"Owner of NFL's Indianapolis Colts accused of intoxicated driving"

From Yahoo! Sports

Analysis by Madison McMillen in SRM 334 

Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay was arrested on Monday March 17th for driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance. Irsay failed many field-sobriety tests when he was stopped late Sunday night for driving slow, stopping in the middle of the road, and not using his turn signal. When police searched his car they found many prescription drugs that did not match any of the labels they found on the pill bottles. After being processed at the Hamilton County Jail in Camel, Indiana Irsay was able to post bond and be released Monday afternoon. In a later article, Irsay is said to have checked himself in to a health care facility and is ready to get the help and care he needs.

Jim Irsay is said to be worth 1.6 billion dollars and as the Colt’s owner I would say he is a pretty important guy. The news of his arrest is a hot topic but I don’t believe the amount of publicity he’s getting is necessary. The media has given so much attention to Irsay over his negative actions when many people who are not so well known make these same choices and get arrested every day. He also publically announced his admittance into a health care facility which makes me wonder if he really wants to get help for himself or if people have forced him to do this because of how wide spread this news has gotten. While it is human nature for people to be curious over scandals of famous people or people in positions of power I believe a certain degree of restraint should be in place as these individuals are human and have family members who may be impacted by all of the negative media publicity. It is my opinion that personal issues should be left to the individual and their families to resolve on their own.

I think this is an important topic for our class to discuss because in our future jobs we will run into these sorts of issues whether it be an owner, coach, or athlete. By seeing how much media attention is given to an Owner for making a bad decision can help us understand how to handle the situation when something like this become an issue for whichever team we will end up working for. It also is a great example to use and learn from to help educate members of staff and players about having their personal issues being broadcasted because of their decisions.

"March Madness Ratings And Revenue Keep Reaching New Heights"

From Forbes.com

Analysis by Jacob Nicely in SRM 435 (section 2)

When you think of the most watched sporting events you may think of the Super Bowl, the World Series, the BCS national championship game, but what you may not realize is that the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament is right behind the BCS national championship game and a few NFL games. When March rolls around, people everywhere fill out their brackets and tune in to stay up to date with how their favorite teams are doing and to keep track of their bracket. In all of this the unthinkable always happens, a cinderella team out of nowhere beats a heavily favored team and makes a run in the tournament highlighting what we all know and love about “March Madness.” Everyday people watch these games from their television, their laptops and tablets, and their phones to try and keep track of their teams, their bracket, or just the overall madness of the tournament. As a result of the madness, more and more people are tuning in to the tournament creating a revenue machine that is raking in over a billion dollars every year.

In 2010, CBS and Turner inked a 14-year deal worth $11 million for the broadcasting rights to the Men’s NCAA tournament. In the regular season, it is extremely rare for a Men’s NCAA Basketball game to reach over 2 million viewers but during the tournament that number skyrockets to an average of 10.7 million viewers a game during the 2013 tournament. Only the Super Bowl, BCS national championship game, and a few NFL games drew in a larger audience than the men’s national championship game with 23.4 million viewers with fans taking in over 1.4 million hours of live streaming during the tournament. To achieve this goal, the two broadcasting companies have devised a scheduling plan that staggers game times and spreads them across 4 channels so that there are more games on television and so that as one game ends another game begins. This is something that marketers can only dream of.

In combination with the television format, there have been numerous mobile applications developed so that fans can live stream the games, get live scores, and keep up with their brackets. With numerous platforms to follow the tournament, it creates more and more places for companies to advertise and spend their money. This has led to companies spending a mind-boggling $1.15 billion on advertisements during the 2013 NCAA tournament and a number that is expected to increase for this year’s tournament. Along with advertising, the NCAA does a phenomenal job segmenting the rounds into their own separate sporting events that everyone can identify with such as the “Sweet 16”, the “Elite Eight”, and the “Final Four.” This creates many options for merchandising and licensing of apparel that many fans buy into every year creating another revenue stream for the NCAA and the schools involved.

All of these numbers are great and show how the NCAA and the broadcasting companies are creating a juggernaut of a sporting event but how do they get people to tune into games that may not normally watch? Well brackets are the answer. Every year fans can go online to various sites and fill out a bracket, where they can predict who will win what game. This creates not only a way to get more fans interested in more games they can watch, but also creates more platforms for advertisers to spend money. With the first-round games which are commonly referred to as “play-in games” reaching all-time high tv ratings, the tournament is only gaining interest year after year.

Turner-Sports and CBS, in combination with the NCAA, have created a fantastic formula from a marketing standpoint. Their TV scheduling and staggering of games encourages fans to watch more than one game, tune into games they may not normally watch, and have more coverage of games causing more people to cut on the television and watch the tournament. In combination with TV broadcasting, the live streaming and mobile applications allow people who normally could not tune in, the ability to watch the games from anywhere, even in school and at work when they are not supposed to. With all of these options to take in the games, the broadcasting companies and the NCAA have allowed themselves to offer diversification of advertising to companies. Now they can reach more target markets, more often, and in locations they normally would not be able to reach them at which is very important because consumers are more likely to buy a product when it is advertised to them when they are in the mindset. Just to give an example, an office supply company can now advertise on live streaming websites and mobile applications because people can tune into to watch the games from their work as opposed to television, which people who are at work cannot normally watch the day games. Also, with more channels and more games it allows for companies to advertise on specific channels to specific demographics based on locations of the teams which they would not have been able to do if only two games were being shown at a time instead of four.

