• by March 13, 2001

By Ken Liebeskind

CBS was mad about March madness last year as ratings tumbled 32.6% to 6.4 and a 14 share, according to Nielsen Media Research.

This year, CBS has employed a few new techniques to boost ratings for the college basketball tournament, but it is basically helpless, with ratings dependent on whether the marquis teams meet. Last year, ratings were high early in the tournament but fell when many top teams dropped out. "But this year it's different," says Mike Aresco, senior VP of programming, "because many of the top teams are seeded high in the regions. It will contribute to higher ratings later in the tournament if the top teams advance." He's hoping Duke, Stanford and Michigan State move on.

CBS has tried to boost ratings with more regular season promotion. "We've done more to promote our product on a regular basis," Aresco says. Once the tournament starts, feature shows will be used for promotion, such as Road to the Final Four. The shows use player profiles and human interest stories to draw more viewers to the games.

During the games, CBS will use a few new tricks including Eyevision, a robotic replay system that debuted on the Super Bowl. It shows replays from a variety of different angles. A translucent graphic in the upper left corner of the screen will show updates of other games. The Final Four games will be available on HDTV. "They're all interesting ways to draw viewers," Aresco says.

CBS is also using some new announcing teams. Bill Walton, on loan from NBC, will team up with Dick Engerg. Rick Patino will join a team for the opening round games and be a color commentator for the later rounds.

CBS hasn't sold out advertising for the games yet, but expects to do so by the time the tournament begins. "We're on the cusp," says Dana McClintock, an advertising spokesman. CBS sells spot ads and sponsorship packages. Among the sponsorship advertisers are Cingular, a new college basketball advertiser, which will sponsor Cingular at the Half, the half time show. Microsoft will sponsor an "agile move of the game" feature and Nortel will sponsor a "virtual in-game playbook," which will appear in each game. Blockbuster sponsored last Sunday's Selection Show, Holiday Inn will sponsor "The Road to the Final Four" and EMC which will sponsor the "The Final Two Show."

McClintock declined to provide the rates CBS will charge or the terms of the guarantees for advertisers. The guarantees are different for each ad package, depending on when the ads run, he says.

- Ken Liebeskind may be reached at kenrunz@aol.com