TV show becomes “emotionally cheaper.”

“You can binge a whole show, and even if it meant something to you, you don’t have anybody to share it with or talk about it to,” Michael said. “I wanted to make sharing movies the path of least resistance, rather than watching alone.”

That was the inspiration that eventually became Rave. With Rave, couples, friends, and families can watch Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video, and more together.

Michael said that he knew Rave would have to stand apart from other watch party services as they popped up during the pandemic, so the team focused on perfecting the essential technical elements of group streaming. “It’s very difficult to make a watch party experience, and we’ve really dedicated ourselves to it fully– we have a millisecond precise sync,” he said.

“That means if you have two phones playing a movie on Rave up to your ears, they sound like speakers,” Michael continued.

Rave is free to download on all platforms, including iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, and Mac. Users can simply create an account, link their various streaming services, add friends, and start streaming. One of the best parts about Rave is that streaming parties have no limit to the number of people who can watch.

As the movie streams, watch party members can chat in Rave’s built-in chat feature. This means you no longer have to grab your phone to text a friend when something exciting happens, and it gives every member of the group the chance to chat together.

Michael told us Rave can be an invaluable tool for long-distance relationships. “Phone calls can get kind of dry, you know, if every hour you talk on the phone for an hour, there’s really only so much you can talk about,” he said. “If your boyfriend or girlfriend came over to hang out, you would probably at least have a movie on in the background.”

The shared experience of a movie gives couples something to enjoy, discuss, and ultimately look back on. Long-distance relationships can have their challenges, but stats show that many people thrive while living in a separate city from their partner.

People, especially when they’re online, tend to have an overwhelmingly negative outlook on long-distance relationships. But several studies have been completed to investigate whether long-distance relationships are actually more doomed to fail than their close proximity counterparts.

The reasons why couples may be in long-distance partnerships vary, whether it’s work, family, or even travel restrictions. Many college students are in long-distance relationships, and several studies have focused on these long-distance daters.

One study compared college students’ long-distance relationships with those that weren’t long-distance and found that while long-distance relationships were often ranked as less satisfactory, long-distance and non-long-distance relationships ranked similarly in levels of closeness. What’s more, long-distance relationships were no more likely to end than ones that weren’t.

Rave is a service couples can use to connect, relax, and spend time together. Managing the distance can get difficult, but having go-to resources like Rave that make connection simpler can make a big difference.  

“We wanted to make Rave a kind of space of its own,” Michael said. “It’s always there, and it’s always open, and even if your friends aren’t on, there’s always somebody watching a movie in there.”