SAN JOSE, Calif.—Roku has launched its NCAA March Madness Zone, a new branded destination for fans following the tournament.

Created in close partnership with TNT Sports and CBS Sports, the zone offers a streamlined way to follow every live game, match highlights, and more.

Available throughout the four weeks of March Madness, the zone also allows fans to set game reminders for their must-see match-ups and check final scores with the new score‑strip row.

“March Madness is a time when sports fans everywhere stop what they’re doing and lock in for a tournament full of buzzer‑beaters, Cinderella runs, and bracket‑busting upsets,” said Joe Franzetta, head of sports, Roku Media. “The NCAA March Madness Zone makes it simple for fans to find every game, relive the highlights, and stay focused on their team’s evolving stories. We’re excited to partner with TNT Sports and CBS Sports to deliver a seamless viewing experience for millions of fans tuning in.”

The NCAA March Madness Zone offers comprehensive coverage of both the men’s and women’s tournaments, showing viewing options for each match-up, based on the users existing subscriptions.

Men’s games are available to stream on the NCAA March Madness Live app and through Premium Subscriptions on Roku, including HBO Max and Paramount+.

Fans can also access games on broadcast via TBS, CBS, TNT, truTV and other providers. Beyond live games, fans can relive iconic moments with highlights available within the zone or game replays via The Roku Channel.

Those who are not yet subscribed can sign up directly within the zone, with easy subscription management available directly on their Roku devices or by visiting my.roku.com. From March 19 to March 31, streamers can sign up to get their first two months of Paramount+ on The Roku Channel for just $2.99/month, or through the Paramount+ app.

The NCAA March Madness Zone will also be featured on the Roku Home Screen and Roku said there will be multiple entry points on the platform.

STAMFORD, Conn.—Charter announced today that it is launching a new multiview feature for March Madness, which begins this week.

The new Multiview feature in the Spectrum TV App, gives subscribers the ability to watch up to four NCAA men’s or women’s basketball games simultaneously during the tournament.

“The NCAA Tournament is the perfect time for basketball fans to experience the thrill of multiple games at once,” said Elena Ritchie, Senior Vice President, Video Product. “Multiview is all about making it easier for customers to catch every highlight and stay connected to the action.”

Multiview is available to customers using the Spectrum TV App on Xumo Stream Box, Xumo TV, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, Samsung, LG and Vizio smart TVs. Customers must have a Spectrum TV package that includes the content being featured in Multiview. Curated Multiview options can be selected directly from the Spectrum TV App home screen, making it simple to follow multiple games in real time. When in Multiview, viewers can change which audio to listen to or select a game to go full screen on a single event.

Spectrum plans to expand the Multiview feature throughout the year to cover other major sporting events, including the NHL and NBA playoffs, the World Cup, college football and NFL games.

More information about the Spectrum TV App is available here.

NEW YORK—A new report from Nielsen’s The Gauge shows the NCAA men’s basketball tournament helped drive cable’s traditional March increase, the Oscars on ABC stood out for broadcast and, in a competitive month of high-profile streaming releases, the top programs in March were represented by seven different streaming platforms.

However, time spent watching TV in March was down 6% compared to February, The Gauge noted.

While the report highlighted seasonal viewing shifts during the month, such as strong cable viewing driven by college basketball, it also showed the ongoing rise of the popularity of streaming platforms. With 43.8% of TV usage in March, the streaming category increased its share of the viewing pie versus February (up 0.3 share points).

March was also an exceptionally competitive month for streaming services as prominent new releases drove viewership across a number of platforms. Most notably—and for the first time ever in a monthly Gauge report—the 10 most-watched streaming titles in March were distributed by seven different platforms: Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Max, Paramount+, Netflix and Apple TV+.

Now included under Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming, Max notched the largest month-over-month increase among streaming services and jumped 6% in March, largely on the strength of “The White Lotus.” Meanwhile, YouTube achieved a new platform record for a second consecutive month with 12.0% of total TV watch-time (+0.4 share pt.), despite slightly lower viewing levels compared to February, the report explained.

Cable’s share of viewing benefited from college basketball’s favorite time of year: March Madness. Cable climbed to 24.0% of TV usage (+0.8 pt.), buoyed by a 29% lift in cable sports viewing and another strong month of cable news viewership. Atop the most-watched cable sports telecasts in March were NCAA Men’s Elite Eight games between Alabama-Duke and Texas Tech-Florida on TBS. Meanwhile, cable news programs accounted for seven of the top 10 cable telecasts, led by Fox News Channel’s coverage of the presidential address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, which drew 11 million viewers on the network and over 36 million viewers in total.

