Dive Brief:
- March Madness has become a major marketing opportunity. According to Koeppel Direct data, last year 126 brands spent $1.163 billion on 30-second TV spots and average viewership for games was 11.3 million.
- For cross-channel marketing purposes, 2015 also set an all-time record of live video streams at 80.7 million.
- Looking toward this year, it’s projected that viewership across different devices will reach: 10.8 million for TV, 7.3 million for desktop/laptops, 3.8 million for smartphones, and 2.5 million for tablets.
Dive Insight:
"For all the talk of ad skipping, the growth of March Madness is a testament to the power of live, event-driven television," Peter Koeppel, founder and president of Koeppel Direct, told Marketing Dive. "The audience for the tournament continues to grow as it makes its mark across devices, and it ignites passionate social engagement among fans."
Nearly half of fans (42%) view the game from their mobile devices. Armed with this type of knowledge, advertisers can better target their campaigns and make them more personal.
Ran Ben-Yair, co-founder and CEO of Ubimo, recently offered Marketing Dive ideas for marketing during the tournament, stating marketers should get granular when targeting audiences, such as instead of “sports fans” use “young women at sports bars” during game times. He also suggested leveraging location as a means for communicating with the right audiences at the right time. For example, by using different messaging for people at the game versus someone watching at home, you can tailor ads in more specific ways.
Of the brands that advertised last year during March Madness, the top five categories were telecom, automotive, financial services, insurance and restaurants. Koeppel noted that for the right brands, March Madness can be just the place for expanding their reach with a highly-niche audience.
"Like the Super Bowl and the Oscars, advertisers have an opportunity to be front and center in real time, in a myriad of ways that draft off the excitement and singular enthusiasm that this annual competition creates," he said.
