Omar Raja
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Omar Raja (born 16 April 1994) is a TV, digital, and social content commentator for ESPN and is the founder of the ''
House of Highlights House of Highlights (often abbreviated as HoH) is a social media network that focuses on the distribution of videos online. HoH is headquartered in New York City within Bleacher Report’s office. Known primarily for popular sport highlights, H ...
''
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
account which focuses on the publication of viral video clips of professional sports and
user-generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
. After being acquired by
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
in December 2015, House of Highlights has expanded its video content and scope, and has amassed over 39.3 million followers.


Biography

Raja was born to Hayder and Ismat Raja, who emigrated from
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
to the United States in the late 1990s. His only sibling is his little sister, Sabeen Raja. He grew up in
Pembroke Pines, Florida Pembroke Pines is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Miami. The population of Pembroke Pines is 171,178 as of the 2020 census. It is a suburb of and the fourth-most populous c ...
and graduated from West Broward High School. In an interview with ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'', Raja said that he was not good at playing sports, but was interested in following sports, and of the sports activities he did do such as basketball, he got to develop his abilities to see opportunities quickly. He attended
University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...
where he majored in business. In July 2014, when Raja was a 20-year-old college sophomore, when NBA star LeBron James left the Miami Heat to return to the
Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
, Raja wanted to find videos on YouTube or social media to relive and to share memorable moments of the team with friends. After about a month of searching, he decided he needed to do it himself. He started an Instagram account in August called The Highlight Factory, but changed the name to House of Highlights about a week later. He would collect video footage of the Heat players both on and off the court, and post highlight clips, many of which had not been widely circulated. His posts were often accompanied with brief messages and
emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
s. Posts were user-generated, either by himself or by other followers submitting them for consideration. Raja estimates about 53% of his audience is under the age of 24. In July 2015, Doug Bernstein, then the vice-president of social media at
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
, contacted Raja about working together. Raja had about half a million followers on Instagram at the time. Bleacher Report acquired House of Highlights in December, and hired Raja after he graduated. In January 2016, the Instagram account had 2.1 million followers, and in March 2017, it had over 5 million followers. Dave Finocchio, the CEO of Bleacher Report, likens Raja to the modern or young person's ''
SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...
'', and it was also noted by the website Crowd Tangle that the account has one of the highest interaction rates (number of users who comment or like). Bernstein said that for the month of November 2017, House of Highlights had 102 million interactions, the eighth-most for Instagram. In July 2018, the account had over 10 million followers. In October 2018, ''Esquire'' reported that House of Highlights would get about 700 million video views a month during the NBA season, with 10,000 new followers daily. Under Bleacher Report, House of Highlights has gathered sponsors and expanded its content. The first sponsor was Lexus in 2016, where they produced about 7-10 videos highlighting some of the user-submitted content. They also created content for Nike,
Jordan Brand Air Jordan is an American brand of basketball shoes produced by American corporation Nike. The first Air Jordan shoe was produced for Hall of Fame former basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls in late 1984 and ...
, and
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
. House of Highlights produced a set of videos for
Under Armour Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Under Armour's global headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices located in Amsterdam (European hea ...
's "The Curry Challenge" where they posted clips of ordinary people trying to imitate
Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ...
's moves. Other challenges that House of Highlights is said to have popularized include the
Running Man Challenge "My Boo" is the only single released by Ghost Town DJ's. It was released on Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label and Columbia. The song, an invite by a female to a male, blends R&B-style vocals over a bass beat. It was written by Carlton Mahone and R ...
and the Drive By Dunk Challenge, the latter of which people would drive in neighborhoods looking for basketball hoops, rush in with a basketball, and do a dunk. In 2017, HoH posted clips of Carmelo Anthony wearing a hoodie, which soon became a meme with the nickname "Hoodie Melo", which expanded to a clothing brand. In January 2018, Bleacher Report launched a video show for House of Highlights on YouTube. The YouTube channel also features a sketch comedy web series called ''Supreme Dreams Show'' featuring YouTuber star Mark Phillips. In October, they launched a monthly Twitter digital television show co-hosted by Raja and creative director / head writer CJ Toledano with athletes and entertainers as guests. In April 2019, Twitter ordered a second season of the House of Highlights show that emphasized live sporting events including NBA All Star Weekend, the NBA Finals, March Madness, the UEFA Champions League Finals and the Super Bowl. Raja also hosts an interview series with athletes that has included guests such as Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Jason Williams, Damian Lillard, DeMar DeRozan, among other NBA players. In 2019, House of Highlights became the only U.S. sports media brand to surpass ESPN in followers across all social platforms. In November 2019, Raja announced that House of Highlights was officially the most followed U.S. Sports Media account on Instagram. In 2020, it was announced by ESPN that Raja would be moving to ESPN from Bleacher Report to increase their social media presence. Raja will serve as the main voice of ESPN's “SportsCenter” Instagram account, which has 25 million followers, and will play a role in devising content for ESPN's mobile app. Raja also hosts a weekly studio show called “Hoop Streams” that has included guests such as
Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...
, Jaylen Brown, Ray Allen, and many more NBA athletes.


References


External links

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Omar Raja on creating House of Highlights
on CNN (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Raja, Omar 1994 births Living people American people of Pakistani descent People from Pembroke Pines, Florida University of Central Florida alumni