The bright spot for the broadcast category this month was ABC’s presentation of The Oscars on March 2, which was the most-watched program in March with 20.3 million viewers across ABC and the simulcast on Hulu.

The report stressed that this illustrated the latest success of multiplatform distribution. Similar to February’s Super Bowl on Fox and Tubi, viewers who streamed “Hollywood’s Biggest Night” on Hulu were three times as likely to be 18-34 and twice as likely to be 35-49 compared with those who watched via other means, underscoring the effectiveness of cross-channel content availability with younger audience demographics, the researchers explained.

Across the rest of the broadcast category, scripted dramas accounted for 28% of its total viewing in March. Episodes of the CBS drama “Tracker” represented five of the top 10 broadcast telecasts, with each averaging over 10 million viewers (L+7) despite stiff competition from several March Madness games. The absence of football was evident this month, however, as broadcast viewership fell by 9% versus February to finish the month at 20.5% of TV.

Nielsen also reported that viewing totals among the following streaming services have been aggregated into a single distributor total to better represent these companies as they go to market: Paramount+ and Pluto are represented as “Paramount Streaming," Max and Discovery+ are represented as “Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming" and Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ are represented as “Disney Streaming” (since January 2025).

Nielsen’s March 2025 interval ran from Feb. 25 through March 30. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.

ESPN is reporting that for the third year in a row the ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge, the most popular college basketball bracket game for the NCAA men’s basketball championship, has set a new all-time record with 24.4 million completed brackets before the start of the tournament on March 20. That was up 10% compared to last year’s record of 22.6 million.

At the peak period of entries shortly before the start of the first game on Thursday March 20, ESPN Tournament Challenge registered more than 709 brackets per second. Overall, more than 1.1 billion picks were made.

The most popular pick to win the men’s championship is Duke with 25% of all brackets picking the Blue Devils. Florida is the second most-picked to win the final with 21%. More fans chose Duke, Florida, Auburn, and Houston to reach the Final Four than any other combination of teams, ESPN reported.

ESPN Tournament Challenge allows fans to track in real-time the number of perfect brackets remaining in both men’s and women’s Tournament Challenge games with the Perfect Bracket Tracker. The tool also provides insight on the games that have had, and could potentially have, the most impact on perfect brackets.

The ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge continued to accept brackets until just prior to tip-off of the first game on March 21 in the Round of 64 between No. 6 Michigan and the No. 11 play-in winner Iowa State in the Birmingham 3 Regional at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2. ESPN is the exclusive home to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.

NEW YORK—TV usage dropped by 3% in March compared to February and March Madness helped cable to gain a larger share of TV viewing but overall changes in TV usage were very similar to February, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge™ report for March 2024. 

While usage fell to some extent across each of the primary viewing categories in March, the report showed that cable viewing from February to March drove a 0.7-point bump in share, resulting in 28.3% of TV for cable. The cable category was lifted in part by sports, which was up 43% in March, driven largely by college basketball viewership. 

Nielsen also reported that games in the women's NCAA tournament had a more meaningful impact on viewership compared with previous years, with the Round 2 matchup between Iowa and West Virginia ranking as the No. 7 cable telecast in March with 4.9 million viewers on ESPN. 

Also giving cable a boost this month was State of the Union coverage on cable news networks. The March 7 event drew 32.2 million viewers in total (14.1 million on cable networks), and six of this month's top 10 cable telecasts were related to it. 

But viewed from a longer term perspective, year over year, the cable category saw a 10% decline in usage and it lost 2.8 share points.

The streaming category also exhibited minimal impact compared with last month, falling just 1% which resulted in a 38.5% share of TV (+0.8 percentage points) in March. YouTube ended the month with another record, accounting for 9.7% of total TV usage in March (+0.4 pt.) — the largest share for a streaming service to date in The Gauge. Meanwhile, Netflix climbed to 8.1% of TV (+0.3 pt.), boosted by three of this month's top streaming originals: Love is Blind, The Gentleman, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which combined for nearly 15 million viewing minutes in the March interval.

Continuing a longer-term shift towards streaming, Nielsen reported that streaming viewership was up 12% this month versus one year ago, and the category has added 4.4 share points (vs. 34.1% in March 2023).

The broadcast category exhibited the largest decline across viewing categories in March, falling 6% vs. February to account for 22.5% of TV (-0.8 pt.). On a yearly basis, broadcast viewing has declined 4% and has lost 0.7 share point. 

Despite having or tying for the smallest share of TV in The Gauge since the report's inception, the broadcast category has shown notable resilience over time. When the report debuted in May 2021, broadcast sat at 25.4% of TV, while cable and streaming accounted for 39.5% and 26.2% of TV, respectively.

Almost 36 months later, the broadcast category has lost just 2.9 share points compared with 11.2 points given up by cable, and the streaming category has gained over 12 points. 

