Coverage of North Carolina’s victory over Duke Saturday drew the most viewers to a NCAA Men’s Final Four telecast on any network since 2017.

The game delivered an average of 16.3 million viewers on TBS, TNT and truTV, also making it the second most viewed college basketball telecast in the history of cable TV once out-of-home viewership is included, Turner Sports said, projecting an addition of 10% when the final viewership totals are tabulated.

Also: March Madness Sold Out With Record Ad Revenue for CBS, Turner

The earlier game on Saturday, with Kansas topping Villanova, delivered 10.3 million viewers, up 22% from the 2021 early semifinal. 

The two games averaged 13.5 million viewers, up 9% from last year's March Madness.

The online app NCAA March Madness Live registered its largest audience ever and the most minutes consumed in its history. It generated 1.4 million concurrent streams during the Tar Heels' win over the Blue Demons. 

This year’s tournament has already drawn the most live uniques for any March Madness tournament. 

Engagement with official NCAA Men’s March Madness social media handles are up 36% versus the previous Final Four record and up 63% for the entire tournament. ■

NCAA March Madness Live, the digital home for the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Tournament managed by Turner Sports, is adding features to the platform, which will stream all 67 games starting March 17. 

One new feature is the Starting Lineup Challenge, a fantasy sports type of game that lets fans pick a lineup of five teams before the tournament starts. Instead of being out when their teams lose, players will be able to buy and sell teams as games are played. Winning teams get points and players who hold onto their teams get bonuses. The game was created with SharpLink Gaming.

March Madness Live will also let viewers watch two games at once on some connected devices including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV and Xbox One. 

Also: March Madness Sold Out With Record Ad Revenue for CBS, Turner

The app will remind viewers who are playing the Capital One NCAA March Madness Men’s Bracket Challenge to watch games and root for teams in their brackets.

Matchup Analysis is returning to March Madness Live. The feature lets fans personalize their brackets based on more than 20 stats as part of Bracket IQ presented by Ivestco QQQ.

Also returning are Fast Break presented by AT&T 5G and Nissan, a live whip around review of games enhanced with analytics from Second Spectrum, as well as The Catch Up presented by AT&T 5G, with game recaps.

In addition, Game Center returns as the platform’s central hub, with highlights and condensed games presented by AT&T 5G.

In addition to AT&T, Capital One and Nissan, Corporate Champion sponsors of March Madness Live include Coca Cola and Buick.  ■

Over-the-top video still doesn’t scale to the lofty levels of traditional broadcast television, but online video’s ability to support major live sporting events continues to evolve and improve.

The latest example stems from the recently concluded NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. TV coverage of the tourney was complemented by “NCAA March Madness Live,” a live-streaming product developed by Turner Sports in partnership with CBS and the NCAA. That product, underpinned by iStreamPlanet (the online video infrastructure company Turner acquired in 2015), streamed games to more than a dozen platforms, including smartphones, tablets and Web browsers, as well as TV-connected Roku players, and Apple TV and Fire TV devices.

RECORD AUDIENCES
NCAA March Madness Live netted a record 98 million live video streams during the tournament, while the national championship game drew a record 4.4 million live streams, and a 29% increase from last year.

Traditional TV still dominates the viewing landscape, as the tournament averaged 10.82 million viewers, up 16% from last year’s average of 9.37 million. The championship game, won by North Carolina, netted an average of 22.99 million viewers, up about 30%.

While those OTT numbers still have a ways to go before reaching TV-like viewing levels, the partners involved in the streaming project tied together disparate systems to pull it off.

A big difference this year was the shift from the legacy world of SDI/baseband video distribution to IP.

That move “gave us a lot more flexibility on how we structured the workflow” while also optimizing ad insertion and ensuring the associated metadata was supported, Mio Babic, founder of iStreamPlanet, said.

When pulled together, the shift “connected the dots as video flowed from the actual arenas down to the consumer devices,” Babic explained.

Using an IP-based workflow also gave iStreamPlanet and its partners clearer visibility into the video streams themselves and a way to better monitor and understand their performance, so adjustments could be made as needed. That helped all parties involved to deal with traffic spikes in a specific region, for example, Babic said.

The overall aim was to deliver an HD-quality signal regardless of device, whether a smartphone or a 60-inch TV. Multiple streaming profiles were created for each type of supported device, Babic said.

iStreamPlanet and its partners delivered tournament video via unicast streaming delivery. Multicast streaming — the delivery of a stream that is accessible by multiple users — might eventually provide a way to reduce bandwidth requirements.

(STILL) GOING MOBILE
As for surprises during the tournament, Babic said viewing on mobile devices continues to strengthen. “The growth [for mobile] is not stopping … it’s accelerating,” he said. “These devices are now part of our lives. It’s almost like an extension of our hands.”

