Turner Sports Ad Sales Senior VP/Sponsorship Integration & Business Development Will Funk, who "runs the point" on all of Turner's NCAA Tournament digital and social extensions, "predicts a record-breaking year for revenue," according to Christopher Heine of ADWEEK. Funk said that online inventory "will be sold out this week, as 19 brands have nabbed" roughly 60% of "all available promos through category-exclusive sponsorships while various companies are buying up the rest." Funk: "We have 15 new digital advertisers. We've seen a trend on the digital side with March Madness that there's more demand than supply, which is always a nice position to be in." Funk said digital viewing of the tournament is "obviously going to be bigger on Thursday and Friday with your at-work audience, but the weekend is still a big chunk of it." Meanwhile, Funk said Turner is "talking to the different big players" in social media, adding Snapchat is "one that we're hopeful to work with." Funk also noted Turner-owned Bleacher Report is a "big part of what we're doing." Funk: "It reaches a younger demographic, and it brings us onto campuses. All three of our NCAA Corporate Champions -- AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola -- along with multiple NCAA Corporate Partners, will extend their NCAA campaign through custom solutions using Bleacher Report" (ADWEEK.com, 2/16).