While the cable category has shown the largest decline over that time, the core businesses that make up the category may be shifting along with consumers. None of the now-reported FAST channel providers (PlutoTV, The Roku Channel and TubiTV) had yet exceeded the 1.0% reportability threshold at the time of the first report. Now those services combine for 3.7 share points, with a considerable portion of the titles being fueled by cable network content, the report found. 

The NCAA has released figures showing that the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and the Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship both saw strong audience growth in opening rounds.

Through Saturday, the Men's Championship viewing on CBS, TBS, TVT and truTV averaged 9 million per game, a record while ESPN reported that the Women's second round games also set viewing records. 

In terms of the Men’s Championship, the NCAA reported that millions of fans tuned to linear coverage on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, beginning with the Selection Show on March 17, when 5.9 million viewers tuned in to CBS for the bracket unveiling. That number was up 16 percent from last year and is the best total in five years. 

First Four games attracted a total of 6.2 million viewers, up 14 percent from last year and the second highest total for Tuesday and Wednesday at the First Four since the format debuted in 2011.

First-round games Thursday and Friday drew an average 8.53 million viewers, which is the third most in tournament history, behind last year's total of 8.62 million and the 8.56 million who watched in 2015. Thursday's average of 8.5 million viewers makes it the most-watched opening day of the first round since 2015, and Friday's average of 8.6 million viewers is the second most ever for the Friday of the first round, trailing only last year's 8.8 million.

For the Men’s Championship games, the numbers got even better on the weekend. Saturday's games averaged 10.8 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, making it the most-watched first day of the second round ever. That brought the tournament average through Saturday's games up to 9.0 million viewers, making it the most-watched tournament through that stage in the history of the event. 

"The Division I Men's Basketball Championship is off to a captivating and enthralling start by every measure," said JoAn Scott, the NCAA's vice president for men's basketball. "We should never take for granted the way the men's basketball championship delivers every March, and this year the tournament is as popular as it has been in many years. The competitiveness and talent of the student-athletes and teams leads to compelling performances and stories. March Madness is unlike anything else on the sports calendar, and the next two weeks of the tournament should be special."

For the Women’s Championship, ratings also continued to soar, with millions of fans tuning into coverage across ESPN platforms, inclusive of ABC, the NCAA reported. 

The NCAA Women's Selection Show on ESPN, which aired March 17, averaged 1.94 million viewers, which was up 52% from the 2023 Selection Show and was the most-watched edition in 20 years. Fueled by 236,000 viewers for the Arizona-Auburn game on March 21, First Four games averaged 184,000 viewers, up 24% from last year.

ESPN reported that the second Round games averaged 1.4 million viewers across ESPN platforms, becoming the most-watched Second Round on record. Viewership was also up 121% year-over-year, including ESPN recording its most-viewed Second Round on record with an average of 1.5 million viewers across two days. 

Tennessee/NC State and South Carolina/UNC each averaged 1.2 million to rank within the Top 10 most-watched games on record. 2024 Women’s NCAA Division I Women’s Championship is averaging 812,000 viewers through this point, up 108%. The Championship has amassed 4.2 billion total minutes, marking the most-consumed early rounds on record.

The NCAA also reported that 2024 DI Women’s Basketball Championship celebrated record-setting attendance record for a third consecutive season. A total of 292,456 fans came through the turnstiles to watch first- and second-round games, an increase of 60,779 fans over 2023, when a then-record 231,677 fans attended. Iowa City topped all hosting sites, welcoming sellout crowds totaling 28,764 fans for the first and second rounds, marking three straight years of sellouts at Carver Hawkeye Arena, with Caitlin Clark leading the way. 

Attendance at the opening rounds also helped to push the all-time NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship attendance over the 9 million mark, with 9,290,650 fans attending over the 41-plus years of the championship.

New data from AdImpact indicates that day 1 of the NCAA Men’s Tournament saw increased viewership with audiences peaking at approximately 21.3 million viewers at 8:54 PM EDT compared to 20.4mn viewers reached at 8:22 PM EDT in 2023.

Streaming viewership also rose, increasing from 29.3% of viewers in 2023 to 39.5% in 2024 while linear decreased from 70.7% in 2023 to 60.5% in 2024. YouTube TV accounted for a significant share of streaming, including 16.6% of total TVs in 2024 (12.1% in 2023), according to AdImpact.  

