Picking up an additional 13 million live streams during the second week of the tourney, NCAA March Madness Live has posted a 31% gain over the entire 2013 event.
With the conclusion of the second week of the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, the platform has recorded 64 million live video streams, according to data from Omniture and Conviva, compared with 49 million last year. Gauged against the corresponding span of the 2013 competition, NCAA March Madness Live, which is managed by Turner Sports, recorded a 40% advance.
Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live has netted 13.5 million hours of live video consumed, an increase of 7% over last year and on pace to rank as an all-time record.
In partnership between the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports, NCAA March Madness Live is launched from www.ncaa.com/marchmadness, www.bleacherreport.com and www.cbssports.com, and is available via the Amazon Appstore, Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Store. Authenticated viewers can watch games via live streaming on TNT, TBS and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites. The games that air on CBS don't require pay-TV verification.
Growth on mobile -- tablets and smartphones -- has been particularly strong, as live streams jumped 71% over the first two weeks of the tournament in 2013. The number of live streaming hours on those devices surged 38% from the comparable year-earlier period.
The top five most-watched games across digital platforms over the first two weeks of the tournament, based on live video streams: Dayton-Ohio State: 4.59 million; Mercer-Duke: 4.18 million; Harvard-Cincinnati: 2.74 million; Kentucky-Wichita State: 1.95 million: and Wisconsin-Arizona: 1.65 million.
Only the Elite Eight Matchup in which the Badgers eliminated the Wildcats on Saturday night didn’t top last year’s most-streamed contest: the 1.84 million for Michigan State-Valparaiso.
NCAA March Madness Live could receive a Final Four bump from Turner’s coverage of the April 5 doubleheader pitting Florida versus UConn and Wisconsin against Kentucky. TBS, airing the action for the first time, will provide a national feed, featuring announcers Jim Nantz and Greg Anthony, while TNT and truTV will present local Teamcasts of the games, featuring separate productions, on-air talent and pregame and halftime fare. A number of households figure to supplement their linear viewing of the TBS games, while also checking in on the Teamcast steaming on their computer, smartphone or tablet.
