Tournament Tipoff: Where You Watching On Thursday?
Advertisers Will Find March Madness Viewers On TV, On Demand
Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 3/17/2009 10:14:38 AM
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament tips off Thursday afternoon. Will you be ducking out of work for a couple of hours to a local establishment, or checking out the action on the computer via March Madness of Demand?
Either way, a number of sponsors will have viewers covered. NCAA champion partners Coca-Cola, AT&T and General Motors' Pontiac are returning as the presenting sponsors of MMOD, which streams all 63 of the tournament games, this time in enhanced-quality through Microsoft Silverlight's video player.
Last year, Jason Kint, CBSSports.com senior vice president and general manager, said MMOD attracted 4.8 million unique visitors last year, a 164% jump from 1.8 million in 2007. About 90% of that occurred in the workplace, much of it on the tourney's first two days.
"We spike on the opening Thursday and Friday. Then dip all the way through the Final Four as the TV goes up," said Kint. "It's the perfect inverse."
Miraj Parikh, video innovation director at agency Spark, called those two days the "Super Bowl of digital streaming. He noted the agency had two clients on MMOD in 2008, but they backed off this year over budgetary issues.Mike Law, vice president, director of broadcast at Carat, said that when clients couple "TV and a presence on MMOD, that first Thursday and Friday, there's a good continuity to both, you see a constant flow."
Through last week, that flow, from between 30 and 35 sponsors, had accounted for about $30 million in ad dollars for MMOD, up from $23 million in 2007 and $10 million the year before.
While CBS has built a nice business online with the tourney, the commercials on the linear broadcasts contribute the lion's share of its revenue. As CBS Sports and News president Sean McManus said during the tournament media day at the network's headquarters in Manhattan last week, "TV is still the dominant ad medium and it will be during my career. That might not be the case for Jason," referring to Kint, who was sitting to his boss's right during the session.
According to Nielsen, CBS' 2008 ad haul reached $580 million, while TNS Media estimated the network's tourney take at $643 million.
Noting that no sector is "immune to the economic downturn," McManus called sales for the tournament "a pocket of good news" in a tough ad environment. As of last week, CBS was at about 90% of its ad goal for the tourney.According to the media buyers, it's a level that hasn't changed much in recent weeks.
"It's been 90% or so for a long time. They should be at 99% by now," said Parikh, noting that CBS typically holds an estimated 5%-8% of inventory in reserve for audience deficiency units in case the tournament under-delivers. "If they exceed ratings expectations, you're talking 8% to 12%. Buyers could see some opportunities."
Added Law: "I'd say that's about accurate. The tournament's a great place to reach men in general and young men in particular. They have NCAA corporate and returning sponsors in place, so there's a good base. But they've been at that level for a while now."
In addition to AT&T, Coca-Cola and General Motors at the corporate champion level, CBS executive vice president for sports sales and marketing John Bogusz said Enterprise, The Hartford, Lowe's State Farm, Starwood Hotels and newcomer Hershey are at the NCAA partner level. All are contractually obligated to express media in the tournament.
On Parikh's scorecard, CBS is benefiting from an "escalator year" from NCAA sponsors, during which they have to up their spending in the tournament. All told, he says Black Rock has close to two dozen returning advertisers for the tournament.`
Bogusz said the financial category has been a problem. "We've lost AIG and Wachovia," he said during an interview last week. "We're trying to make up some of that. The movie category has been good. Tech is up."CBS has also received a lift from the autos. Mercedes, Toyota/Lexus and Audi, which is a new sponsor, have joined troubled General Motors, which did not advertise in the Super Bowl or Academy Awards, on the network's roster.
"I find that interesting in terms of the auto marketplace overall," said Bogusz.
He anticipated that CBS would be in sale during the course of the tournament, with some inventory remaining in the Final Four and championship game. Pricing has held up there so far, with 30-second spots in the semifinals fetching $450,000 to $750,000 (the second game is more attractive) and a title tilt ticket going anywhere from $1.1 million to $1.3 million per unit.
The buyers say early round-entry is less pricey. "You can do some slicing and dicing. For $2 million, you can have a good presence on that first Thursday and Friday," said Parikh.
Law concurred: "With the first weekend, for a relatively low out of pocket, you can get some nice frequency."
McManus said part of the reason that March Madness schedules command a premium emanates from the considerable amount of tournament viewing beyond the traditional home.
"It could be a double-digit level. A lot of people are in the room watching the games," said Law.
"Yes, there is additional viewership. Nielsen has added more college dorms to its sample. It's a very social event, for many even more so than the Super Bowl," said Parikh, who argues that under those scenarios many are not listening to the sound during the commercial breaks, thereby mitigating the additional audience.For his part, Law also believes that MMOD takes some bite out of potential out-of-home viewership
"People don't have to go out and watch the games," he said. "It has to have a little effect."
Still in an ad market, where some are calling flat the new up, the national interest in the event and the quality of the tournament's live programming is keeping CBS right in the game.
"Given the economy, we're at a good level," Bogusz said.
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