LG Ad Solutions provided additional data in its latest sports study, which surveyed more than 850 US consumers to determine behavior and TV viewership preferences towards watching live sports founds. Highlights of that study included: 

• 74% of CTV users watch live sports via streaming apps, with nearly 30% planning to watch March Madness this year only via streaming this year. 
• 36% of March Madness viewers tune into both the Women’s and Men’s tournaments
• 30% of Men’s game viewers and 22% of Women’s game viewers tune into the Final Four and 34% of Men’s game viewers and 42% of Women’s game viewers tune into the Championship
• 64% of CTV viewers are likely to pay attention to ads while watching live sports, providing marketers with an opportunity to reach and engage consumers during March Madness and beyond

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Sling TV has announced the launch of its original feature, Auto Record, which will make it easier to record games during March Madness. 

After users opt in, the feature automatically records NCAA Football, NFL, NBA, NCAA Men's Basketball, MLB, NHL, Premier League, NCAAW, WNBA, Bundesliga and La Liga Santander. With the feature, users no longer need to worry about setting the DVR or missing out on their favorite games.

Games are subject to a subscriber's Sling package and availability on Sling. Each game is saved for three days after its live broadcast.  

"We understand the passion our viewers have for sports, and with the introduction of Auto Record, we're enhancing their streaming experience like never before," says Gary Schanman, group president, Dish Video Services. "With Auto Record, fans can catch the dunks, three pointers, and upsets offered on Sling."

To access Auto Record, users will need to subscribe to DVR Plus for $5 a month. Once subscribed, users must accept and opt in, in order to access Auto Record, then they can enjoy the convenience of recorded games, allowing you to watch only the parts of the game you want without any interruption. Auto Record does not count toward their 200 hours of DVR space provided by DVR plus.

"With Auto Record, we are empowering our users," added Schanman. "At Sling our priority is to make streaming simple, flexible and to fit into the lives of our users. Auto Record does that."

Sling TV also reported that it offers users these features to make watching multiple games easier.

• SPORTS SCORES: Just in time for all the action to start, Sling improved this already popular feature and is rolling it out to users now. Users can browse all sports scores while streaming TV. The feature is available via a dedicated Home screen row that enables users to check matchups, view scores and jump into the best live games, letting sports fans keep an eye on the latest scores while they switch between games, all in one view. Amazon, Android and Apple TV users have access to the latest version. Other devices will get their upgraded version soon.
• SPORTS SIDE VIEW: Want to watch while at work or busy with other things? Sports Side View allows viewers to watch all the action in a small screen overlay, while still working on presentations and spreadsheets. Available by logging in at watch.sling.com.

 Auto Record is now available to Sling TV users on Roku, Samsung, Vizio and Xbox devices. All other devices will have access in the upcoming weeks. Sling is offering a free first month of DVR Plus, available to all new and former subscribers. For more information on the new Auto Record feature, visit Sling.com/value/DVR. 

IRVINE, Calif.—In a relatively rare example of a TV set manufacturer partnering on the production of exclusive original content, Vizio has announced the launch of a branded entertainment series, “3 Pointers”, which will begin airing exclusively on Vizio on March 17. 

The show is being produced in partnership with BetMGM, a sports betting and gaming entertainment company. 

The partnership highlights the growing importance of the advertising businesses being developed by set makers like Vizio and their need for fresh original content to drive sponsorship revenue. 

Hosted by Casey Webb ("Man vs. Food"), the four-part limited series celebrates the culture of college basketball’s big month with game day recipes, beverages, and entertainment hacks designed to elevate the viewing experience. 

“`3 Pointers’ captures important criteria as we evaluate what to put in front of our audiences: relevance, timeliness, and premium storytelling,” said Steve DeMain, vice president of branded content and sponsorships at Vizio. “As we continue to evolve the experiences we deliver to our customers, we’re also expanding the opportunities we can provide brands to connect with our audience in unique ways that add value to their journey. It’s a win-win.”

“We collaborated with Vizio on this one-of-a-kind programming from concept to completion with the goal of creating a premium entertainment experience that taps into the excitement of March basketball,” said Matt Prevost, CRO at BetMGM. “`3 Pointers’ is a creative and dynamic series that we hope sports fans will enjoy throughout the month-long celebration of college basketball and beyond.”

“3 Pointers” is available on the Vizio home screen and on demand on WatchFree+. 

YouTube TV has introduced its highly anticipated multiview feature that will allow its subscribers to view up to four program streams simultaneously. Multiview will only be available for a limited number of subscribers on the first day of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament and is designed to help the streamer garner viewer feedback in anticipation of a full-scale rollout when YouTube TV's "NFL Sunday Ticket" service launches in the fall. 

In a blog post, the company said subscribers could pick up to four pre-selected streams at once in their “Top Picks for You” section. After selecting multiview, viewers can switch audio and captions between streams, and toggle back and forth out of a fullscreen view of a game. 

