• by Wayne Friedman , March 13, 2024

NCAA’s “March Madness,” the three-week men's college basketball tournament on CBS and Turner cable networks and platforms, has seen TV advertising price increases of mid- to high-single digit percentage gains with overall ad-revenue volume of similar percentage hikes.  

“We are basically sold out in the tournament,” says Jon Diament, executive vice president/advertising sales, Warner Bros. Discovery, during a press conference on Wednesday. “This will be the best revenue in the tournament we have ever had.”

Executives for Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery did not provide specific details on pricing or volume for the event. The tournament is sold out for the Final Four and Championship game.

For the 2023 “March Madness” tournament, CBS pulled in an estimated $694.7 million in national TV ad revenues, while TBS came in at $184.8 million; TNT, $82.7 million; and TruTV, $59.8 million, according to EDO Ad EnGage.

Live sports continues to garner big premium pricing -- much better than entertainment content, according to TV network executives.

“The entertainment market has certainly not been as robust as it has for sports,” says John Bogusz, executive vp of CBS Sports Sales, Paramount Advertising.

“Sports has the advantage in the marketplace,” says Diament, adding that this has to do with more consistent and higher sports viewership in, for example, the Super Bowl and other sports franchises.

Bogusz says a major growth category is insurance marketers, including Geico, which is spending significantly. In addition, other healthy categories include automotive, quick-service restaurants, and banking/financial services.

There are 18 new and returning higher-volume spending “champions” and “partners” in the tournament -- advertisers with multi-year deals, which help the CBS and Turner sales process. Every year, selling activity starts with TV networks and platforms essentially being 50% sold.

This list includes returning "Champions" -- AT&T, Capital One, and Coca-Cola. The "Partners" list includes The Home Depot and Geico (both new), and returning ‘Partners” -- Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, Great Clips, Intuit TurboTax, Invesco QQQ, LG, Marriott Bonvoy, Nabisco, Nissan, Pizza Hut, Reese’s, Unilever, and Wendy’s.

High-demand live sports like “March Madness” is also pushing marketers to make earlier deals in the upfront -- all to get secure pricing, viewer guarantees and access to better inventory, according to Diament.

One major growing overall sports TV ad category that will not see any TV commercials in “March Madness” is sports gambling/gaming marketers. The NCAA does not allow gambling-related advertising from companies such as FanDuel, Draft Kings and  BetMGM during the NCAA Tournament.

The tournament will run on CBS, Paramount+, TNT,  Max, and Max’s B/R Sports Add-on with coverage beginning on March 17 with the “Selection Show” running through the championship game on April 8 and TBS.