Bleacher Report's House of Highlights account has "been a slam dunk" on Instagram, and now the publisher is "focused on building a business ... with a dedicated team of eight to create a second digital publishing brand," according to Sahil Patel of DIGIDAY. House of Highlights creator Omar Raja will "continue to oversee content," while Bleacher Report VP/Social Doug Bernstein will "oversee the brand." The property also "will have its own revenue goals." One of the "first priorities for House of Highlights is to expand beyond Instagram, where the account has grown to more than 8.6 million followers and 616 million video views in February." In January, Bleacher Report "launched the House of Highlights YouTube channel, which will offer basketball, soccer and other sports highlights as well as a growing crop of video series." The first of those is the “Supreme Dreams Show,” which Bernstein described as a “‘Chappelle’s Show’ about sports for the younger generation” and "comes from 22-year-old social media star Mark Phillips." Bleacher Report also brought on Phillips to "work with Raja to develop new programming for House of Highlights," which will "look to do more sponsored and branded content." House of Highlights has "distributed sponsored videos for brands such as Netflix and Jordan Brand." Bleacher Report President Rory Brown said that the company is "pitching House of Highlights to advertisers as an 'invitation-only brand partnership opportunity'" (DIGIDAY.com, 3/27).