All in all, this time of year can get everyone excited whether you will be rooting for the underdog, cheering on your favorite team, following your bracket closely, or just tuning in to see some great basketball games. The Men’s NCAA basketball tournament will only continue to rise in popularity thus showing that it will only rise in ad revenue as a result. As technology advances, broadcasting companies and the NCAA are keeping up and finding more and more ways to reach viewers every year. This is great news for companies who are looking to market their products and services because they can reach more demographics and specific target markets than they have in the past. From a marketing standpoint, they have created a phenomenal plan to get companies to spend their money as well as keeping up with current trends to keep the companies happy with their investments. As times change and technology develops, we can only sit back and see what the future tournaments will bring.

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Analysis by Ben Eidle in SRM 435 (section 2)

Our article has to deal with CBS and Turner’s television package for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Last year was a big year for the tournament because it hit a nineteen year high for ratings. Last year’s championship game only trailed some NFL games and the BCS national championship game in viewers as well. When speaking about ratings in college basketball they jump a significant amount during the offseason. This has caught CBS-Turner’s attention and they walked away with a fourteen year television deal that runs through 2024. The tournament has been praised for the way they are showing their games as well. They have the times staggered so that you are able to watch the maximum amounts of basketball games and they are spread across four channels which makes it easy to flip back and forth between. Another thing that has brought in more viewers is the expansion of applications for mobile devices. People are now able to interact and watch in many more ways compared to being stuck to a television. Quicken Loans tried to take advantage of the tournament as well by sponsoring the billion dollar bracket challenge but was overshadowed by Warren Buffet who walked away with most of the attention with people ignoring their name on the contest. Ad space has been bringing in more revenue year after year as well. Last year it brought in $1.15 billion in television ad revenue and it is expected to increase this year as well. It has brought in more money than the NFL which is interesting. The last thing they mentioned in the article was that they are thinking of expanding the tournament by adding another round.

This article deals with marketing in multiple ways. The first thing that really stood out to me was the television ad revenue. It impressed me because of how large the number was. It was very unclear in the article what the figure was actually for because it could have been for other advertising as well but I found in another article that it was just for television alone. The ad revenue is larger than you think. It has gained more ad revenue compared to all of the professional sports leagues in the United States barely beating out the NFL.

I feel that the “First Four” is also a great marketing tactic. They have taken 4 games and created play-in games for the tournament. The NCAA has taken these games though and have called them the first round of the tournament and once the field of sixty-four is set that is now the second round. They have taken these games and have people thinking that they really are first round matchups which is great because it brings greater interest and kind of jumpstarts the tournament. This is great because at the beginning of the tournament the people are limited to the couple of games at the beginning of the week that they are able to watch instead of changing back and forth between multiple games once the “second round” begins.

Finally, the different ways that you can watch the games in the tournament is a great tactic by CBS-Turner. They have taken the games and spread them across four channels which gives one the option of changing between games in case one is bad compared to another. They also give one the opportunity to just keep going to the ending of each game because the games are staggered and don’t have the same start times. Also, for the final four the games will be broadcasted on three different channels. One will be a national broadcast of the game and the other two channels will have broadcasters for each of the two different schools that are playing in the game. And last but not least, they have continued to improve the online experience. The applications have been vastly improved over the years and this year has become more user friendly. One is also able to follow each team through the application and see what people are saying about each team.

Overall, I believe what CBS-Turner has done is great for the tournament. You give viewers the opportunity to catch the magic of the postseason without missing endings to each game. It has given great customer service as well because people have so many new ways in which they are able to follow the tournament instead of just watching the games on television or checking the scores on the internet. Finally, the television ad revenue is ridiculous and the fact that it is supposed to be more than last year’s tournament has to mean that they are doing something right.

"March Madness Twitter Ads Tip Off After Buzzer-Beater"

From Advertising Age

Analysis by Kelsey Holmes in KIN 501

With each new year of March Madness comes new sports marketing plans. The 3–Week long NCAA tournament is attracting businesses to put forth their very best social media marketing plans. All these companies have goals to be the most creative, wittiest, and fastest to tweet. The ad-revenue of March Madness continues to grow year by year and is steadily catching up to major events such as the Super Bowl. Marketers are debuting new ad campaigns and doing everything they can to get their name in the mix.

This year’s biggest trend will be “Real-Time” marketing. “From now through the NCAA's Final Four weekend in early April, brands will attempt to score marketing points after nail-biting games and general basketball-related social media activity.” While some efforts will be real-time reactions to game events others will be pre-planned. All types of brands; food, insurance, and even hotels are all buying in to get a piece of March Madness on Twitter.

There are 4 types of tweets taking place.
Real-Time: As soon as games end, brands are reacting with witty sayings and tweets to become part of the frenzy.

Prepared: Multiple tweets prepared before games and then used based on what’s happening

Promoted: Advertisement on users Timeline promoting a particular brand.

Intentionally Confusing: Tweets about sports and the brand but not necessarily basketball.

Using March Madness to advertise is a smart and efficient move for these companies. A major attractor is the variety of fans that watch march madness. March Madness attracts fans of all ages and sexes as well as the dedicated and leisure fan. Along with variety of fans come a variety of platforms. March Madness can be watched on television, the computer, tablets, and mobile devices. That means there are 4 channels on TV plus their websites and the March Madness website and mobile apps. This is extremely useful because consumers can be reached anywhere and multiple times a day.

This marketing strategy is extremely relevant and useful to this course. Real-Time marketing is an example of how marketers must evolve to stay relevant to the consumer. Companies must continue to adapt to “stay ahead of the game”. The importance of staying relevant is realer now than ever and the window to react is now slimmer than ever. Companies must now hire professionals specifically for Twitter. This person must be creative and witty and always have a pulse on their audience. Because of this need companies now have to rethink their hiring and the experience of their employees. Also, professionals looking for jobs will find it beneficial to have social media experience. Overall, I think that Real-Time marketing will become more common practice and expand outside of sporting events.