WME-IMG has assets in numerous spaces, but the conglomerate believes there is room for sports to grow on the social-media landscape. The agency hopes to do just that through its investment in a new social media app called Overtime, launching today. Aimed at millennials with short-form content, the app is comprised of user-generated feeds on sports topics ranging from high school to the pros. “We are engaged in so many parts of the sports landscape, and when I met (WME-IMG co-CEO Ari Emanuel) for the first time, he was one of the most sensitive people to all the stuff going on in the start-up world,” WME-IMG Head of Digital Dan Porter said. “We just said, ‘There’s so many things that WME-IMG touches -- fashion, sports -- where can we find white space in those areas and try to build products.’” Overtime was built by the same team that created the popular app Draw Something, and after nearly a year of development, it was beta tested by college and high school students over the summer.
SOCIAL SETTING: When a user opens the app, they will see the top 200 feeds based on popularity -- voted on by other users -- as well as the option to search for specific topics. Overtime is not intended to be viewed as a news source, but a destination for conversation and debate. “We realized we could give people not only the opportunity to share content, but also to originate content,” Porter said. The app allows users to upload their own videos and even use a slow-motion tool to make their clip appear like a highlight. The feature that Porter is most proud of is the app’s search engine of GIFs. Rather than having to leave the app to find GIFs that represent their thoughts, users can search within Overtime and insert the GIF into any of the feeds, making user interaction easier. “That was hard to do,” Porter said. “Everyone loves GIFs but no one knows where to find them and how to optimize them and get them on your phone. It was really important for us to build that into the app.”
