CBS Nears Sell Out for NCAA March Madness Online

With about two weeks to go before the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, CBS is nearly sold out of inventory and is approaching $30 million in ad revenue for March Madness On Demand, its Web video product that allows fans to stream online each of the 60-plus tournament games it televises. According to Jason Kint, CBSSports.com senior vp and general manager, ad revenue for MMOD will definitely see an increase “well north of 20 percent more” than last year’s record $23 million haul. CBSSports.com has once again signed on AT&T, Coke and Pontiac as presenting sponsors, and has inked deals with close to 35 different brands (up from 30 last year). Among those advertisers is Comcast, which has committed to be the first sponsor of the “boss button” - which enable at-work viewers to display a fake spreadsheet on their screens with a quick click of the mouse if their boss approaches while they’re watching live games.Demand has been as strong as in recent years, said Kint, despite a brutal economy and increased caution among online advertisers. He believes the quality of the inventory, along with the potential size of the MMOD audience combine make the offering stand out during a recession. “It’s very unique,” he said. “MMOD- there is nothing quite like it. It’s video, and advertisers say that it is challenging to find mass reach video content that is predictable and premium.”Kint is predicting MMOD to exceed the record 4.7 million unique viewers who streamed live games last year, since CBS has expanded its distribution. Last year the network pushed the product across the Web, making it available on sites such as ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports and MySpace while dropping all registration requirements. This year the content will also be distributed on recent CBS acquisitions CNET and GameSpot, among others.Plus, unlike in years past CBS does not anticipate extended wait periods for users looking to access live games. Kint said that the site has dropped its online “waiting room” product, which previously provided users with an estimate of how long they needed to wait to gain access to streaming game during heavy-demand periods. “We’ve increased capacity so much that it’s no longer a necessary feature,” he said.

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CBS Nears Sell Out for NCAA March Madness Online

Mike Shields

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