Ad Spend For NCAA Men’s Tourney Expected To Top $500M

Sprint Rolling Out Mobile Content Around NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

Ad spending on network TV during NCAA men’s basketball tournament games is “expected to set a new record this month with more than” $500M, according to Barry Janoff of BRANDWEEK. More than $2.7B was spent on network TV ads from ’00-06, including $497M last year. With a spot in last year’s title game costing $1.1M, TNS Senior VP/Research Jon Swallen said, “Among the major televised sporting championships, only the Super Bowl commands a higher advertising rate than the NCAA men’s basketball championship game” (BRANDWEEK, 3/12 issue).

NO DEAL, NO PROBLEM: In this week’s SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, John Ourand reports Sprint, which is not an NCAA corporate partner, is offering mobile content around the tournament for the second straight year. Most of the content consists of game previews and analysis, which is free for Sprint users who subscribe to its data plan. Intersport, the producer of Sprint’s mobile video content, recently won a lawsuit against the NCAA allowing it to use the phrase “March Madness,” though the NCAA is appealing the decision. AT&T Wireless is an NCAA Corporate Champion (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/12 issue).

Coca-Cola Unveils 40-Foot- By-85-Foot Human Bracket

THE HUMAN LEAGUE: NCAA Corporate Champion Coca-Cola has a 40-foot-by-85-foot “Human Bracket” in Atlanta, which features images of fans representing their teams. The fans representing the Final Four teams will receive trips to the Final Four (Coca-Cola).

MORE PARTNER ACTIVATIONS: NCAA Corporate Partner State Farm will air TV spots via DDB, Chicago, featuring Duke Univ. men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski and Univ. of Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt (BRANDWEEK, 3/12 issue). NCAA Corporate Champion Pontiac “is turning its Virtual Final Four Tournament into consumer-generated media,” with 2,000 participants competing against each other in “College Hoops 2K7” through Web-connected Xbox consoles (ADWEEK, 3/12 issue). NCAA Corporate Partner DiGiorno is running a viral campaign featuring ESPN’s Dick Vitale, in which fans can send personalized e-mails and phone calls from Vitale at DiGiorno.varitalk.com (THE DAILY).