Heading into the last weekend of NCAA’s “March Madness,” the Men’s College Basketball tournament, CBS/Turner network airings have seen a massive 24% rise in viewership versus a year ago for an average game — to a Nielsen-measured 3.87 million viewers. But the games are still 3% lower than the 2019 pre-pandemic tournament, which averaged 4.0 million viewers.
CBS Sports and Turner, which carry the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, said their commercial inventory is sold out on TV and on digital platforms, generating record revenue for the event.
Prices were up double digits, with 30-second spots on early games costing a couple of hundred thousand dollars and commercials in the final game going for more than $2 million. Two years ago, the tournament generated nearly $1 billion in ad revenue, according to Kantar.
The first five days of NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament — Thursday through Monday — witnessed viewership 18% lower to an average 2.5 million Nielsen-measured viewers. In 2019, an average 3.04 million viewers per game was registered through the second round. Last year’s NCAA March Madness event was canceled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the 10th year that CBS and Turner have teamed up for March Madness. While the deal provides the NCAA with its largest source of revenue, it has also turned a profit for both networks as well as benefiting fans because all of the games are available nationally. The success of the partnership, which will last until at least 2032, has exceeded the expectations of CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus.
Advertising inventory in NCAA’s Men’s College Basketball Tournament — “March Madness” — is “virtually sold out,” says John Bogusz, EVP sports sales and marketing at CBS Television Network. “There were [price] increases in all rounds through the championship weekend,” he added, speaking on a call with reporters Wednesday. Bogusz did not provide details.
Ad sales have been “remarkably strong” following last year’s cancellation. Turner and CBS have now had an entire year to prepare for the return of March Madness, which is going to look a little different from 2019. All 67 games will be staged entirely in Indiana, and 10 production teams will work the event, up from the usual eight.
Exclusives
Tips To Avoid A March Madness Foul Call
With the tournament about to begin, broadcasters, publishers and other businesses need to be wary about potential claims arising from their use of terms and logos associated with the tournament, including the well-known marks March Madness®, The Big Dance®, Final Four®, Women’s Final Four®, Elite Eight® and The Road to the Final Four® (with and without the word “The”), each of which is a federally registered trademark.
The cancellation of March Madness because of the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a costly blow to college sports programs, the National Collegiate Athletic Association indicated on Thursday. The NCAA said that financial distributions to Division I member institutions at the end of the 2019-20 academic year would be $225 million — just 37.5% of the expected $600 million amount.
TVN Focus On Advertising | March Madness A Costly Cancellation
The fallout from Thursday’s coronavirus-driven cancellation of the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Tournament will be over $1 billion in ad revenue for CBS and Turner Sports. “There’s no bad guy here,” said one expert, but remedies will almost certainly have to be created.
There will be no madness this March after the NCAA on Thursday said the college tournament was canceled amid the coronavirus outbreak. The news came shortly after the AAC, SEC and Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 Tournaments were canceled.
The NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament, one of the nation’s most-watched TV sporting events, will be played this year in mostly empty arenas out of concerns for the widening coronavirus pandemic.
The top executives overseeing CBS Sports’ and Turner Sports’ annual telecast of the NCAA’s March Madness men’s basketball college championship said today that they were continuing to prepare for the event as if it would not be affected by the spread of coronavirus, though both were ready to shift plans if the NCAA decided doing so would be necessary, potentially resulting in games that are broadcast without audiences in attendance.
Nothing but net as advertisers snatch up the last of the tourney’s ad inventory a full month before tipoff.
March Madness continued to be a full-court moneymaker with CBS and Turner Sports generating $655.1 million in ad revenue during the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament, according to new data from Standard Media Index.
Nexstar Rallied Its Stations For March Madness
Among all sporting events, the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament may be the most tailor-made for streaming video. According to CBS and Turner Sports, which have TV rights to the games and operate the streaming offerings, March Madness Live is setting new records for streams and streaming hours so far, with both categories up by more than 25% compared to last year.
Local TV Gets March Madness Totally
Local TV stations ramp up the coverage of March Madness to share the excitement, the drama and the human interest stories beyond the scores. “That’s really all people are talking about, especially in March,” said Russ Poteet, news director for KLBK in Lubbock, Texas, home of Texas Tech.
March Madness: Use It If You Dare
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is very serious about taking action against anyone who may try to trade off the goodwill in its March Madness marks — even if the NCAA’s actual marks are not used.
