The NCAA Tournament is virtually sold out, with CBS and Turner bringing in a double-digit revenue increase this year despite the fact the Final Four and championship game will be on cable for the first time, execs from the nets said. “We have had zero resistance to having TBS run the championship game,” said Turner Sports Exec VP/Ad Sales & Marketing Jon Diament. Part of the reason is that CBS and Turner sold ads based on the combined Triplecast ratings on TBS, TNT and TruTV. “Those combined ratings are in line with how the game has performed in the past several years,” Diament said.
The top ad sales execs from CBS and Turner credited a robust overall ad sales market for the increases. “We are well over our goals for this year,” said CBS Exec VP/Sports Sales & Marketing John Bogusz. Execs also pointed to the many multiyear deals it already had signed. Advertisers that previously signed multiyear contracts accounted for more than 50% of the tournament’s ad sales revenue this year. The auto category was particularly strong, as was the tech category, with brands like Apple buying into the tournament. The tournament also will see several new advertisers, like online mortgage company Sofi, which also advertised in the Super Bowl this year. Hilton also bought an ad sales schedule “in a big way,” Bogusz said.
