CBS, Turner Enter “Madness” with Near Advertising Sell-Out

A much safer wager is that Turner Sports and CBS Corp teaming on their seventh combined tournament presentation under an extended rights deal that now stretches until 2032 will again set a new ad sales record with the 67game tourney televised on CBS TBS TNT and truTV This yearamp8217s version of the Madness tips on March 14 and 15 with the First Four telecasts on the latter network before all four are put into play with the second round on March 16 and St Patrickamp8217s DayLast year the tournament tallied a recordsetting 124 billion of national TV ad spending up 4 from 119 billion in 2015 The total ranked second to NFLamp8217s postseason total 132 billion and ahead of the NBAamp8217s 103 billion MLBamp8217s 569 million and the college bowl seasonamp8217s 358 million according to Kantar Media estimatesLike a backcourt of upper classmen John Bogusz Executive Vice President for Sports Ad Sales at CBS and Jon Diament Executive Vice President of Ad Sales for Turner Sports were poised and confident at NCAA Tournament Media Day on March 7Bogusz noted of the Final Four semifinals on April 1 and the national championship game on April 3 from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale Ariz that inventory was amp8220virtually soldoutamp8221 He also said there were some units available in Elite Eight regional final action airing on TBS on Saturday night March 25 and the following afternoon on CBSBogusz also said that Turner and CBS always write business as the tournament unfolds with the adsales teammates eyeing lastsecond higherpriced opportunities for those wanting to join the Madness or buttress their schedulesPer usual CBS and Turner enter the tourney on firm footing behind media commitments from NCAA Corporate Champions ATampampT CocaCola and Capital One and 15 NCAA Corporate Partners That represents a doubling of the roster the partners manage this enterprise from when the original rights deals were declared in 2010This year the program has seen the addition of Marriott Hotels and Wendyamp8217s which succeeds Burger King as corporate partners Pizza Hut one of the initial corporate partners dating back to the late 1980s is back in the fold think the Grant Hill spot in which he can order pies from a laptop phone or specially designed amp8220sneakers known as PieTopsamp8221Benefiting from that base of NCAA backers Bogusz said CBS and Turner go to the Madness market with almost half the inventory accounted forDiament also pointed out that other advertisers have signed multiyear deals as overall ad sales were pacing slightly ahead of last yearDiament said the auto financial insurance tech and telecom categories were all marked for growth this time around Business has also been brisk with the movie studios pharmaceutical and oil and gas companies amp8220which have been strong this yearamp8221 and added that new categories have emergedAccording to Kantar the top parent companies that played advertising March Madness ball a year ago were General Motors at 93 million and ATampampT at 80 million CocaCola 47 million Capital One 46 million and Volkswagen 39 million rounded out the top 5Over the first six years of the partnership linear television coverage across the four networks averaged 102 million total viewers in their telecast windowsamp160 But the 2016 tourney suffered from a ratings perspective amp160An openinground loss by perennial fixture Michigan State was one of 11 early upsets Kansas and Kentucky exited quickly as did defending champion Duke robbing last yearamp8217s tourney of bluechip hardwood brands and their fans in the latter roundsEditoramp8217s note Viewership will likely be down in Connecticut where thousands of residents in dozens of towns have had CBS removed from their cable lineups due to a prolonged conflict between Alticeowned Optimum and Meredith CorpThe national semifinals Villanova thumped Oklahoma 9551 while North Carolina squeezed the Syracuse Orange 8366 provided little drama and not much of a leadin for the championship game which aired on cable for the first timeamp160 An alltime finish wasnamp8217t seen by all that many relatively speaking as the Wildcatsamp8217 7774 over the Tarheels averaged a combined 178 million watchers via the national feed on TBS as well as the amp8216Nova and UNC amp8220team streamsamp8221 on truTV and TNT respectively The teamspecific telecasts are on the bench this year with CBS which is airing the Final Four and championship contest telecasts looking to deliver as big an audience possible to the network and its affiliatesamp160 That was the fourth lowest ever for the title game and a 37 decline from 283 million for DukeWisconsin in 2015 on CBSIt would be very surprising if ratings and ad revenue didnamp8217t move forward with the 2017 tournament which boasts a wideopen field including Gonzaga Arizona UCLA and Oregon Sadly the Ducks have lost formidable inside presence Chris Boucher to a seasonending ACL injuryHaving teams from the Pacific time zone with legitimate chances to reach the Final Four and win the title should expand geographic viewing interest and help Turner and CBS merit a March Madness ratings riseClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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CBS, Turner Enter “Madness” with Near Advertising Sell-Out

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J.P. Fields

About That with Carl Mayer: Danny Senor (Episode 7: Sports Survey) - By Carl Mayer

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CBS, Turner Enter “Madness” with Near Advertising Sell-Out

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