Was March Madness Worth It For Advertisers?
Another March Madness has come to an end. Traditionally, the March Madness audience, much like other big sports events such as the Olympics, represents a significant opportunity for brands to reach viewers en masse. This makes the games a battleground for advertisers, vying to get maximum eyeballs and drive a return on ad spend. This year, a week prior to tip-off, virtually all ad inventory sold with record-setting revenues. The networks reported close to double digit increases in ad sales year-over-year.
Last year, the cost for a 30 second spot ranged from $200,000 to $300,000 starting with the First Four, to over $2 million for the Championship game. With such a high cost, does it make sense for brands to spend this money?
Overcrowded Events
It might not. These big sporting events are very cluttered with advertisers vying for consumer attention making it hard to break through. Food and beverage, retail and auto advertisers have always invested heavily on traditional linear TV during March Madness. And for events like the Olympics, just five categories account for more than 50% of the typical ad load. This means it could be more impactful for brands to look into alternatives to reach their target audience. There are multiple and less expensive places across TV where these audiences can be found and it’s not necessarily other sports events.
The mistake of making assumptions
It might be a surprise to some but brands don’t necessarily have to reach these viewers through these live sport events or even sports advertising at all. Brands waste a lot of money making assumptions on where audiences can be reached.
For instance, it’s actually a mistake to assume that March Madness fans are generic basketball fans. Last year, 40% of March Madness viewers did not tune-in to a NBA game in the three months preceding the tournament. Instead, March Madness viewers enjoy comedy, movies and news genre content. Advertisers can see better ROI by following this audience to other content where they are engaged versus spending heavily on March Madness inventory.
Additionally, March Madness viewers also are plugged into the news shows covering all of the culturally relevant stories emerging from the tournament – like Good Morning America – presenting another opportunity to reach them at a more cost-effective rate.
We know this because of ACR data.
ACR data
With the use of ACR data, you can pinpoint exactly where to find March Madness or other big event audiences across different platforms, networks and shows. Thus, instead of buying time during live sports events that are highly competitive and extraordinarily expensive, brands can instead buy advertising inventory by demographics and get guaranteed outcomes for better reach and better return.
The cost of advertising in live sport events can be prohibitive but it’s not the only way to reach those audiences. It’s often much cheaper to understand who these audiences are and reach them through other platforms, networks and shows. But brands should not make assumptions on where these audiences are. It’s not always intuitive. Smart brands will leverage ACR data to target viewers more effectively – for both marketing budgets and consumer’s attention.
