How Are Advertisers Capitalizing on March Madness?

In 2015, there were 11.3 million average total viewers of the NCAA’s March Madness, along with a record 80.7 million live video stream viewers. The most watched game attracted 28.3 million total viewers. If you don’t think it’s a big deal, you should try working in downtown Indianapolis this month (where our offices are)! We’ll be working from home most of the month.

This infographic from Koeppel Direct highlights the tremendous opportunity brands and marketers have to reach sports fans through cross-device advertising during March Madness.

Last year’s March Madness marketing stats were staggering – 126 brands spent $1.163 billion on 30-second television spots that averaged $1.55 million each during March Madness. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The March Madness marketing season is a huge opportunity for cross-device advertising, and this year’s March Madness viewership is projected to be accessed even more content away from the television.

Digital ad spending on March Madness was $30.4 billion on smartphones and tablets and will surely beat that record this year. Another $27.6 billion was spent on desktop and laptop ads during the 17.8 million hours of video streaming.

As the second and third screens become more popular, advertisers are working to take advantage of the cross-device viewership between television, desktop, tablet and smartphone.  Curious who else plans to cash in, where they plan to spend those ad dollars, and exactly how much? Here you go…