WANT TO EARN EXTRA MONEY?
Watchback is a new video streaming app that was released in October 2018. Its parent company is NBCUniversal (NBCU), and it’s free to download to earn points and enter Sweepstakes for watching videos.
Even though it’s parent company is NBC, this app is under the umbrella of Perk Rewards.
It’s not a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu, and Watchback will not have full series. Instead, it’s meant more for previewing, similar to Amazon’s previews of Kindle books.
But you earn rewards to stream its content. Viewers will be given points for watching videos and can redeem those points for Gift Cards.
Let’s look at all the different things Watchback has.
Opening an Account
Watchback is available for both iOS and Android. You begin by downloading the app from the app store.
Once you have the app on your phone or tablet:
- Open the app and choose log in.
- Select to log in with either your Facebook account or your Email.
- If you’re already a Perk Reward member, sign-in with that account information.
- Signing in with your Perk account, your profile will be the same as on Perk.
- Otherwise, you can choose to create a profile or not.
On your profile page, it will show your picture, name, and email. Next, it shows your total points, where you can redeem (Watchback.com), and your unique code (used for sweepstakes and contests). Next, is the listing of all the videos you have watched. There is also a tab for your history which is a listing of all the points and sweepstakes you have earned.
Videos Offered
As I mentioned, Watchback isn’t a full streaming service, but you can watch a variety of videos to watch. The well-known channels include:
- Access
- America’s Test Kitchen
- Bravo
- CNBC
- College Humor
- E! Entertainment
- FailArmy
- Funny or Die
- IGN
- The Laugh Factory
- Mashable
- NBC – Entertainment, News, Sports
- Now This
- Oxygen
- PopSugar
- Screamfest
- SyFy
- Tasty
- Telemundo
- Wisecrack
- WonderWhy
There are also many unique channels to watch too that are about documentaries, cooking, news, sports, humor, beauty, and many more to check out.
Personalizing Your Viewing
A great feature on Watchback is the ability to personalize your viewing experience. You get to choose what types of videos you rather watch and skip the rest that bore you.
You can choose your preferences by:
- Going to your Accounts tab
- Select the Settings Gear in the upper left corner
- Select “Likes and Interests”
- Tap once to select or deselect an interest
- Select “Continue”
Another option is on your Home Page and find the “Your Channels” in the center of the screen and simply click the large Add/Edit button and then choose the channels you want to view.
Sweepstakes
Watchback offers several kinds of sweepstakes for chances to “win big money”. Actually, the monetary value are converted to points to redeem for gift cards.
Weekly Sweepstakes
Enter to win $4,000 when you watch any video.
- One random weekly winner is chosen every week
- Winner will be revealed in a Video showing their unique code
- One prize per person per week
Daily Sweepstakes
A daily prize offered to win 1250, 650, or 50 points when you watch any video.
- 300 random winners chosen to win 1250 points
- 5,555 random winners chosen to win 650 points
- 20,000 random winners chosen to win 50 points
- One prize per person per day
Featured Episodes Sweepstakes
Watch a featured video and be entered to win $100
- For each featured episode, 10 winners will be chosen to win $100
- Some special episodes offer a $500 prize
Promotional Video Sweepstakes
Watch any video in a featured playlist to be entered to win $5
- 42 random winners chosen to win $5 for each featured playlist
- One entry per video within each featured playlist
The maximum amount of entries for any sweepstakes are 10 entries a day. Completing a video equals one entry. All prizes are redeemed on watchback.com
Redeeming your Points
It’s pretty easy to redeem your points on Watchback.
First, the point value is 1,000 Points = $1 (premium rates apply to gift cards less than $5) and most gift cards start at $5, or 5,000 points.
Watchback and Perk Points are under the same umbrella, so wherever you earn points – they are accumulated in one place and are shareable.
To redeem your points on Watchback:
- Sign into your account on watchback.com
- Choose a gift card and select its value
- Click “Redeem”
- You will be asked to choose to receive your verification code either by SMS text or a phone call
- Enter your code into the validation screen
- Wait for your email confirmation stating they have received your request
- Wait for your prize, usually in a few business days
The other option for your points is to donate them to the Boys and Girls Club of America.
Gift Cards Offered
The Watchback site itself doesn’t offer very many gift cards to choose from. I count only 29 gift cards here.
These gift cards include:
- Amazon
- American Airlines
- Bed, Bath & Beyond
- Best Buy
- Dell Computers
- GameStop
- NFL Giftshop
- Southwest Airlines
- Starbucks
- Steam
- Walmart
If you’re a member of Perk Rewards, you can sign into your account over there and redeem from their longer list.
Watchback Website
The Watchback website itself is very simple and uncluttered.
Once you sign in to your account the top of the screen shows your points, your profile picture and your name. A pull-down menu under your name has only two options – view profile, or sign out.
The rest of the home page is the Watchback Rewards Page. There are instructions on how to earn points on your app, how to check your points in your profile, and what the points are worth (1,000 Points = $1).
There’s an option to check on the status of a redeemed reward, and the rest of the page are all the icons of the various gift cards you can redeem.
At the bottom of the page are options to get more help or learn more about Watchback.
I like the simplicity of it and everything was easy to navigate and find. The Help section covered several sections for easy navigating and I could find answers easily. There’s also a simple “submit a request” button at the top of the Help Center page, since I found the answers I wanted, I didn’t need to submit a request and cannot verify how long it takes to receive a reply.
My Personal Experience
I’ve used this app since it came out in October 2018 and really enjoy using it.
Here’s a sample of my points and winnings for one month’s viewing. This is shown on my Watchback account page online:
- Jan 1, 2019 – Awarded 50 points for winning the Daily Sweepstakes
- Jan 7, 2019 – Awarded 650 points for winning the Daily Sweepstakes
- Jan 8, 2019 – Awarded 650 points for winning the Daily Sweepstakes
- Jan 11, 2019 – Awarded 50 points for winning the Daily Sweepstakes
- Jan 21, 2019 – Awarded 250 points for completing an email survey
- Jan 24, 2019 – Awarded 50 points for winning the Daily Sweepstakes
- Jan 28, 2019 – Awarded 650 points for winning the Daily Sweepstakes
That’s 2,305 points in one month! (Note to Jason – I used Decembers points as it’s still January at time of writing – I can update stats closer to publish date if you’d like)
I mentioned that there are not very many gift cards to choose from on the Watchback site, I can still go to my Perk Reward account page and choose from a longer list. The Perk Rewards site has 101 gift cards available.
I’ve already redeemed several Amazon and Walmart gift cards already from points earned on the two sites together.
Final Thoughts
As you’ve read, I’ve been using this app for a while now. So, as a personal and frequent user let me give you a few of my pros and cons on the Watchback app.
Pros
- Ability to win sweepstakes frequently
- Has full episode shows to watch
- Large selection of video categories to choose from
- Videos are captioned – a rarity among money earning apps
- Redeem gift cards quickly (2-3 days)
Cons
- No sign-up Bonus offered
- No “refer a friend” earning potential
- No “autoplay” on playlists available
- Small gift card pool to choose from
Now, the only way to earn on Watchback is through watching videos and waiting to see if you’ve won a sweepstake, it’s pretty easy to do.
Personally, I set up my Watchback app to play while I work on my laptop and occasionally check to see if a video is done playing then click the next one to play and continue working on my laptop. Other times I am watching full episodes that are captioned – Deal or No Deal, The Profit, and more.
For other apps where you can make money by watching videos, check out these favorites:
