NCAA(R) March Madness(R) on Demand Achieves Record Breaking First Day of Traffic

3.4 million hours of live streaming video & audio consumed, the largest single day of traffic for a live sports event on the Internet

Redesigned "Boss Button" a major hit with viewers

News provided by

CBSSports.com

Mar 19, 2010, 02:41 ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports and the NCAA, today released traffic statistics for NCAA March Madness on Demand (mmod.ncaa.com) for the first day of the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. In total, there were 3.4 million hours of live streaming video and audio consumed, over 20% growth versus 2009 figures, by 3 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players. Both figures represent the largest single day of traffic for a live sport event on the Internet.

Additionally, the NCAA March Madness on Demand "Boss Button" was clicked over 1.7 million times on the first day the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The "Boss Button", which was redesigned for the 2010 tournament, hides the live video action on the screen and silences the audio, replacing it with a "business-like" image. The 2010 Boss Button was designed by cartoonist Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic. Click here to view the 2010 Boss Button (http://images.cbssports.com/images/info/ir/2010/2010bossbutton.jpg).

NCAA March Madness on Demand traffic figures through Thursday, March 18

  • 3.4 million total hours of live streaming video and audio consumed
  • 3 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players
  • 1.7 million clicks of the "Boss Button" – over 60% of the total clicks of the Boss Button for the entire 2009 tournament. (2.77 million)
  • The most watched game from 3/18 was the double-overtime Florida vs. BYU game with 521k hours of streaming video and audio. That's +50% over 2009's most watched game from the first day of the first round (Washington vs. Mississippi State) which had 348k hours of streaming.
  • The most watched hour yesterday was 2:00-2:59 p.m. ET with 533k streaming hours (16% of the total for the day). It peaked at 2:45 p.m. with 147k streaming hours between 2:45 and 2:59 p.m. ET.

"NCAA March Madness on Demand continues to regularly exceed our expectations," said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports. "It is the perfect combination of programming and the Internet. Our ability to successfully develop the product alongside steady growth in streaming programming for the Internet and wireless content provides many options and truly maximizes the Network's NCAA bundled rights agreement."

"The continuing evolution of NCAA March Madness on Demand gives our fans even more reasons to stay connected to the tournament on a daily basis," said Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president for basketball and business strategies.  "Tremendous first round games, enhanced features in the MMOD player and solid early traffic numbers all point towards an exciting few weeks to come."

"With a number of thrilling finishes yesterday, there was little doubt we would set another new record as March Madness on Demand provided millions of fans with the ability to follow all the action," said Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com.

As was the case in 2009, CBSSports.com has again provided a standard video player in addition to offering viewers the ability to upgrade to a high-quality video player delivering an enhanced video stream. New for 2010, both NCAA March Madness on Demand video players provide viewers the ability to show statistical overlays on top of live video action, displaying tournament and game leaders in categories such as points, assists, rebounds, and 3-pointers.

In 2010, CBSSports.com has once again distributed NCAA March Madness on Demand across the Internet with its Developer Platform, allowing sites to link directly into the MMOD video player. The network of sites participating in the NCAA March Madness on Demand Developer Platform in 2010 include popular news, entertainment, sports and social media sites such as CNN.com, ESPN.com and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ncaamarchmadnessondemand); CBS Interactive properties including TV.com, CBS.com, CNET.com and GameSpot.com; as well as other partners across the CBS Audience Network and sites for CBS television and radio stations and affiliates.

NCAA March Madness on Demand is the Emmy award-winning video player that provides live streaming video and audio of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. MMOD shows live video all 63 games, from the first round of the tournament through the semifinal and final games of the Men's Final Four® making it the only major sporting event that is broadcast live and in its entirety for free on the Internet. In addition to live video, NCAA March Madness on Demand also provides live audio from the Westwood One radio broadcasts of the entire NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

In 2010, free access to NCAA March Madness on Demand is made possible by presenting sponsors and NCAA Corporate Champions AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

About CBS Interactive

CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, is the best online content network for information and entertainment.  With 200 million people visiting its properties each month, it is a top 10 Web property globally and a top 5 Web property in the U.S. in terms of unique video viewers.  Its portfolio of leading brands, which include CNET, CBS.com, CBSSports.com, GameSpot, TV.com, BNET, CBS RADIO, and Last.fm, span popular categories such as technology, entertainment, sports, news and business.  

Follow CBS Interactive on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cbsitweets.

More information about CBS and its businesses is available at www.cbscorporation.com.

About the NCAA

The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.  The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions-AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola-and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners-Enterprise, The Hartford, Hershey's, LG, Lowe's, Planters, State Farm and UPS.

NCAA, Final Four, and March Madness are trademarks owned or licensed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

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