Radio Coverage Of NCAA March Madness Is A Slam Dunk For Advertisers.

It won’t be long until NCAA college basketball shifts into high gear during its annual “March Madness” postseason. Advertiser alert: several new research studies again show the power of radio’s coverage vs. TV.

“While NCAA March Madness games are available both on TV and AM/FM radio, each broadcast has a very different audience profile,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in Westwood One’s blog. “The NCAA basketball TV audience consists of casual sports fans, [while] the AM/FM radio play-by-play audience is more passionate and engaged. This distinction has a significant impact on advertising effectiveness.”

Indeed, results from a Quantilope survey of 750 NCAA fans ages 18+ show that compared to the overall NCAA tournament audience, those listening to AM/FM radio coverage of the games are significantly more likely to currently attend or have graduated from a college that typically plays in the NCAA basketball tournament, have an NCAA tournament fandom level of 8 or higher on a 1-10 scale, follow a higher number of NCAA tournament games followed, follow the tournament through to the finals, and mute NCAA tournament on TV to hear AM/FM radio coverage of the game. All the above are true for both men’s and women’s NCAA basketball fans.

An MRI-Simmons comparison of March Madness listeners to TV watchers shows the former delivers a more desirable audience to advertisers: younger and more likely to be employed, with a higher household income and a larger household size.

Likewise, MRI-Simmons’ research shows greater interest in sports among NCAA tournament radio listeners, vs. those watching on TV. “Tournament audio ads have greater impact than TV because NCAA March Madness listeners are more passionate and sports-engaged,” Bouvard says.

There’s more good news for advertisers from this study, as the NCAA AM/FM radio audience also indexes higher when it comes to being in the market for major purchases such as large home furnishings, vehicles, or a laptop, tablet or smartwatch. Additionally, March Madness radio listeners are more likely than TV viewers to influence other consumers via word-of-mouth or across social networks, whether that involves restaurants, vacation travel, healthcare, or sports itself.

AM/FM listeners are also 50% more likely to be sports bettors, according to MRI-Simmons, while Quantilope’s study finds the NCAA audio audience leads all other media platforms used to follow the NCAA tournament in terms of average sports betting expenditure.

Quantilope’s research also finds that, whether men’s or women’s basketball coverage, one-third of the total basketball tournament audience is tuned to AM/FM radio during March Madness. When the focus is on persons 18-34, 43% of the men’s and 38% of the women’s basketball tournament audience are listening. For both men’s and women’s NCAA, a higher share of the audio audience is connected to games while in the car, at work, or at another place, vs. TV viewers.

Also important for advertisers is Quantilope’s finding that, whether it’s men’s or women’s NCAA tournament basketball, adding Westwood One’s audio coverage to a March Madness TV plan generates incremental reach lift and amplified frequency, with more than a third of viewers benefiting from the latter.

“The NCAA on Westwood One is a massive reach machine,” Bouvard says. “Over the entire regular season, Westwood One’s NCAA play-by-play reach grows by over 50 times between week one and ten. This massive reach accumulation kicks into overdrive during March Madness. Nielsen’s analysis reveals Westwood One’s NCAA coverage reaches 20 million Americans across the season.”