“Multiview joins our suite of features for sports fans and we’re looking forward to continuing to improve the experience and introducing it to all YouTube TV subscribers over the next several months,” the company said.

In December, NFL and Google inked a multiyear deal reportedly valued at $2 billion a year to move "NFL Sunday Ticket," which had been a staple of DirecTV since it launched in 1994, to YouTube TV starting with the 2023-2024 NFL season. 

NFL Sunday Ticket will be available on two of YouTube’s businesses as an add-on package on YouTube TV and standalone a-la-carte on YouTube Primetime Channels. No details on pricing are yet available. NFL Sunday Ticket offers all out-of-market Sunday regular-season NFL games (based on viewer's location) broadcast on Fox and CBS. 

In a Q&A on the blog post, German Cheung, the engineering lead for the YouTube TV core experience team, talked about how the company developed the technology to ensure that home viewers would not need any extra gear for a feature that involves higher processing and bandwidth than the typical unicast.

The streamer used existing technology it had already developed for a feature called “Go Live Together” that allows for content creators to collaborate in real time. “Instead of building something totally new from scratch, we could use what the Live team had already created and make adjustments from there for the YouTube TV platform and bring the feature to market faster,” Cheung said. 

It also borrowed from YouTube’s content ID system that monitors YouTube videos and matches it with content uploaded by copyright owners. “Our teams found that we could use the same technology to make our recommendations even better by using what had already been built to make sure we don’t recommend the same, or similar, videos to a viewer,” he said.

As for now, the menu available to the limited number of subscribers will be pre-selected by YouTube TV but that’s expected to change as the service rolls out to a wider audience, Cheung added. 

“Over time, we’ll refine and add more functionality to multiview, including the option to customize your own multiview streams.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—A new survey from LG Ad Solutions finds that 74% of consumers plan to watch the March Madness tournament this year, up 9% from those who watched in 2022 (65%). Of those who plan to watch March Madness, 54% plan to watch at least one game via a streaming TV app.

"Our research reveals the majority of live sports viewers are watching on ad-supported streaming channels – and this will only continue as more streamers buy the rights to live sports content and legacy sports publishers launch streaming apps,” said Tony Marlow, CMO of LG Ad Solutions. "With March Madness and other marquee sporting events like the start of the MLB season and the NBA playoffs quickly approaching, brands can now confidently go beyond linear and reach a large audience of sports fans who feel favorable towards advertisers on streaming platforms.”

The study surveyed more than 1,000 consumers in February 2023.

Other key findings of the “Game Day and Beyond: The Sports Viewership Study,” include: 

• 81% of viewers say they are likely to pay attention to TV ads while watching March Madness. And 52% of consumers actually feel more favorable towards brands that advertise during the tournament.
• 37% of viewers watch live sports mostly or only via TV streaming apps, with Amazon Prime and YouTube TV being the top apps used to stream live sports.
• 41% of viewers will spend more time watching live sports in 2023 compared to 2022. Currently, 80% of viewers watch sports at least once a week.
• 81% of viewers are likely to watch sports content on a free, ad-supported streaming TV app.
• 71% of consumers are likely to sign up for a streaming subscription service to watch sports and either cancel or pause their subscription once the season is over.
• 80% are likely to multitask on their devices while watching live sports or other sports content.

NEW YORK—Deloitte and Sinclair Broadcast Group have announced that they plan to launch a new metaverse sports fan community experience that will leverage Epic Games' Unreal Engine to explore the future of gameplay and the fan experience through the metaverse.

The community will launch the week of March 6th.

The fandom community was built by Deloitte's Unlimited Reality practice, which brings together 3D computing, artificial intelligence, Web3.0, immersive experiences and advanced connectivity to help clients create business value. The community makes use of Epic's Unreal Engine — a powerful 3D creation tool that brings robust experiences to life in real time.

Sinclair is billing the partnership as an important next step in Sinclair's plans to deepen engagement with its viewing community, drive new revenue streams through experiential gaming and help redefine sports viewership and experiences through the metaverse. 

The community is designed to build on the new ways fans are consuming sports-related content, as well as the desire from fans for more immersive content and greater engagement with teams, Sinclair said.

It is also designed to engage fans beyond simply viewing of live games, providing a metaverse experience to engage fans during post-season, pre-game, post-game and eventually, during the game. 

"By bringing together Sinclair's vision of virtual metaverse engagement with Deloitte's deep client and sports industry knowledge, metaverse know-how and break-through solutions and ecosystem partnership, we plan to deliver an enhanced fan experience that caters to the unique communities we serve," said JR McCabe, chief business officer, Consumer Products, Sinclair Broadcast Group.

"In Deloitte's recently published '2023 Sports Industry Outlook', it is clear the blending of physical and virtual worlds is accelerating in the industry, providing fans with more ways to access and consume sports content than ever before," said Dan Helfrich, chair and chief executive officer of Deloitte Consulting LLP. "We are excited about the opportunity to team with Sinclair Broadcast Group to augment the viewing experience by harnessing the power of virtual worlds for broader community accessibility and deeper fan engagement."

Learn more about Sinclair's virtual community here.

In the runup to this year’s March Madness men’s college basketball championship, a new analysis of viewership trends during the 2022 tournament argues that past viewing trends indicate the games are likely to be a slam dunk for advertisers. 

In 2022, a majority of households got into the sports spirit, with 65% tuning into the games for an average of 9.25 hours per household, according to researchers at Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable.

Findings also reveal March Madness ads reach more than double the households per commercial compared to the average program, according to the study, which highlighted the opportunity advertisers have in reaching a broad, engaged audience.

These insights, collected from Comcast’s aggregated viewership data as well as third-party sources during March Madness 2022, reflect the importance of this event for advertisers, the researchers said. 

“The March Madness timeframe is small but mighty with its ability to reach wide audiences efficiently,” said Travis Flood, executive director of insights, Comcast Advertising. “The engaged, live environment captivates viewers and encourages them to gather around the big screen – even those who don’t typically consume TV. Given the fragmentation in TV viewing today, this is an incredibly powerful tool for advertisers.”

The researchers also stressed that March Madness advertising is valuable in securing incremental viewership, as 50% of households reached by March Madness programming are uniquely incremental to the campaign. This means half of the audience reached with March Madness would not have otherwise been reached by the TV campaigns analyzed for 2022.

Other key highlights from the study include: 

• March Madness ads reach nearly 2.5x more households per commercial than the average program.
• Streaming viewership on networks airing March Madness increases 86% during the tournament (versus the prior period).
• 67% (two in three) of businesses tune into games during the first and second rounds of the tournament.
• 41% of March Madness viewing is done with another person.
• Advertisers that include March Madness in their campaigns receive as much as 87% greater reach than those that do not.
• March Madness advertising has the power to reach light TV viewing households – with this programming being 55% more likely to be viewed by this hard-to-reach audience.

“With March Madness, advertisers are reaching viewers who would not otherwise be seeing TV advertising,” added Flood. “Incremental reach is on everyone’s mind in 2023, and this event provides an opportunity to reach audiences more than twice as efficiently as an average ad. This is an opportunity that can benefit advertisers of all sizes.”

The full findings are available here. 

NCAA March Madness Live—the live streaming and second screen destination for the NCAA Men’s Tournament—is offering several new ways to watch and engage with all the action from the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship this year. The updated platform experience will include the debut of a new multigame viewing feature across select connected devices. 

NCAA March Madness Live is managed by Turner Sports in partnership with the NCAA and CBS Sports and is available to download across 18 mobile and connected devices including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox, Google TV and select LG Smart TV devices.

New this year is a Multi-Game Viewing option, which allows fans to watch up to two games simultaneously, providing users a live look-in to a second game without audio. Multigame viewing is available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, and Xbox One. This feature will join the picture-in-picture option (available on mobile, desktop and tablet), which allows users to navigate through the MML app while watching a game in real-time.

NCAA March Madness Live will also introduce Starting Lineup Challenge, a new interactive experience, developed in partnership with SharpLink Gaming. To play, fans are given a budget to pick a lineup of five teams before the start of the Tournament. Those teams then gain value by winning games and conversely stop gaining value when they lose. After every round, users can buy and sell teams to tweak their lineups or hold the teams they currently own to earn loyalty points. At the end of the Tournament, the lineup with the highest value wins.

Capital One NCAA March Madness Men’s Bracket Challenge will add a new feature that reminds users of the outcomes they predicted so that they know which results to root for in anticipation of winning their Bracket Challenge.

NCAA March Madness Live will once again feature Matchup Analysis, allowing fans to choose from over 20 stats to personalize their bracket picking experience as part of Bracket IQ presented by Invesco QQQ. Fans will also gain extra insight with Path to the Championship, which lets fans calculate possible Tournament outcomes based on remaining games in the bracket, giving users a visualization of their best possible ranking. Path to the Championship will be available at the start of "Sweet Sixteen."

Fast Break presented by AT&T 5G and Nissan, will now feature enhanced analytics powered by Second Spectrum, part of the Genius Sports family, that will breakdown gameplay stats and augment video with graphic overlays detailing the most critical data points. This live, whip-around coverage will also offer quick turnaround highlights, real-time analysis by industry stars, social reaction and commentary for all games.

Game Center, the central hub of NCAA March Madness Live, will be featured on all connected devices and include Condensed Games presented by AT&T 5G to spotlight the most important moments of live game action. To fuel engagement and connection with users, Game Center will feature the Madness Feed, powered by LiveLike, to offer Tournament updates, interactive polls and quizzes. The feed will be updated during the busiest rounds of the Tournament to create a unique experience alongside video viewing.

Turner Sports and CBS Sports will provide live coverage of all 67 games from the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, and via NCAA March Madness Live. Additionally, Turner Sports’ Bleacher Report and CBS Sports will provide coverage of the games across their respective social media platforms and apps, redirecting fans to watch games live on NCAA March Madness Live and the four networks.

Fans can also access all Tournament games via live streaming on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites and apps. The CBS telecast can be viewed via the web and on mobile devices with no authentication required and via Paramount+ on connected devices.

FOSTER CITY, Calif.—Sports fans saw the return of March Madness over the weekend, and one of the big early winners is the TV screen. A report from Conviva on viewing habits for the first two days of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament reveal record-setting streaming numbers, and a majority of that being done through televisions.

The first two rounds of the tournament saw more than 1 billion minutes total streamed for all 32 games. Day one saw 15% more time spent streaming than day two, but that is historically in line with past tournaments. Also, the first day of the tournament took place during a Friday with games starting around noon and hitting peaks around 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. ET. The second day of games took place on a Saturday and saw its streaming peak occur around 9:15 p.m. ET.

Fans were primarily choosing to stream on the big screen, per Conviva. For the first time, TV earned more than 50% of the shared March Madness viewing time, with 68% of people streaming on their TVs. That number was 41% in 2018 and 48% in 2019.

Roku proved to be the most popular of the TV streaming platforms, garnering 40% of those who streamed through the TV. Amazon Fire TV was second with 26% and then Samsung TV with 10%.

For more information, visit Conviva’s website for the full report. 

ATLANTA—The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, better known as March Madness, is set to return after not taking place in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Turner Sports has shared its redesigned NCAA March Madness Live streaming and second-screen platform that fans can use to watch the tournament action.

NCAA March Madness Live is a multiplatform viewing experience, and this year it is focusing on providing fans with dynamic live video of games, according to Turner Sports. Among the highlights of the new platform are a redesigned Game Center and “The Catch Up” feature.

Game Center serves as the central hub of NCAA March Madness Live, providing news, highlights and interactive content. This year, Game Center will be available on all connected devices and include “Condensed Games” from AT&T 5G, which focus on the most important moments of live game action. Game Center will also feature a new tab with interactive widgets offering polls, quizzes, alerts and more; the widgets will update for every game.

Another new feature, “The Catch Up,” is presented by AT&T 5G and provides a summary of key plays and moments in a game before a viewer starts watching live streaming coverage.

Returning to NCAA March Madness Live is “Fast Break,” presented by AT&T 5G and Nissan, providing an “all-encompassing” look at live tournament action from a single viewing location, according to Turner Sports. Fast Break also offers quick turnaround highlights, real-time analysis, social reaction and commentary for games. Fast Break will be available when there are multiple games being played during the first two rounds of the tournament.

In addition, for fans who fill out tournament brackets with the Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge, NCAA March Madness Live will provide information on their picks and results, including following their Bracket Challenge group leaderboards.

March Madness Live will share live coverage of all 67 games of the tournament across TNT, TBS, CBS and truTV.

The 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is taking place entirely in Indiana, with most games taking place in Indianapolis. The tournament begins on March 18 and goes through April 5. 

WASHINGTON—Even though the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, more affectionately known as March Madness, was cancelled because of coronavirus (COVID-19), CBS Sports and Turner Sports have committed to paying the contracted technicians, utilities and freelancers that were set to work the tournament, according to reports.

Initially reported by Sports Video Group, the news was shared through an email from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW said it was not able to share internal emails with TV Technology). SVG also said that it received confirmation from CBS Sports and Turner Sports.

The email detailed that CBS Sports would pay “straight-time hours” for when individuals were contracted to work, and that they would be paid over the next few weeks as originally intended had the tournament gone on. Corresponding benefit contributions will also be made to flex plans and entertainment industry 401K plans, per the email.

The range of those being paid will include any professional or freelancer who was scheduled to work the NCAA Tournament, the Final Four and Division II and Division III national championship games. It will also extend to those who were contracted (professional and freelancers) working in the broadcast centers’ studios, edit rooms and coordination rooms.

ATLANTA—March Madness, the NCAA’s annual men’s basketball tournament, will officially tip off March 17, and Turner Sports and the NCAA have rolled out a slew of new features for its NCAA March Madness Live streaming app to give fans as much of the action as they can take.

First, March Madness Live will be available across 17 platforms this year, including Google Assistant for the first time, giving fans direct access to live coverage of tournament games.

As far as the new features, the highlight is a Multigame option added to Amazon Fire TV and Android TV platforms that will enable fans to watch simultaneous live coverage of two games during certain windows. Previously, this option had only been available on Apple TV. Another live video addition is the new Catch-Up video powered by AT&T TV, which will provide a summary of key plays or moments that occurred before a viewer started watching the live stream coverage.

March Madness Live will also now help viewers keep track of their bracket predictions during live game coverage. Through either the Watch Page, Gamecenter or with push notifications, viewers can be reminded of the outcomes they predicted during games. In Gamecenter, users can also follow their Bracket Challenge group leaderboards, including access to private chats with other group participants.

For the third consecutive year there will also be the Fast Break feature, providing live tournament action from a single viewing location via “whip-around” coverage with quick turnaround highlights, real-time analysis, social reaction and commentary for all games. Fast Break will be available during the first two rounds of the tournament (March 19-22).

Additional features for the March Madness Live streaming app includes Path to Championship analysis of brackets; Matchup Analysis to help users personalize their bracket picks based on more than 20 stat categories; close-game alerts; live game scoring; and direct access to live radio broadcasts, courtesy of Westwood One, for all 67 games.

Fans can access Turner Sports and CBS Sports’ coverage of all 67 games through CBS web and mobile platforms, as well as live on traditional TV and digital platforms for TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.

INDIANAPOLIS—Fans will once again be able to put themselves in the center of March Madness as the NCAA has partnered with Turner Sports and CBS to live stream 21 tournament games in virtual reality. VR streams will be available on Gear VR and Google Daydream devices through the March Madness Live VR app. Games from Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., will be available for the first and second round; from Los Angeles and Boston during the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight; and all games from the Final Four in San Antonio.

For instructions on how to access the games through VR devices, visit NCAA.com.

ATLANTA—It’s the most wonderful time of the year for college basketball fans, as March Madness is officially upon us and this year, fans will have more ways to watch all the games of the NCAA Tournament. NCAA March Madness Live—the live streaming suite of products from Turner Sports, in partnership with CBS and the NCAA—will cover all 67 games of this year’s tournament across 16 platforms, more than any previous year, per Turner’s press release.

March Madness Live will be available on fans’ iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Apple Watch Android handset, Android tablet, Amazon Echo family of devices, Amazon Fire tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream, mobile web, Roku players, Roku TV models, web and Xbox One.

In addition to the expanded availability, the March Madness Live suite also has a number of new features with the goal of improving the users viewing experience. The new “Fast Break” feature, presented by AT&T and Lowe’s, offers live streaming whip-around coverage of every tournament game during the first Thursday and Friday of tournament action. The feature will switch from game-to-game with live look-ins, highlights and commentary.

Apple TV users will be able to watch up to three live games at once through a new multi-game viewing experience available through the March Madness Live app for Apple TV. Also, select games will be offered in virtual reality via March Madness Live VR powered by Intel True VR and available in the Oculus Store and Google Play store; specific details about what games will be available in VR will be announced closer to the tournament.

Other features looking to boost fan experience include an enhanced Capitol One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge Game, which will provide push notifications for live games and keep them updated on their picks, as well as Bracket IQ, which will offer analysis for game picks. Additional “excitement alerts” will be delivered for big alerts and for access to live radio broadcaster from Westwood One.

Turner’s iStreamPlanet provides the live streaming infrastructure for all games on March Madness Live. Games this year will be available at up to 60fps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku and Xbox.

The NCAA Tournament will be broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, while also being offered on the companies’ digital platforms.

The 2018 NCAA Tournament will take place from March 13 to April 2.

ATLANTA—The NCAA’s March Madness College Basketball Tournament kicks off next Thursday, March 17, and Turner Sports has announced a deal to offer a new way for fans to experience it, a partnership with Snapchat and its Live Story product. This announcement is the beginning of a multi-year deal that will use Snapchat’s Live Story to provide coverage for a number of major sporting events.

This partnership will take the Snapchat’s Live Stories, which are a collection of videos and photos from Snapchat users to create a collective story, to offer unique perspectives for all the action of March Madness. Users will also have access to official brand marks, imagery and behind-the-scenes Snaps to add to their own content as part of the deal.

Advertising opportunities for the deal include Snapchat’s 3V ad product, which offers full-screen, vertical video ads that are interspersed throughout the user-submitted content in a Live Story.

In addition to college basketball, Snapchat is expected to offer similar services to the other sports that Turner Sports covers, including the NBA, Major League Baseball, boxing and professional golf.

The 2016 NCAA College Basketball Tournament will run from March 17-April 4.