I sometimes wish to stay updated with the channels I follow while I'm in theatre mode, which requires me to exit theatre mode. This is just a small annoyance which also get's rid of my immersion.

Yes, I can use hotkeys to quickly switch but that doesn't always work due to the Alt key requirement, besides most people use Alt for other things.

Suggestion: show the following icons/or bar when hovering over the left side of the screen. Sync the timing with the title and buttons on the bottom that show when you move your mouse on screen. I'd suggest making the icons/bar transparent on top of the left side of the video while maintaining the video size.

Optional suggestion: make it a feature that can be turned on and off.

Extra info: I'm obviously speaking about PC here, I'm not sure how this feature could be implemented on mobile since I can see how this can be a annoyance by accidentally clicking on a followed channel and leaving the stream you are watching. This could be extra frustrating if ads are being played.