NCAA March Madness Sets Record with Nearly 70 Million Video Streams

NCAA March Madness Live, managed by Turner Sports, set a new record for video consumption during the 2014 NCAA Tournament with 69.7 million live video streams collectively across all platforms. This year’s live video streams are up 42% over last year’s tournament, far exceeding the total of 49 million live video streams for the entire tournament in 2013.

NCAA March Madness Live netted 15 million hours of live video consumed for this year’s tournament, also an all-time record and a 7% increase over last year. Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live represented a watershed event for the TV Everywhere initiative, marking record-setting year-over-year growth in usage and surpassing total TV Everywhere consumption for the entire 2013 tournament by the end of the second round.

Monday’s National Championship between Kentucky and Connecticut generated two million live video streams, up 30% when compared with last year’s championship game.

In partnership between the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports, NCAA March Madness Live launched from www.ncaa.com/marchmadness, www.bleacherreport.com, and www.cbssports.com, and was available via the Amazon Appstore, Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Store. Additionally, fans could watch games via live streaming on TNT, TBS, and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites.

2014 NCAA Tournament highlights:

Live Video Streams
Across all digital platforms, NCAA March Madness Live generated 69.7 million live video streams, an all-time record and up 42% over last year.

NCAA March Madness Live registered 15 million hours of live video
streaming, a record-setting total and a 7% increase from 2013.

Mobile Usage Growth
Mobile (tablets and smartphones) platforms experienced significant growth with live streams up 71% during the NCAA Tournament.

Live streaming hours also delivered considerable growth, up 38% over last year.

TV Everywhere
TV Everywhere usage marked tremendous year-over-year growth, up 85% in live streams and 72% in hours spent viewing.

Users who were logged in spent more time watching games, streaming an average of 67% more minutes than users who weren’t logged in.

Mobile platforms saw a huge surge in TV Everywhere usage for the 2014 tournament, with live streams on logged-in mobile devices representing 52% of the total TV Everywhere usage for the entire tournament.

Most Popular Games
The top five most-watched games across digital platforms for this year’s tournament, based on live video streams:

▪                   Dayton vs. Ohio State – 4,587,986

▪                   Mercer vs. Duke – 4,177,421

▪                   Harvard vs. Cincinnati – 2,742,532

▪                    Kentucky vs. Connecticut – 2,008,138

▪                   Kentucky vs. Wichita State – 1,954,273

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