The men’s tournament is “essentially sold out,” with a “handful of units left,” for last-minute asks, Jon Diament, executive VP, advertising sales, for Warner Bros. Discovery, said on Wednesday.
Coming out of last year’s upfront negotiations, ESPN had little inventory remaining to sell for the women’s tournament, said Jimmy Spano, executive VP, head of Dentsu Sports. “Any advertisers that did look to buy [the women’s tournament] in scatter, ESPN has leverage and can charge a premium,” said Spano.
The men’s tournament, on the other hand, grants a period of exclusivity to legacy sponsors immediately following the upfront, before opening inventory to the general market in early November. Spano said sales for the men’s tournament started slow in the general market due to challenging economics during the fourth quarter as well as the demand to shift more money to women’s sports.
Bookmark our upfront and NewFront calendar
In past years, it was easy to grab ad inventory à la carte for the women’s NCAA tournament. But this year, ESPN asked for a $1 million minimum commitment to advertise during the tournament, and a dollar-for-dollar spend match across other women’s sports properties, confirmed multiple buyers.
ESPN and the NCAA in January announced an 8-year, $920 million media rights deal that begins Sept. 1. The deal includes $65 million for women’s basketball, according to Just Women’s Sports, or more than three times its previous deal.
Media buying platform Tatari saw demand for inventory in the women’s tournament grow after over 20 clients tested campaigns during the women’s regular season in the fourth quarter.
Also read: How media buying is evolving
In previous years, “I don’t think women’s March Madness really came up all too often—the ratings just weren’t there to justify brands spending large amounts in the women’s tournament,” said Elliot Rifkin, associate director of media buying at Tatari. “This year, everything is flipped … our brands started testing women’s college basketball in 4Q, and it has been some of our best performing media.”
But it’s not just on TV where stars are made. Women’s sports fans in particular are absorbing content over online and social channels, and that is what’s driving interest in televised events like March Madness, according to Haley Rosen, a former pro soccer player who today is CEO of the online news site Just Women’s Sports.
“I believe March Madness and the Final Four are going to be absolutely massive, but the work that goes into making that massive is happening now,” Rosen said in an interview. Brands would do well to consider the online fan when investing to reach the women’s sports audience, she said, noting that the TV has become a “lagging indicator” of fan interest.
“It’s really important that we’re surrounding the game content with digital content and meeting fans where they’re at, which is social—it’s TikTok, it’s showing up in those ways,” Rosen said. “I don't think a lot of the legacy players are doing a good job of meeting the women's sports audience where they’re at. They might be putting more of these women’s sports games, more college basketball games on TV. But they’re not surrounding those games with content that’s reaching the audience.”