Overtime Is Investing Millions Expanding Its Athlete Talk Shows, Citing Virality

The sports media company Overtime plans to expand its slate of athlete talk shows in the coming months, growing its current roster of four series to as many as 10, according to chief executive Dan Porter. “By September, we will most likely double the size of the network and invest millions of dollars in this,” Porter said. “It’s been really successful, and we think it’s the future. The biggest challenge is that brands don’t understand that this is the new television talk-show format.” The shows, which feature famous college athletes in casual conversation with peers and celebrity guests, epitomize the ongoing convergence of video and podcasts. For instance, while the shows borrow the standard conversational format of a podcast, they live primarily on YouTube and vertical video platforms like Instagram, rather than more traditional podcast platforms like Spotify. In recent years, podcasts have increasingly added video elements to boost their discoverability on social media, altering the product both commercially and artistically, said Nicholas Quah, a critic at Vulture who covers podcasts. The hybrid nature of the format, and the viral social clips they generate, however, could confuse the pricing and pitch to advertisers. “The content has to be the star, and not the stars themselves,” said Dane Cardiel, the vice president of creator partnerships at Gumball, adding that a fan who spends long periods consuming a podcast or watching a television show is more valuable to an advertiser than a social media user scrolling past a clip. Selling clips The clips that come out of the talk shows often go viral across social media, thanks in part to the strength of the Overtime media empire—the company has over 100 different social handles, including Overtime and Overtime SZN—and the star power of the athletes themselves. Current hosts include University of Colorado quarterback Shaddeur Sanders, Heisman Award winner Travis Hunter, LSU athlete and rapper Flau'jae Johnson, and UNC phenom Ian Jackson. The first of the current slate of talk shows launched in July 2024. Since then, they have generated 390 million impressions, 225 million views, and 533,000 followers across all platforms, according to Overtime. So far, brands including Elf, Armani Cologne, and Gatorade have sponsored the series, although in most instances the talk shows are included as part of a broader media buy. While the shows are currently sold individually, as Overtime launches more series, it plans to offer brands the opportunity to buy them as a network. To integrate brands into the shows, the hosts perform verbal ad reads, about 15 seconds long, occurring within the first two minutes, once in the middle, and again at the end. In the short clips, brands are integrated through a Capstone, which is a custom graphic that appears briefly in the upper third of the video. The hosts receive a minimum guaranteed payment, then split the resulting advertising and sponsorship revenue with Overtime, according to Porter, although he declined to provide financial specifics. Blurred lines The talk shows’ blend of a podcast format in a video environment could create both challenges and opportunities in selling them. On the positive side, the clips that come out of these shows generate outsize social engagement, which Overtime can use to sweeten the pot for larger media buys, according to Quah. However, the talk shows are not available on many of the platforms where media buyers are used to buying media inventory, said Cardiel. This makes it difficult for a buyer to assess the shows’ past performance or incorporate the shows into a broader media strategy. Still, the talk shows embody the kind of brand-safe content that advertisers often flock to, according to Quah. And they represent the direction in which both podcasts and videos are headed. “Video podcasts are the hot thing right now,” Quah said. “A smart player like Overtime takes that money, and when it dries up they go find something else.”

Sports

Overtime Is Investing Millions Expanding Its Athlete Talk Shows, Citing Virality

The series, which feature hosts like Heisman winner Travis Hunter, epitomize the convergence of video of podcasting

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Mark Stenberg

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