OTT will continue facing challenges as more viewers veer away from traditional TV and more devices enter the mix. “You don’t build it once,” Babic said. “You have to keep up with the changes … changes in features, changes in requirements, changes in security, changes in monetization.”

Looking ahead, Babic said he expects machine learning to take on a greater role not just in helping to personalize content, but to tap into the workflow in a way that can quickly spot anomalies and trends and make adjustments before they manifest into larger issues.

The NCAA March Madness Live app delivered a record 22.5 million live video streams, equal to  4.9 million live hours of video consumption for Thursday’s tournament openers, according to Turner Sports, which is managing the app.

Turner Sports, which is managing the app, said live video consumption is up 12% over 2015.

Thursday’s live streaming coverage of Duke vs. UNC Wilmington netted 5.5 million live video streams, setting a record for  an individual game during the tournament.

Thursday’s NCAA Tournament coverage also generated 1.6 million video views across “official” Facebook and Twitter social channels for March Madness, up 62% over last year, Turner Sports said, citing data from Conviva, a company that provides online video-optimization technology.

NCAA March Madness Live, developed in partnership between the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports, is being offered on a record 12 platforms, including the Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku players and Roku TVs, Amazon Fire tablets, iOS and Android mobile devices, Windows handsets, Web browsers, and the Apple Watch.  

Sling TV, Dish Network’s OTT-TV service, also touted streaming numbers in the early phases of the tournament, thanks in large part to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s double overtime upset win over Purdue.

TNT, TBS and TruTv all rode early round coverage of the ‘March Madness’ NCAA men’s college basketball tournament to top 10 finishes among the most watched cable networks in primetime last week.

TNT’s 2.34 million viewers and TBS’ 2.25 million watchers bested all other cable networks for the week of March 16 to March 22, according to Nielsen. TruTv’s tournament coverage helped the network finish ninth, its highest finish so far in 2015. 

Fox News, which had won the weekly ratings race the previous two weeks, finished third with 1.85 million viewers, followed by USA and AMC, who both averaged 1.79 million viewers for the period.

HGTV (1.5 2 million viewers); Disney Channel (1.48 million); History (1.40 million); TruTV (1.20 million) and Adult Swim (1.10 million) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.  

In the total day category, Adult Swim surpassed previous category winners Nickelodeon and Disney to finish first among all cable networks on a 24-hour basis with 1.22 million viewers. Nick (1.19 million viewers); Fox News (1.08 million); Disney Channel (1.09 million) and TNT (1.07 million) followed closely behind.

AMC’s The Walking Dead and its companion series Talking Dead continued to devour audiences in leading all cable shows for the week. Live NCAA college basketball tournament games on TBS, TNT and TruTV accounted for half of  the remaining eight spots among the top 10 most watched telecasts of the week.  

DateShowsNetworkViewers

3/22                      The Walking Dead                                                 AMC                    13.7 million

3/22                      Talking Dead                                                         AMC                     6.0 million

3/16                      WWE Monday Night Raw (9pm-10pm)                 USA                     3.9 million

3/16                      WWE Monday Night Raw (10pm-11:06pm)          USA                     3.9 million

3/21                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                 TBS                      3.9 million

3/16                      WWE Monday Night Raw (8pm-9pm)                    USA                      3.8 million

3/22                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                  TNT                       3.7 million

3/17                      Rizzoli & Isles                                                         TNT                       3.6 million

3/21                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                   TNT                       3.5 million

3/22                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                   TruTV                     3.5 million

Source Nielsen

Looking to build on the record performance from a year ago, Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA are rolling out an enhanced version of streaming platform NCAA March Madness Live.

The completely redesigned app showcases a sleeker design, improved navigation, a greater emphasis on social media, an all-new GameCenter experience and a new “run” game. There are also new sections focused on providing fans with more content on the tournament and this year's 68 combatants than ever before.

From Selection Sunday on March 15 to the national championship game in Indianapolis on April 6, users will be able to watch all of the action via March Madness Live accessible from www.ncaa.com/marchmadness, www.CBSSports.com, www.bleacherreport.com, CBS Sports App, Bleacher Report’s Team Stream, the App Store, the Amazon App Store, Windows Store and Google Play on Thursday, March 12. 

The 2014 version of March Madness Live netted a record 69.7 million live video streams, totaling over 15 million hours of consumed live video. Executives expect those figures to be eclipsed this go-round given the enhanced system, additional content and the nation's growing TV Everywhere uptake.

“It’s much more of a companion experience. There is improved discoverability when watching live game video,” said Hania Poole, senior director, product management and operations at March Madness Live, at NCAA Media Day in Manhattan on March 10.

