March Madness generated more than $410M in equivalent media value for brands exposed within telecasts of the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments excluding commercials, according to research from Elevate Sports Ventures and Hive Analytics. Through 134 total games, brands earned more than 187 hours of cumulative brand exposure. Five brands -- AT&T, Capital One, Coca-Cola (including Powerade), Nike and Spalding -- collectively earned more than half of the total media value generated. Other big winners included Buick and State Farm. Official NCAA sponsors, equipment providers and apparel brands outfitting participating teams collectively earned 93% of equivalent media value.
Meanwhile, official NCAA corporate partners, especially Coca-Cola, benefited from a surge in search engagement during tournament games, per data from EDO, which connects televised brand exposure from sponsorships and advertisements to online search activity. Read the full study here (Elevate Sports Ventures).