Advertisers continue to be mad for March Madness, with the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament drawing record revenue, according to executives from Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, which team up to televise the event.

Despite a generally soft TV ad market, this year’s sales revenue for the tournament has already surpassed last year’s record level, according to John Diament, executive VP, advertising sales at Warner Bros. Discovery. Prices for 30-second commercials are up by mid-to-high single-digit percentages on a cost-per-thousand viewer (CPM) basis, Diament said.

Last year, spots in the tournament's championship game sold for more than $2 million.

Commercial inventory is “virtually” sold out, added John Bogusz, executive VP, CBS Sports sales at Paramount Advertising. He said inventory is very tight during the first weekend. There are a few spots available as the tournament gets down to the Sweet Sixteen. The Final Four weekend and the championship game, airing on CBS, are just about sold out, he said. 

A few spots are reserved for makegoods to ensure that all advertiser reach the number of viewers they are guaranteed.

Also Read: March Madness Scores Big for Advertisers: Effectv Study

Paramount and WBD start with a leg up because the NCAA has 17 official sponsors who buy media time in the tournament, with games on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. 

The top — champion — sponsors are Capital One, Coca-Cola and and halftime sponsor AT&T. The other NCAA corporate sponsors are Aflac, Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Great Clips, Invesco, LG, Marriott, Nabisco, Nissan, Pizza Hut, Reese’s, Unilever and Wendy’s.

Among the strong categories are autos, quick service restaurants, movies and technology.

Diament noted that the tournament tent to reach an upscale demographic. 

Bogusz added that the live nature of sports continues to attract viewers and entrall advertisers. 

Paramount’s CBS has the next Super Bowl. “We’re open for business,” Bogusz said.

Nearly all of the advertisers on the TV broadcasts are also sponsors of March Madness on Demand, where the tournament games are streamed online. “Demand for those types of digital products is through the roof,” Diament said.

This year's March Madness will be the last for Jim Nantz, the veteran CBS sportscaster who has hosted the tournament for decades. It's likely that Nantz and popular Turner Sports personalities including Charles Barkley will show up in commercials and integrations. ■

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. ■

March Madness has slam-dunked the ad market.

CBS Sports and Turner, which carry the NCAA Division I 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.

“We have had one hell of a selling season,” said John Bogusz, executive VP for ad sales at CBS Sports. “As a matter of fact, we’ve written more ad revenue in this tournament than we ever had before.”

“This is the earliest we’ve actually sold the tournament out,” added Jon Diament, executive VP and chief revenue officer for Turner Sports.

Diament noted that the sports market remains strong and that Turner and CBS were able to sell out the tournament without selling ads to sports books and other gambling outfits, which have been pouring money into television as betting becomes legalized. The NCAA bars gambling ads during its events.

There are about 20 major sponsors for March Madness, all returning from last year. Those big advertisers represent about 60% of the revenue the tournament generates. Also returning is AT&T, which sponsors the halftime show during games.

Big spending categories for the tournament include auto companies, insurance companies and fast food chains. Diament also noted that movie studios are back after the pandemic, as are travel advertisers.

Some advertisers will be running commercials 1 minute or so long. Others will be incorporating talent from Turner into ads specially made to appear during games.

Bogusz said he expects ratings to be strong for this year’s March Madness because the Blue Blood schools — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky — will be playing this year and they are proven audience draws. The field is also likely to be well-distributed geographically with strong teams in the West and southwestern areas of the country. 

“It’s also nice to have a story,” Bogusz added. "This is Coach K’s last year. If Duke advances that’s going to be a really good story and help draw big ratings.” ■

On the heels of one of the most exciting college hoops championship games in recent memory – Villanova’s buzzer-beater to defeat the University of North Carolina 77-74 – the National Collegiate Athletic Association has extended its multimedia rights agreement for the Men’s NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship with CBS and Turner Networks for eight years, in a deal valued at $8.8 billion.