Poole said this year’s enhanced platforms more facilely melds live game streaming, with archival video, tournament-field-tied rankings and statistics (pictured), plus social networking elements.

"The varied elements are more seamlessly integrated this year."  In the past, users had to “swipe away” from the live game streaming to view the other content, Poole said.

At the same time, those only interested in the action can maximize the screen and focus on the ballgame, she demonstrated during Media Day.  

Poole also pointed out that Buick is back for sophomore season as sponsor of the sometimes essential “boss button,” whether the authority figure hovers at work, in the classroom, or at home. To that end, she showed how NCAA March Madness Live now offers spread sheet, student notes and general search facings to assist the user in avoiding platform detection when they should be attending to what some may deem to be more important matters.

As has been the case, the CBS contests are available for all to stream.  However, authentication is required for the games airing on TNT, TBS and truTV. Poole said Turner will once again encourage TV Everywhere sign-up with messaging that will appear during preview periods: three-hour windows are available per device.

On the ad sales side, officials say the inventory is sold out. NCAA Corporate Champions AT&T, Capital One and Coke Zero are the co-presenting sponsors of the platform. As mentioned, Buick is in the game with the Boss button, as well as with Capital One and Coke Zero as thel sponsors of the NCAA March Madness Live App for iPhone and iPad, For their part, AT&T, Capital One and Infiniti are supporting the Android app. The telco will also serve as presenting sponsor for the Windows app. Buick, Infiniti and LG Electronics are NCAA Corporate Partners.

The following are the partners’ descriptions of some of the new key components of NCAA March Madness Live

*“Teams” Section – The new teams section allows fans to follow their favorite team throughout the tournament with stats, video content, a season recap/snapshot, team roster and information outlining upcoming tournament match-ups.

*“Featured” Section – For the first time, fans will be able to view content that captures the story lines  classic tournament moments, match-up analysis, top plays, press conference coverage, featured video content and more.

*GameCenter – The epicenter of NCAA March Madness Live has been reengineered to give fans more ways to watch live games on smartphones - allowing video viewing in both portrait and landscape orientations.  In addition, companion content on smartphones and tablets, such as team and player stats and social content from the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena, is more dynamic and more discoverable than ever before.

*Capital One NCAA Tournament Run– A new game available at ncaa.com/tournamentrun that allows fans to stay competitive in the tournament after a busted bracket. To play, users must answer questions about each game match-up throughout the tournament to accumulate points and create the longest “run.”

*Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge – This year, the official bracket game of March Madness – available via desktop, smartphones and tablets – is upgrading with new game features and more tools to help fans make their bracket picks.  In addition, this is the only bracket game to integrate access to the live video stream of every match-up during the tournament. 

Capped by more than 2 million live streams for UConn’s win over Kentucky in the National Championship game, NCAA March Madness Live closed the 2014 tournament with just under 70 million live streams in shattering the old mark for the tourney’s digital product.

NCAA March Madness Live, managed by Turner Sports, set a new record for video consumption during the 2014 event, tallying 69.7 million live video streams collectively across all platforms, a 42% jump from the 49 million live video streams during the 2013 tournament, according to data from Omniture and Conviva.

All told, NCAA March Madness Live counted a record 15 million hours of live video consumption for this year’s tournament, a 7% increase over last year.

Moreover, NCAA March Madness Live dunked TV Everywhere records – authenticated pay TV subscribers gained access to the games and related action on TBS, TNT and truTV, while a subscription was not required for the contests on CBS – in topping platform consumption for the entire 2013 tourney by the close of the second round.

TV Everywhere usage soared 85% in live streams and 72% in hours spent viewing, according to Turner officials. Authenticated users spent more time watching games, streaming an average of 67% more minutes than users who weren’t logged in. TVE mobile usage surged, with such devices accounting for 52% of total TVE live streaming during the tourney.

Overall, mobile – smartphones and tablets --  recorded  a major advance, scoring a 71% rise in live streams, and a 38% increase in the number of hours.

The five most-watched games across digital platforms for this year’s tournament, based on live video streams were: Dayton-Ohio State: 4.59 million; Mercer-Duke: 4.18 million; Harvard-Cincinnati: 2.74 million; Kentucky-Connecticut in the title tilt: 2 million; and Kentucky-Wichita State: 1.95 million. All of those games beat the top streaming contest from the 2013 -- 1.84 million for Michigan State-Valparaiso.

In partnership between the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports, NCAA March Madness Live launched from www.ncaa.com/marchmadness, www.bleacherreport.com and www.cbssports.com, and was available via the Amazon Appstore, Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Store.  Additionally, fans could watch games via live streaming on TNT, TBS and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites.