The NCAA Tournament, also known colloquially as March Madness, is one of the biggest sporting events in America. For three weeks every March (and into the first week of April), millions of Americans turn their attention to College Basketball, participating in bracket pools with friends and co-workers, and cutting down significantly on their workplace productivity. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that US companies lose an estimated 1.2 billion in collective work hours during the first week of the tournament alone.
Given that, it may sound weird to talk about the Tournament positively in the context of business, but there is another side to the coin. Including the NFL’s post-season and Super Bowl, no American sports post-season generates more money in advertising revenue than the over a billion dollars yearly that the NCAA Tournament generates. Part of this is sheer volume as all 67 games are nationally televised on one of four networks (CBS, TruTV, TBS, TNT) over the three week period, but part of it is the popularity of the tournament. You don’t need to be a college basketball fan to get interested because of the universality of bracket tournaments.
There are a variety of ways to get in on the action for advertisers. Obviously, television advertising is a very effective method, but that is very expensive. Advertising online with a popular sports website like espn.com or cbssports.com can also be effective, but that can also be expensive. A less expensive way to effectively take advantage of the tournament is through college media advertising, advertising online or in print with schools involved in the tournament.
Having your school’s team in the NCAA Tournament is a big matter of pride for the student of a campus, no matter what university it is. As you can expect, online impressions increase noticeably on student newspaper websites of the involved schools, as does readership of the school’s print newspaper. At the same time, rates rarely increase to compensate. If you are seeking to promote your brand to a college aged demographic; take advantage of the tournament’s universal appeal. Running a print or online advertisement during the tournament can get you a lot of bang for your buck.
