NCAA Basketball Tournament: Advertisers’ Big Shot at Reaching Their Audience

As one of the most popular sporting events of the year, the NCAA Basketball Tournament is an ideal time for advertisers to take advantage of a wide audience viewing one of the unique events of the year. With the event spread out over the course of a month, advertisers have bountiful opportunities to get in front of their target audience. Streaming has been on a continued rise as both last year’s tournament and this year’s “Big Game” set record highs for those viewing content on a connected device, according to SportsProOpens a new window . With so many concurrent games, updates, and recaps during the tournament, many viewers will additionally use multiple connected TVs or laptops to watch all the happenings at once. Advertisers can tap into numerous targeting tactics to capitalize on the added engagement. They can then serve ads to those users across various creative types from display, mobile, and social to CTV. There are multiple ways brands can activate campaigns around the month-long tournament, including search retargeting, contextual targeting, and geo-fencing to reach their ideal audience who will be streaming sports coverage around the clock across all devices.

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Reaching the Right Audience With Search and Contextual Targeting

Many consumers will be on multiple devices at once while taking in this month-long event. That includes watching the game on one screen, surfing the web to look up scores on another, checking in on team updates, gathering highlights from previous games, or checking their bracket online. Advertisers need to tap into the capabilities available to activate campaigns and engage the intended audience with the right ads at the right time. Brands can utilize search retargeting to reach their ideal audience who are looking up relevant keywords such as “Basketball” or “Basketball Bracket.” Advertisers can find their desired target audience based on those keywords that users are searching for, such as teams, game times, recaps, scores, and other items related to the event.

Contextual targeting is another great tactic for advertisers to take advantage of while reaching users during the month-long sports event. You can reach the audience who may be reading up on those recaps and updates and target them based on what they’re consuming. In both cases, advertisers can reach relevant users easily and then serve ads that would interest them during the event. In addition, advertisers can activate or stop campaigns in real-time. So, in the event of a team’s elimination, they can shut off the campaigns designed for their fans or double down as the teams succeed and continue playing. 

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Capturing the Basketball Audience Who Attend the Games

With hordes of fans located in a specific area to watch a game, geo-fencing is an ideal route to take to maximize an advertising investment. One of the main advantages of geo-fencing is the ability to capture a relevant audience, such as the arenas where the games are being held across the country, as well as nearby bars and hotels in various locations throughout the month. Along with this, the capability allows advertisers to reach relevant audiences that may not be at the game itself, such as those in the hometowns of the competing teams. Additionally, as the team moves from city to city as they advance in the tournament, those relevant locations can also be geo-fenced. Advertisers can even retarget those users for up to 30 days after the event, knowing that they have captured a relevant and invested audience. Even more, with the granular reporting and attribution capabilities available, brands can track both online and offline conversions.

The number of ancillary events taking place as part of the NCAA Basketball Tournament offer advertisers even more opportunities to capture their audience beyond just the games. From pre-game shows to post-game press conferences, there is no lack of programming to place ads. Beyond the various shows associated with the tournament, multiple games are running throughout the day, meaning advertisers are sure to get in front of the sought-after basketball audience.  

The NCAA Basketball Tournament provides many different ways for marketers to connect with their ideal audience other than the typical game viewing option of linear. With the continued growth and adoption of streaming, and by taking advantage of search retargeting, contextual targeting, and geo-fencing, all advertisers can get involved in this year’s madness. 

What strategies are you using to target your intended audience on streaming platforms during the ongoing basketball tournament? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .

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