Overtime

Back in 2016, Dan Porter, then head of digital at superagency WME, noticed that Gen Z and younger millennials craved a different flavor of sports consumption. They weren’t too keen to watch entire basketball games on TV. Rather, they wanted highlights, they wanted personalities, and they wanted to watch them on demand while scrolling on their phones. He started Overtime, a digital sports media brand, later that year. 

Clips of a high schooler named Zion Williamson’s dunking gave Overtime currency; the brand has taken off from there. Overtime claims more than 100 million fans across social media channels: the company expects to top $100 million in revenue for the first time this year. It has also expanded its IP in recent years, starting high school leagues in boys’ basketball (OTE) and 7-on-7 football (OT7), plus a new boxing circuit, OTX; a girls’ basketball event debuts this summer (Overtime Select). Such extensions feed the Overtime content machine, while offering the company broader legitimacy and exposure: two OTE alums, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson, were taken No 4. and No. 5 overall in last year’s NBA Draft. Porter says his company is redefining “what the nature of sports consumption and fandom looks like for the next generation.”