While March Madness Live saw a record 54 million live streams during the first three rounds of this year's NCAA Tournament, the growth in live streaming "may be testing its limits," according to Mike Shields of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Turner Sports said that fans consumed "over 11 million hours worth of video via March Madness Live," meaning the number of streams "climbed by 7% versus the same period last year while the number of hours consumed rose by 8%." There was a time "fairly recently when the growth in streaming volume" for the tourney would "consistently expand exponentially each year, though the slowdown had started before now." The total number of streams "jump 158% from 2012 to 2013 and then 40% from 2013 to 2014." Meanwhile, the partnership this year between Turner and YouTube "appears to be off to a slow start." The official NCAA March Madness YouTube channel featuring highlights and recaps "has just over 5,000 subscribers and several of the videos posted have generated a modest number of views" (WSJ.com, 3/23).
HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT: In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote, "There are some things we do and don’t get about CBS/Turner’s coverage of March Madness." Analyst Charles Barkley is "there for his king-size personality." Barkley's presence "gives tournament advertisers who have already invested heavily in that personality an even bigger bang for their buck." But Raissman writes, "We don't get how CBS and Turner (TBS, TruTV, TNT) manage, most of the time, to all be in commercial during time-outs in game telecasts -- or breaks in studio shows. Must be dumb luck, right? Or some kind of advertising conspiracy." Raissman also does not get "why Spike Lee was in CBS' studio Sunday" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/24).
