• by Wayne Friedman , March 10, 2014

Advertising revenue for the three-week-long NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament totaled $1.15 billion -- tops among all big post-season TV sports programming franchises.

Kantar Media, the media researcher, says total TV advertising revenues from CBS and Turner Broadcasting networks, which air the games, improved 3.8% versus 2012 for the 21-day event.

The $1.15 billion total is higher than NFL post-season programming, which runs from from January through February, totaling $1.1 billion. NBA post-season TV content (April through June) was at $929 million; Major League Baseball (September to October) totaled $592 million. NHL Hockey was at $124 million. Kantar Media says this includes all pre-game, in-game and post-game programming for the post-season.

The average price for a 30-second TV commercial in the big NCAA Tournament championship game was at $1.422 million, 6% higher than the $1.341 million price in 2012.

By way of comparison, the Super Bowl averaged $4.0 million for a 30-second spot; $1.64 million for a 30-second commercial in either of the NFC or AFC championship games; $776,000 for the BCS college football championship game; $575,000 for a commercial in Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game; $492,000 for a spot in the NBA Championship series of games; and $465,000 for a 30-second commercial in the World Series.

NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament typically pulls in 80-90 different TV advertisers. In 2013, the biggest spenders were General Motors, $80.7 million; AT&T, $70 million; Anheuser-Busch InBev, $38.9 million; Coca-Cola, $37 million; and Capital One Financial, $36.8 million.

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