The 71st annual NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship kicks off in earnest today.
The tournament, nicknamed March Madness for its improbable endings, wild shots, shocking upsets, and noisy pageantry, will be carried live on the Internet for the fifth year in a row. Good!
And it will be available free of charge for the fourth year in a row. Great!
But for sports junkies, emotions are mixed. How come none of the other major sports offer free, live events online? Even college football and fledgling sports charge for online access to live events.
Fellow sports fan Fred Boxa, principal analyst with IBB Consulting, says that March Madness is a unique event with an unusual business profile so it would be tough for other sports to emulate its online success.
In the early rounds there are four simultaneous games and many fans live in areas that may not carry their alma mater’s games on TV so there is a natural online audience for college basketball.
Also, in the early rounds March Madness games take place during work hours, which makes it a great fit for the web.
“In many of the other sports, the leagues keep tight control of the online rights and sometimes they make a pretty good product out of it...like Major League Baseball,” he said.
Subscription-based MLB.com is pretty good when I am at home but when I travel I am unable to see my hometown teams because of local blackout rights despite the fact that I am far away from home.
When will the professional tennis organizations and those like ESPN and NBC who own the sport’s TV rights stream early round Wimbledon or French Open matches for free online?
It can only help tennis which remains a second tier sport all over the world despite the all-time greatness and marketability of Serena and Venus Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Hasn’t CBS proven that the marriage of the Internet and free, live sports is a winner? And that business plan can be extended seamlessly to mobile devices, I believe.
Back in 2003-2005 when CBS charged a $19.95 subscription fee, MMOD generated $250,000 in revenue in its best year. In 2006 the network dropped the fee and took in $4 million.
In 2007 MMOD attracted 1.3 million unique users and made $10 million. In 2008 CBS generated $23 million in revenue from MMOD, and expects to grow 30 percent this year.
And the product itself is getting better through technology improvements from content delivery networks such as Akamai.
CBS did all of this through the magic of online advertising. March Madness attracts college educated males, a lucrative but elusive demographic.
And since it went online I daresay March Madness may be attracting more women and males who may not be into sports but participate in office pools.
Is CBS the only sports broadcaster paying attention?