March Madness is in peak form as the Sweet Sixteen for both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments has taken shape. We have developed some interesting insights around viewers’ behavior and attributes that we’ll share in two blog posts. Here’s the first:
The NCAA basketball tournament culminates with the men’s and women’s Final Four in New Orleans and Denver respectively. Advertisers can expect a national viewing audience for the men’s championship game in the range of 20 million. In contrast, the 1979 championship game between Michigan State and Indiana State, featuring Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird, drew a record 35 million viewers. The women’s championship game is likely to draw a viewing audience in excess of 4 million.
The size of the cumulative viewing audience for the men’s tournament outnumbers the women’s tournament by a factor of more than 3 to 1.
Based on television viewing statistics compiled by Experian Simmons, the size of the cumulative viewing audience for the men’s tournament outnumbers the women’s tournament by a factor of more than 3 to 1. The variance widens substantially when controlling for such factors as household income and education. Among households with income of $150,000 or more, men’s tournament viewers outnumber women’s tournament viewers by nearly 5 to 1. Adults with college degrees are 32% more likely to watch the men’s tournament compared to the women’s.
Men are 2.5 times more likely than women to say they watch the men’s tournament. Men are also more likely than women to watch the women’s tournament. Still, women account for a larger share of women’s tournament viewers (36%) than men’s tournament viewers (30%).
Television coverage of the men’s tournament should reach deep into the ranks of America’s most prosperous households. This is one key finding from an analysis of the composition of households containing adults who are most likely to be tuning into the action. For example, four of the six most affluent market segments, based on Experian’s Mosaic lifestyle segmentation solution, have a 50% or greater likelihood to be watching the men’s tournament compared to U.S. households overall. Using an index value that measures general level of interest in the tournament (an index of 200 indicates that a particular segment is 2 times more likely to be watching compared to the national average), highly engaged segments include American Royalty (184), Picture Perfect Families (171), Kids and Cabernet (160), and Platinum Prosperity (156). Many from these same households are likely to be watching some portion of the tournament on an iPad. In fact, iPad owners are 54% more likely than adults overall to be men’s tournament viewers.
Visit the blog tomorrow to learn more fast facts!