TNS Media Intelligence Releases March Madness Advertising Trends Report

Sports fans and advertisers alike are counting down to the start of the NCAA Men s Basketball Tournament beginning March 13th. March Madness continues to be one of the marquee franchises in televised sports, and TNS Media Intelligence has searched its extensive database once again to serve up the latest figures and trends in March Madness advertising.

According to TNS Media Intelligence, over
$2.73 billion has been spent on network TV advertising during the tournament games from 2000-2006. For 2007, ad spending is expected to surpass $500 million in 2007 an all-time high, and a 65 to 70 percent increase in the current decade.

NCAA MEN S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT NETWORK TV ADVERTISING REVENUE BY YEAR

In fact, the post-season NCAA Tournament games bring in more television ad revenue than the post-season games in professional football, basketball and baseball.

POST-SEASON TV AD REVENUE: 2006

Among the major televised sporting championships, only the Super Bowl commands a higher advertising rate than the NCAA Men s Basketball championship game, said Jon Swallen, senior vice president of Research at TNS Media Intelligence. College hoops has higher ad pricing than the major college football bowl games, the NBA championship, and the MLB World Series.

AVERAGE NETWORK TV AD RATES FOR MAJOR 2006 SPORTING EVENTS

WHO ARE THE TOP ADVERTISERS IN THE NCAA MEN S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT?

Like other top-tier sporting events, the NCAA Men s Basketball Tournament has a core group of TV sponsors that invest heavily in the broadcasts year after year. On average, 83 percent of the Tournament s network TV ad revenue comes from returning advertisers.

Over the past seven years, the top 10 advertisers in the Tournament have spent almost $1.1 billion to promote their brands in the games, accounting for about
40 percent of total network TV ad revenue generated by the event.

2000-2006 TOP 10 ADVERTISERS IN NCAA MEN S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT AND NUMBER OF YEARS ADVERTISED

Includes Early Round Games, Semi Final Games, and Championship Game

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE NCAA MEN S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT IN TERMS OF AD SPEND FOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL?

The NCAA Men s Basketball Tournament drives total ad revenue for college basketball.

Nearly
75 percent of all measured national TV advertising dollars that are spent in college basketball each year are spent in the Tournament. Regular season games account for the remaining 25 percent – and there are over 300 nationally televised men s basketball games each season on broadcast and cable networks.

By comparison, college and professional football TV ad revenue is distributed exactly the opposite with 75 to 80 percent coming from the regular season and 20 to 25 percent from the post-season.

NETWORK TV ADVERTISING REVENUE

2005-06 Regular Season vs. Post-Season

MARCH MADNESS AS AN INTEGRATED MARKETING EVENT

As a marketing platform, the NCAA Men s Basketball Tournament is more than just TV commercials. It also extends to other platforms.

NCAA MARCH MADNESS ON DEMAND

In 2007, CBS will again offer NCAA March Madness on Demand. All games from the first three rounds of the Tournament will be streamed live over the internet, available at no charge to PC users with a broadband connection.

For the 2006 Tournament, CBS signed up 18 advertisers to sponsor these webcasts including Courtyard by Marriott, Dell Computers, Lowe s, Pontiac, and State Farm Insurance. The aforementioned advertisers also ran spots in the TV broadcasts.

Advertising units on the webcasts include billboard displays around the perimeter of the viewing window and video ads during the periods when the television broadcasts are in commercial break.

EVENT MARKETING

Major TV advertisers in the NCAA Men s Basketball Tournament leverage their investment through integrated event marketing programs that involve sales promotions, contests, sweepstakes, etc.

The 2006 tournament featured these high-profile efforts:

Chevrolet
a sales event tied to the Tournament, with incentive pricing on various car and truck models.

Pontiac
and
Lowe s each of these advertisers conducted a sweepstakes with trips to the Final Four weekend as the top prize. TV spots directed viewers to visit their local dealer/retail store to enter the drawing. Lowe s also cross-promoted its event in
Sports Illustrated magazine.

Cingular
–
Cingular ran TV spots promoting a service that enabled customers to interact with the Tournament through their cell phones. In addition, the carrier also ran ads for a sweepstakes drawing to win tickets to the Final Four weekend and a chance to step onto the court and make a basket for $5 million.