From: The Sports Point
As with any big time sporting event, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament commands a high price from its advertisers. This year is no different, as CBS expects their ad revenue from the tournament to be in the $450 million range, a 12% increase from last year.
The price for a 30 second commercial spot in the championship game is $1.4 million. Whose ads can you expect to see every four minutes in the TV timeouts? The presenting sponsors who always have a big presence include: AT&T, Coca Cola, and Pontiac. Among the new advertisers this year will be: Chevron, Liberty Mutual, and Starwood Hotels.
Perhaps CBS's greatest strides have come in the online arena where supposedly their ad revenue has doubled each of the last three tournaments, according to the President of CBS Sports Sean McManus. A trend they hope will continue this year, as viewers can log in and view the March Madness on Demand product on high traffic websites such as Facebook and YouTube.
The numbers CBS and the NCAA commands for advertising is absolutely staggering. Even more so when you consider that that viewers from bars and college campuses are not taken into account when the TV ratings for the tournament are computed.
Ad sellout at 95% for NCAA Championship (Mediaweek)