The new deal extends the agreement through 2032, ensuring that the championship tournament, also known as March Madness, will be telecast by the networks for almost two more decades. The three originally reached a 14-year deal for the tournament in 2010, in a pact valued at $10.8 billion.

Through the terms of the new deal, Turner and CBS Sports will provide live coverage of all NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship games across any platform within their respective portfolios, including those to be created over the life of the agreement.

The decision to extend the deal when it still had eight years left – it would have expired in 2024 – was an easy one given the scarcity of iconic sports events like March Madness, Turner president David Levy said on a conference call with reporters.

“From Turner’s perspective, there are very few premium sports properties available that produce the kind of value the NCAA Tournament delivers to our distributors, our advertisers and our consumers,” Levy said.  “As the media landscape continues to evolve, these expansive rights provide us with incredible opportunities to build and pursue new business extensions while developing a deeper connection to our fans across all these different platforms.”

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said the deal fits with the network’s strategy of airing large, iconic events, whether it be the Grammy Awards, the Super Bowl, or the NCAA Tournament.

“When the opportunity presented itself to talk to the NCAA and Turner to extend another eight years, we were very enthusiastic to do that,” McManus said on the conference call. “The fact that we’re securing another big event that has been part of CBS for 35 years is a really great addition and continuation to our lineup of premier events on CBS.”    

Through the terms of the new deal, Turner and CBS Sports will provide live coverage of all NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship games across any platform within their respective portfolios, including those to be created over the life of the agreement.

CBS Sports and Turner will continue to manage and collaborate on the NCAA’s corporate marketing program. Additionally, Turner will continue to manage March Madness Live and NCAA.com, along with major events surrounding NCAA championships, including the NCAA March Madness Fan Fest and Music Festival.

 “The extension of our current agreement will allow our more than 1,100 NCAA member colleges and universities to continue to support student-athletes on 19,000 teams across 24 sports,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert in a statement. “We have a diverse membership with varying resource levels, and this extension will assist our campuses as they provide pathways to opportunity in higher education and beyond for nearly a half a million young men and women each year.”

This year’s tournament was the first where the championship game was aired on cable. Ratings for the championship game were down from the prior year when they were on the broadcast network.

Under the new agreement, all opening-, first- and second-round games will continue to be shown across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV with Turner and CBS splitting coverage of the regional semifinals and regional finals each year.  Live coverage of the Final Four national semifinals and national championship will continue to alternate between CBS and Turner each year, with CBS broadcasting the games in 2017 and TBS televising them in 2018.

Levy said despite the lower cable ratings, there are no plans to change the format.

Levy said a combination of early upsets that eliminated high profile and large market teams like Michigan State University put ratings pressure on the entire tournament, not just the championship game. And he added that the previous five years of the agreement had increased ratings every year.

“This year was sort of an anomaly,” Levy said on the conference call. “The story lines and the match ups as well as the competitiveness of the games really played into the whole tournament. Case in point: last year’s 2015 Kentucky-Wisconsin semi-final game on TBS, was the highest [rated] game in 19 years, broadcast or cable. If there is the right story line the right marchup and a competitive game you’re going to get a rating whether its broadcast or cable.”

The tournament has delivered significant audiences across all platforms throughout the six-year partnership between Turner and CBS.  Television coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV has averaged more than 10.2 million total viewers in its respective game telecast windows over the last six years.  NCAA March Madness Live has more than doubled the number of its live video streams and live hours of consumption since 2011.

Turner and CBS Sports will maintain the existing sales partnership surrounding the NCAA Corporate Champion and Partner program.  This program has grown from nine to 17 members since the previous deal was announced in 2010.

“CBS Sports and Turner are great partners for the NCAA and its membership” remarked Joseph R. Castiglione, director of athletics at the University of Oklahoma and current chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, “Having their long-term commitment ensures that March Madness will remain one of the preeminent television sports properties.”