The annual NCAA men’s college basketball tournament known affectionately as March Madness has long been based solely on the television platform for both viewers and advertisers. However, with the undeniable advent of online video, many will be watching the tournament online, and marketers are following.
According to TNS Media Intelligence, advertising spending on the NCAA tournament games this year is expected to exceed $500 million. Ad spending in 2006 was $497 million, which is a 70% jump from 2000’s $310 million figure. Over the past ten years more than $2.73 billion has been spent on marketing efforts related to March Madness.
In 2006, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament raked in more advertising revenue than the NBA’s post-season, the NFL’s post-season (including the almighty Super Bowl), and the MLB’s post-season. This is an impressive accomplishment.
For the second year in a row, every game played in the first three rounds of the tournament will be streamed online for free. Advertisers will be using display ads surrounding the viewing window, as well as short ads inserted during television commercial break times.
Should CBS, the broadcaster for the games, be worrying about cannibalizing its audience? Probably not, if numbers released by the Associated Press and Ipsos Insight are accurate. According to a study conducted by the two groups, only 10% of 1,347 respondents ages 18 and over say that watching online videos leads to less time in front of the television. Three percent actually said that online video viewing leads to increased TV watching time, while 87% said that their TV time remained the same.
In addition to online broadcasts of the tournament games, the broad and successful adoption of online brackets creates even more opportunities for advertisers to reach audiences on the Web. GEICO, for example, is the official sponsor for Facebook’s March Madness brackets.
Source:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004668
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