*By Christian Smith* Four years after launching the [House of Highlights](https://www.instagram.com/houseofhighlights/?hl=en) Instagram from his dorm room at the University of Central Florida, Omar Raja is fielding calls from the NFL and Major League Baseball to help the leagues buoy sagging ratings with social media engagement. Raja's humorous repackaging of under-appreciated sports highlights attracts over 700 million views a month as the viewership of live sporting events like the Super Bowl and the World Cup slumps [dramatically](https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/world-cup-ratings-fox-telemundo-tv-viewership-1202864539/). "We've kind of seen different major leagues, like the NFL and MLB, reach out to us because they want their clips on House of Highlights because they believe it helps market their sport," Raja said Tuesday during an interview on Cheddar. "When you see guys or women live tweeting these events it makes you want to go and tune in," he said. House of Highlights began as an outlet for Raja and his college friends to share clips they found entertaining. He mostly posted physical stunts and trick videos, but more recently began focusing on comedy, which helped attract a wide Gen Z audience. But he said he never imagined his Instagram would become a major player in sports media. "I thought, at max, in a few years I'd have a hundred thousand followers," he said. House of Highlights was acquired by Turner's Bleacher Report in 2016 for an undisclosed amount. At the time, the account had fewer than a million followers. It passed the 10 million follower mark on Monday, and Raja said he's still gaining more than 500 new followers every hour. Instead of combing the internet from his dorm room, Raja said he and the House of Highlights team watch every NBA game and sift through about 500 direct messages a day on Instagram to find the best highlights to share with the world. For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/house-of-highlight-founders-secret-to-hitting-10-million-followers-on-instagram).
