CBS and Turner are “already about 95% sold out of commercial inventory” for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, according to Baysinger & Consoli of BROADCASTING & CABLE. The networks, whose sales teams are selling the tournament jointly, have “gotten mid-single-digit price increases over last year," and 30-second spots in the April 2 championship game "have sold for as much as $1.5 million.” Sources said that ads in opening-round games “sold this year at an average price of $90,000 per :30, while spots in the regional finals sold for between $600,000 and $700,000.” Turner Sports Exec VP/Ad Sales & Marketing Jon Diament said, “We are almost sold out. We’ve written a lot more dollar volume at this point than we did last year” (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 3/12 issue). MULTICHANNEL NEWS' Mike Reynolds notes CBS Exec VP/Sports Sales & Marketing John Bogusz pointing to a “strength in the auto, tech and financial categories.” He put the “sell-through level at 95%, with the rest on reserve for late opportunities, or perhaps make-goods should the tourney fall short of audience guarantees.” Diament said that the “digital side moved before the linear inventory, which almost ‘never happens’ and which speaks to the way fans now consume the tournament” (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 3/12 issue).
CHARLES IN CHARGE: CDW is debuting a new ad campaign during the NCAA tournament that stars Pro Basketball HOFer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley. In the campaign, a fictitious company, Gordon & Taylor, seemingly wins at everything except its recreational basketball league. To win that league, it brings Barkley in as a “ringer.” In a 30-second spot called “Game Time,” Barkley is seen working at his desk with a name plate that reads “Charles Barkley” and below that “IT Guy/Ringer” while CDW boxes are stacked behind him. When two of his co-workers tell Barkley it is game time, Barkley says, “Can’t. Busy … configuring these tablets.” At this point, a co-worker explains how CDW handles “mobile device management” and its tablets are “preconfigured.” Barkley: “Really?!” Then Barkley rips off his dress shirt and tie to reveal his No. 34 Gordon & Taylor basketball jersey and says, “Let’s do this thing.” The next spot is called “New Office,” which shows Barkley and a co-worker looking at Barkley’s new office, which is really an indoor basketball court with a desk to the side. Barkley said, “This looks like a basketball court.” His co-worker said it "used to be one of our server rooms,” but because CDW upgraded it to the “HP CloudSystem,” the company now has space. The third ad is called “Analogy” and features Barkley and his two co-workers in the break room drinking coffee. One of his co-workers said to Barkley that CDW is working to “transform IT by moving our mission critical applications to the Cloud. Understand?” Barkley replied, “Nope.” Barkley’s other co-worker said, “Let me put this another way: With Cloud computing we’re fast and agile, like you were during your rookie season, whereas before we were slow and inefficient like you were during your ... final ... season.” Barkley replied, “I’m not comfortable with that analogy” (THE DAILY).
