Local market rankings for the telecast were well represented by the cities who most coveted LeBron’s services. His former hometown Cleveland topped all other markets with a 26.0 local household rating, followed by nearby Columbus, OH, with a 14.2 rating. Miami–Ft. Lauderdale won the LeBron Sweepstakes, but placed third in the local rankings with a 12.8 rating. Chicago, whose Bulls were in the running until the very end, placed sixth (10.7 local household rating) , while a disappointed New York market placed seventh (10.4 local rating).

LeBron’s announcement was one of the more memorable televised news events featuring a prominent professional athlete. Most recently, Tiger Woods’ live public statement on February 19th, 2010 - his first since the flood of reports on his extramarital affairs – drew nearly 22 million viewers across 18 networks.

Based on local TV ratings data, the home markets surrounding each of the Final Four schools clearly have a passion for college hoops. But Indianapolis stands above the others when looking at Nielsen survey data. According to Nielsen’s Claritas PRIZM profiles, 41% of Indianapolis residents consider themselves fans of college basketball. That beats out  Lansing, MI (39%), Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (37%) and Morgantown, WV (36%).

More In Common Than Basketball
Through a close look at various socio-economic data, such as income, age, race, occupation, education and household composition, Nielsen can identify 66 pre-defined life style groups, or “segments,” in any given geographical area.  A demographic analysis of the  hometowns represented by West Virginia, Duke, Michigan St. and Butler, revealed that the Final Four markets share similar population characteristics.  Interestingly, Morgantown, WV, Raleigh, NC, Lansing, MI, and Indianapolis, IN share high scores for a handful of segments including one near the top for owning hunting rifles and pickup trucks. Residents living in those  areas tend to be young, working-class couples with large families (more than half have two or more kids) living in small homes and manufactured housing. Additionally these Final Four regions also reflect the shared influence of college town life. With 10 times as many college students as the national average.

Louisville also has the highest average viewership for the NCAA championship game the past 10 years. Historically, viewership hasn’t wavered despite the fact that neither the University of Louisville nor the University of Kentucky have sent teams to the championship game since 1998.

Further analysis shows that Louisville is more than just a college basketball town. When compared to the rest of the U.S., the “Derby City,” is roughly three times more likely to watch horse racing’s Triple Crown (including the Kentucky Derby, obviously) and is twice as likely to view the Indy 500 and Daytona 500.

So what’s driving the data? There are no doubt a multitude of factors: exciting games, compelling storylines, and perhaps even the economy. But one that may go unnoticed is the NBA’s two year old advertising campaign: “Where Amazing Happens.”

Debuting in 2007, the “Where Amazing Happens” commercial spots featured still photos of NBA action accompanied by a signature piano riff. The ads were also supplemented with internet banner ads, print and outdoor extensions and are streaming on Youtube, NBA.com and other online video sites.

This season, “Where Amazing Happens” commercials evolved into CGI replays of some of the most memorable moments in NBA history. By slowing down the action, the commercials highlight the drama embedded in professional basketball that may occasionally go unnoticed with the game moving at such high speeds.

According to Monitor-Plus, Nielsen’s advertising tracking service, the NBA ran more 30-second spots within nationally broadcast games than any other advertiser. The league used this inventory, which is negotiated into the network contracts, to promote “Where Amazing Happens” and is expecting the promotion to help increase viewership and deliver more eyeballs to its official sponsors and network advertisers.

Whatever the reason for the ratings renaissance, a Nielsen Sportsquest survey finds that buzz in the NBA is definitely surging. As of April 2009, interest in the NBA was at it’s highest point since July ‘07, with 33% of total persons aged 12+ identifying themselves as avid NBA fans. The data also revealed that NBA fan interest is spilling over to increased awareness for their sponsors: NBA fans are 50% more likely to name official wireless sponsor T-Mobile as a cell phone provider and 37% more likely to have a favorable opinion of Nike.

Viewership is also higher among patrons of Nike and T-Mobile. Nielsen’s MRI fusion data shows that in Q4 2008, NBA viewership on TNT, ESPN, and ABC, was 47% higher among Nike Shoe wearers, and 23% higher for T-Mobile subscribers.

In a day and age where advertising campaigns often come and go very quickly, the NBA has stuck with “Where Amazing Happens” and its persistence looks like it’s paying off for the league and its partners.

Additionally, video streaming on CBS Sports saw massive gains during the tournament, with nearly a 300% gain in unique users watching video. Those viewers racked up more than 380 million minutes of viewing time in March.

