TNS Media Intelligence has once again drawn upon its extensive database to provide the most current statistics and trends on March Madness advertising:
1. March Madness: An Advertising Bonanza
Over the past 10 years (1999-2008), advertising during the Tournament has translated into $4.2 billion of network TV spending from nearly 300 different marketers. In 2008, ad spending reached an all-time high of $643 million, a 24 percent increase from the prior year.
|
NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Source: TNS Media Intelligence |
2. Outpacing The Competition
The post-season NCAA Tournament brings in more national TV ad revenue than the post-season playoffs for professional baseball, professional basketball or college football. Only the National Football League playoffs, which includes the Super Bowl, is more lucrative.
|
2008 Post-Season Sports: |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
* includes Pre-Game, Game & Post-Game Programming Source: TNS Media Intelligence |
3. The Price of Advertising
Among the major televised sporting championships, only the Super Bowl commands a higher advertising unit rate than the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship game. College hoops has higher unit ad pricing than the major college football bowl games; the NBA championship; and the MLB World Series.
In terms of cost-per-thousand viewers, the NCAA Final Four games are far more expensive than any of the other annual blue-chip sporting events.
|
Average Network TV Ad Pricing for Major Sporting Events |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Source: TNS Media Intelligence |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4. Top Spending Advertisers in March Madness
March Madness has a core group of TV sponsors that invest heavily in the broadcasts year after year. On average, more than 80% of the tournament’s network TV ad revenue has come from returning advertisers, an above-average retention rate versus other top sporting events.
General Motors, AT&T and Coca Cola have consistently been the leading TV advertisers and in 2008, they spent a combined $140.6 million and accounted for 22 percent of the total ad revenue. Although GM bowed out of both the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards earlier this year, its participation with March Madness continues.
|
Top 10 TV Advertisers |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Figures reflect Network TV only and include all pre-game, game and post-game programming. Source: TNS Media Intelligence General Motors, Coca-Cola; and AT&T pay additional fees into the NCAA’s “Corporate Champions” program, the organization’s top sponsorship level. This gives them additional opportunities to build marketing programs around March Madness and other NCAA sports. |
5. On Demand Video Streaming
In 2009, CBSSports.com will again stream live tournament games over the Internet, making them available on demand and free of charge to PC users with a broadband connection. The ad-supported webcasts offer presenting sponsors another way to get their commercial messages in front of viewers.
Online viewership is heavily concentrated in the first two rounds of the tournament when multiple games are taking place simultaneously and fans are seeking the flexibility to view the action from out-of-home locations or watch games not being telecast on their local CBS affiliate.
Though growing rapidly from a small base, the digital ad revenue is still a fraction of that generated by the traditional TV broadcasts.
