By Jay Bemis | Advertising Systems Inc.
Women’s college basketball is giving men a better run for the money not only in popularity on the basketball court, but also in generating revenues for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Disney announced last week that it had sold out of ad inventory for the Final Four and championship rounds of this year’s women’s NCAA basketball tournament, airing on ESPN. That was about the same time as CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery, or CBS Paramount, if you will, was selling out of ad inventory for the men’s tournament, whose games are being carried on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.
Both the women and men tip off play in the Sweet 16 rounds of their respective tournaments this Easter weekend, with the Final Four and championship rounds of the two tourneys occurring the following weekend, April 5 through 8.
In announcing last week that Disney had sold out its ad inventory for the women’s finals, Jacqueline Dobies, Disney Advertising’s VP of revenue and yield management, said there would be 87 advertisers in all, split nearly evenly between new and returning brands.
Among the new advertisers are Google and Home Depot.
“The hardest part was trying to find space for everybody, which is a great problem to have,” Dobies told Marketing Brew. a brand-strategy firm. “We’ve seen growth from existing categories, but we’ve also seen a lot of new categories enter this space.”
Men, Alas, Make Tons More for the NCAA
News of the hot ad buy for the women’s tournament comes on the heels of the NCAA announcing last month that it generated nearly $1.3 billion in basketball revenue for 2022-23, more than half of which was distributed back to Division I member schools.
The NCAA’s deal with CBS Paramount for rights to the men’s Division I basketball tournament accounts for about $900 million annually, which means the men’s tournament brought in about 69% of the NCAA’s revenue for 2022-23, according to The Associated Press.
The value of the men’s deal for broadcast and marketing rights increases yearly, and the NCAA is projecting an increase to more than $1 billion in revenues in 2025, the AP reported.
The NCAA’s expenses for 2022-23 amounted to $1.17 billion, which includes $669 million distributed to the more than 363 Division I member schools and another $192 million to stage D-I championship events, the men’s basketball National Invitational Tournament and other related programs.
More than $100 million was also spent on Division II and III championships and programs, including some distributions back to D-II schools.
Women Make Much Less … But They’re Gaining
Women’s basketball revenues do pale in comparison to the men’s billion-plus. Estimates have placed the women’s revenues at a mere $2.3 million.
However, it appears revenue from the women’s tournament will double this year, Disney’s ad exec Dobies said last week when announcing the company’ sold-out ad inventory.
To capitalize on the increasing interest in women’s college basketball, Disney Advertising is urging brands to spend on other women’s sporting events, too, including women’s volleyball, softball and soccer, she said.
It’s also encouraging programmatic ad buys for women’s basketball and other sports.
As for this year’s women’s national basketball tournament, Dobies said Disney began getting inquiries from potential advertisers last May, but it didn’t immediately start filling spots for them.
Had it done so, she said, “we would have been sold out months ago.”
