The Overtime audience already knows about 7x7 football and craves the athlete discovery and storytelling that Overtime has mastered. With no national competition for 7x7 gameplay and national exposure, Overtime knew they could fill that white space by launching OT7. The 7x7 space has been fractured over the last decade with limited media exposure and no distribution. With over 75 million social media followers, players instantly get in front of fans who will be following them throughout their entire careers and begin building that fan base.
The objective was to build a football league for the next generation. From a content perspective, we wanted to go beyond the highlights. We created months worth of additional content shared across our social platforms.
OT7 also fills the college football void. The college football season runs from August to January, and the football landscape as a whole starts in Q3 and ends abruptly in Q1. OT7 fills the space perfectly, as our season begins in February and goes through July.
OT7 is a powerful driver within the college football community and we bring a new lens to traditional college football storylines. Hundreds of OT7 participants are preparing to play major college football. The league gives college football recruiting media outlets another opportunity to see and cover the best athletes in the nation.
Overtime is the home of the next-gen football fan. Overtime creates on and off-the-field storytelling around the football stars next-gen audiences care about, in a voice they love and on the platforms they consume.
This meant showcasing football in a whole new way by allowing accessibility and hype. We brought fans up close and personal with the athletes as they didn’t wear traditional facemasks or helmets.
7x7 is exactly how it sounds. 7 players on offense, 7 on defense and there is no tackling. The season typically runs from late January through June in the scholastic offseason for players to stay in shape, develop their skills and receive offers to get to the next level.
It’s also more than just the touchdowns – it’s about the celebrations that follow. From jumping into a foam pit when the team scored a touchdown, to performing a choreographed dance with their teammates while in gameplay, OT7 captures the athletes’ full personalities beyond their athletic abilities.
In between pool play and the start of single elimination, we hosted a content-first day where we had competitions outside of the games with massive football influencers including Deestroying and MMG. We covered 3 fields simultaneously with a red zone-style format as we posted throughout the weekend to our social channels.
During gameplay, we didn’t want traditional talking heads as our commentators. Our fans don’t relate to that. We wanted the voices representing the play on-field to be intentionally different and intentionally designed to reach today’s football fans. Relevant and influential creators with massive followings, such as MMG and Deestroying, call the games and make our audience feel like they are at the event or watching it with a friend. Deestroying and MMG were in the booth calling the games and creating content, as well as additional Overtime talent.
Season 1 of OT7 brought the top 18 7x7 football teams in the country to compete over the course of 4 days in Las Vegas. The format of the tournament was World Cup style with two days of pool play leading into a single elimination Sweet 16 bracket. This format allowed us to build a season within a few days as we tracked the standings, statistics, and highlights around all the players.
OT7 put on full display the electric personalities and insane athleticism of 400-500+ of the best football players in the country. These are the college football stars of tomorrow. 60+ credentialed reporters were onsite, along with fans of all ages, watching the electric competition. A national championship game in 7x7 didn’t exist before OT7 and now players have it to look forward to. We were able to create four months of content within a four-day span.
Highlights include:
Generated 150+ national and local stories including CNBC, The Athletic, ESPN, Fast Company, 247 Sports, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated and more
Generated over 175 million video views, 115 million impressions and 30 million engagements across Overtime channels
In less than 30 days from going live, OT7 YouTube recaps averaged triple the views per video of US Sports Media publishers in 2022
1 in every 2 viewers of OT7 YouTube recaps is choosing to watch via a Connected-TV device, and staying for an average of 30 minutes per viewing session
With 28% growth in Q2 2022, OT7 is the fastest-growing Instagram account among Crowdtangle's list of US Sports Media brands
With 3 out of 5 OT7 fans representing Gen-Z, OT7 resonates heavily with the next generation
