Prime Video is giving its viewers a close-up look at the next generation of basketball stars with its media deal with the Overtime Elite basketball league, which includes streaming of live games and a documentary series.
The multiyear agreement reached earlier this year calls for Prime Video to stream 20 live games per season from the eight-team league, which features some of the top high school and young adult players. In addition, Prime Video this past September debuted a six-part documentary series, One Shot: Overtime Elite, which showcased the next generation of basketball stars — including 2023 NBA draft-lottery picks Amen and Ausar Thompson — as they navigate through various challenges and training in pursuit of a professional basketball career.
“OTE has established a strong reputation as a next-generation league responsible for producing basketball stars of tomorrow,” Prime Video head of original content, sports Matt Newman said.
CEO Dan Porter said having both the documentary and live games on Prime Video has provided Overtime Elite with a great source of exposure and promotion.
“Amazon has really been an exciting partner for us where we felt like we could get attention,” Porter said. “The idea of putting [the live games and docuseries] together and cross-promoting is super interesting, and we hope that the series becomes a franchise in the way that [HBO’s] Hard Knocks has become a franchise.”
Click below to listen to an interview with Porter and Overtime Elite general manager and head of basketball Damien Wilkins on the latest episode of the “TV Sportsplay” podcast.