“The one thing you think about as far as the NCAA tournament is it’s synonymous with CBS,” said Ziangas. “I think advertisers understand that. That’s why you have people like Coke and AT&T – and even GM is actually coming back to the tournament when they pulled out of the Super Bowl. Having that cache as far as that association of the tournament to the network and bringing in that great male 18+ demographic is something that very few advertisers see, and that’s why they jump on board with the NCAA tournament.”

Watch the video for more from Tom Ziangas about advertising and the NCAA Tournament.

Nielsen’s Guide To March Madness, tracks a range of consumer and media information surrounding the event including advertising trends and demographic reach of the multi-week event. Ad buys for CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament have risen steadily over the last five years – from $434 million in 2004 to $580 million in 2008 – a surge of almost 34 percent.  Spending for the Final Four Championship game has grown 47 percent over the last five years.  Last year’s final game saw $97.5 million in advertising, with the cost of a 30-second commercial over $1 million.

Over the last five years, General Motors has spent the most on ads with a total of $317 million. Last year, the auto company was the top spender, with $64.7 million in spending.

The automotive category was the top-spending category for each of the last five years.  Last year, automotive was top, followed by financial – investment services, fast food restaurants, wireless phone services and beer.

Scoring With Fans?

Are these advertisers reaching their targets?  According to Scarborough Sports Marketing, a joint venture between Nielsen and Arbitron, the answer is a resounding “yes.”  Viewers and listeners of the tournament are likely to be male, educated and married.  They have higher than average annual household incomes and and a wide range of interests, hobbies and consumer preferences:

An NCAA Fan Is…

• 10 percent more likely to have visited a casino in the last year
• 17 percent more likely own three or more vehicles in their household
• An avid fast food consumer, and is 34 percent more likely than the average adult to have visited a fast food chain 10 or more times in a week
• 33 percent more likely to have consumed any beer in the last month, with Bud Lite, Budweiser and Corona the leading brands in the light domestic,  regular domestic and imported categories.

Download Nielsen’s complete Guide To March Madness

“The NCAA Tournament is very attractive to sports marketers even in tough economic times,” said Tom Ziangas, SVP for Nielsen Sports. “The games playing out over several weeks make it a sort of mini-series for viewers. There’s always some unexpected drama or Cinderalla story – like Davidson College last year – that makes March Madness a compelling reality show as well as a prime sporting event.”

In 2008, the tournament reached nearly 100 million viewers in the US, with basketball hotbed Louisville, KY, delivering the highest ratings for a local market in the last five years.

Most Avg. Viewers, NCAA Championship Game (millions)

1979 – Mich St. vs. Ind. St. – 35.1
1992 – Duke vs. Michigan – 34.3
1993 – UNC vs. Michigan – 32.9
1994 – Arkansas vs Duke – 32.7
1983 – NC St. vs. Houston – 32.1

Top Local Market Rating, NCAA Tournament 5-year Avg.

Louisville – 19.0%
Raleigh-Durham – 13.0%
Memphis – 12.9%
Cincinnati – 12.9%
Columbus – 12.7%

March Madness On The Web

ESPN and Yahoo! were the two most-visited sports sites last March with 19.8 and 19.4 million unique users, respectively. Traffic on the CBS Sports web brand shot up 59 percent in March 2008 over the previous month. Online buzz spiked dramatically in March for last year’s Cinderella team, Davidson College. This year, there’s an additional mobile phone angle as CBS March Madness On-Demand is now available via an iPhone application as well as the desktop.

Download the Nielsen’s Guide To March Madness.

The study, which analyzed viewership data for some of America’s favorite sports, uncovered that while Major League Baseball and NBA pull in comparable audiences for nationally televised broadcast, when compared to the actual fan base in the United States, the NBA significantly outperformed most of its peers; NBA games were able to get 7.8% of its fans, on average, to sit down and view the broadcast.

The study also highlighted the strength of engagement for the sports. NFL fans, on average, watch over an hour of each televised football event; this was the only sport of the four to have over an hour of engagement per televised event.

Read the full study.

Since ABC obtained NBA broadcasting rights in 2002, the network’s Christmas Day games have averaged a 4.1 rating and 6.9 million viewers nationally. The highest mark came in 2004 when the Lakers and Heat (featuring a much-anticipated reunion between Kobe and Shaq) pulled a 7.3 rating and 13.2 million viewers.

The San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns officially tip off ABC’s broadcast season at 2:40pm ET Christmas Day.  Last year, the NBA on ABC averaged a 2.2 national rating, up 10% from 06-07.

Aside from the two ABC games, the NBA offers a few Christmas stocking stuffers, with the Hornets-Magic at noon on ESPN and two nightcaps (Wizards-Cavs and Mavs-Blazers) on TNT. The NBA’s cable ratings remain steady through the first two months of the season after ESPN and TNT boasted 20% and 10% increases in viewership last year, respectively.