Monday night’s NCAA championship game, which saw Villanova crush Michigan 79-62, drew the lowest overnight rating in the history of the tournament. Across TBS, TNT and TruTV, the tournament’s championship game earned a 10.3 overnight rating. The previous low for a NCAA championship game was the 11.2 for the 2004 contest between UConn and Georgia Tech.
WWJ Promos Descend Into March Madness
Trademarks And March Madness Once Again
With the NCAA Basketball Tournament about to begin, broadcasters, publishers and other businesses need to be wary about potential claims arising from their use terms and logos associated with the tournament, including March Madness®, The Big Dance®, Final Four® or Elite Eight,® each of which is a federally registered trademark.
NEW YORK (AP) — March Madness begins Tuesday. And that may mean strategizing to sneak in some games when the boss isn’t looking. Fortunately for you — though not your boss — all 67 games in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament will be available online. Many of the games, including the Final Four, will […]
The 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has brought in slightly more in national TV advertising dollars through the early rounds leading up to the Final Four this weekend. So far, it has pulled in $748.6 million for CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, according to iSpot.tv — up 2% versus a year ago. There have been some 224 brands with 514 spots, airing 8,168 times.
Turner Networks will stream select games from the final rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 360-degree virtual reality on Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR headsets. Those with the necessary Samsung hardware and the NCAA March Madness Live VR app will be able to view games from the tournament’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, as well as the Final Four National Semifinals and the National Championship. They can choose to pay $2.99 a game or $7.99 for a package of six.
Other big events have taken hits in 2017. But the NCAA men’s tourney is off to its best start in more than two decades. Credit close games on Sunday in part.
There’s nothing wrong with obsessing over the Big Dance. But maybe don’t stream games at work, the Defense Department tells employees, warning the department’s network could be overwhelmed.
Games on CBS and Turner Sports will feature breathtaking finishes and surprising winners as the field is culled to 32 teams over the next 48 hours. Get your bracket ready.
The tournament generated a record $1.24 billion in national ads in 2016, up 5% and a new record. Meanwhile, audiences for the final rounds have shrunk since moving to cable.
Kantar Media says “March Madness” generated $1.24 billion in national TV advertising spending in 2016 airings on CBS and Turner networks (TBS, TNT and truTV), up 4.7% versus 2015. Kantar says these gains are in line with 2% to 5% annual gains — keeping pace with annual TV rights fees increases.
Trademark Rules Apply To March Madness
Two months ago, broadcasters were warned about the risks of publishing ads or engaging in promotional activities that refer to the Super Bowl without approval of the NFL. Now, with the NCAA Basketball Tournament about to begin, broadcasters, publishers and other businesses need to be equally wary about potential claims arising from their use terms and logos associated with the tournament, including March Madness,® The Big Dance,® Final Four® or Elite Eight®, each of which is a federally registered trademark. And the NCAA aggressively polices the use of its trademarks.
New research from Kantar Media shows that the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball tournament is now second only to the NFL playoffs as the most lucrative post-season playoff franchise.
When the new NCAA March Madness Live app goes live today, it will be available on more platforms than ever before. But only Apple TV users will get a coveted feature: the ability to watch two games at once.
The finals will air on cable for the first time, two years after the Final Four migrated. Buyers worry about ratings declines. Pricing is flat to last season.
The annual March Madness college basketball tournament is giving advertisers multiple shots at their desired audience. Car companies advertising during the NCAA basketball tournament’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, for instance, received an average “brand lift” of 59.7%, according to a survey from video ad firm Extreme Reach, which polled about 200,000 respondents on how likely they were to purchase a particular brand’s automobile.
The Kentucky men’s college basketball team nearly lost a game for the first time this season on Saturday night, which made TBS a big winner. The Wildcats’ final-seconds win over Notre Dame to secure a spot in the Final Four became the highest-rated college basketball game in history on cable and the most-watched program ever on TBS, according to Nielsen. The contest averaged an 8.4 household rating on TBS, peaking with an 11.1 from 10:45 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Very Hot Start For March Madness
March Madness is drawing record numbers, both on TV and online. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament posted its highest-rated opening Saturday ever, and overall ratings are the highest they’ve ever been to this point in the tourney. Saturday’s games averaged a 7.4 household rating, according to Nielsen metered-market ratings, airing on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.
It’s that time of the year again. The time when Internet speeds begin to slow and productivity dips. Yup, it’s March Madness time. Millions of people will tune in online and over-the-air to watch the best college basketball teams in the nation go head-to-head. There’s a total of 67 games, which will be broadcast across CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV starting today. The championship game is scheduled for Monday, April 6, on CBS. Here’s how you can tune in on your devices:
