• by Wayne Friedman , March 28, 2016

For five networks -- CBS, TNT, TBS, truTV and CBS Sports Network -- iSpot.tv says national TV advertising took in $755.8 million, versus $551.4 million for the same time period a year ago.

For this year, some 347 brands have run 709 spots. AT&T leads all advertisers with a total of $43.5 million in national TV spending, followed by NCAA advertising at $31.1 million; Buick with $27.8 million; Southwest Airlines at $22.43 million; and Capital One with $22.39 million.

The second weekend of the NCAA Tournament brought in $343.7 million in national advertising. AT&T spent $20.5 million; Buick, $16.1 million; NCAA, $14.0 million; Southwest Airlines, $10.6 million and Capital One, $9.3 million. Overall, some 225 brands were aired 437 times.

TV ratings for all four Elite Eight games on the weekend were down around 25% compared to the same round of games a year ago.

One Saturday, two Elite Eight games on CBS -- Oklahoma-Oregon and Villanova-Kansas -- posted a Nielsen average of a 3.1 rating/12 share among 18-49ers and 10 million overall viewers.

In the 8 p.m. hour CBS earned a 2.6/11 and 8.7 million viewers with the NCAA Tournament. The 9 p.m. hour posted 3.0/11 in 18-49 viewers and 9.9 million; and the 10 p.m. hour climbed higher with 3.6/14 and 11.5 million viewers.

On Sunday, TBS ran the other two Elite Eight games -- Syracuse-Virginia and North Carolina-Notre Dame -- earning TV household ratings of 4.9 and 6.6 respectively. Household ratings CBS games on Saturday earned a 5.1 for Oklahoma-Oregon and 7.4 for Syracuse-Virginia.