Advertisers are still bought into March Madness.
Arguably the best postseason in sports is attracting strong interest from marketers. According to a report by Mollie Cahillane in Sports Business Journal, CBS and TNT Sports, the primary media rights partners for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, have sold out of advertising inventory for the competition.
“We’re happy to say we’re virtually sold out,” Paramount sports sales exec Ryan Briganti told reporters on a call Wednesday. “This marketplace picked up earlier than it has historically.”
According to Jon Diament, the head of advertising sales at Warner Bros. Discovery, half of advertising inventory for the tournament sold in advance. “It’s got a huge head start, even before you get to the upfront,” he said.
The pair of executives reportedly confirmed that advertising figures were hitting historical records, “surpassing $1 billion in the last couple years,” Sports Business Journal reports.
The usual suspects of insurance, pharma, automobile, banking, and travel are some of the sectors most heavily involved in this year’s tournament.
As for the exact dollar values of a 30-second advertisement for March Madness, neither company revealed their figures. But according to Sports Business Journal, ad rates have ranged from around $200,000 for a 30-second spot during the First Four to well over $2 million for a 30-second spot later in the tournament.
Those figures go to show the strength of live sports as a vehicle for marketers. Earlier this year, Fox sold multiple 30-second spots during the Super Bowl for north of $8 million. Live sports remains one of the only places where advertisers can capture a large cross-section of the American public all at once. Growing ad rates seem to reflect that reality.
