National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Apr 7, 2010 8:37:21 AM

The amount of live streaming video and audio consumed via NCAA March Madness on Demand for the 2010 Division I Men's Basketball Championship exceeded last year's usage by 36 percent.

More than 11.7 million hours of live streaming video and audio were accessed by the end of the 2010 Men's Final Four.

NCAA March Madness on Demand, which shows live video of all 63 games of the championship, is a partnership among the NCAA, CBS Sports and CBSSports.com.

Research showed 8.3 million unique visitors used the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players. That includes 575,000 unique visitors to the Men's Final Four championship game between Duke and Butler Monday night. That's a 70 percent increase over the 2009 final between North Carolina and Michigan State.

"This year's growth of March Madness on Demand reflects the excitement on the court," said Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president for basketball and business strategies. "NCAA basketball fans want access to the championship on more platforms, and we're thrilled with the continued increase in MMOD's numbers."

The increased traffic on NCAA March Madness on Demand coincides with increase of CBS' television ratings for the tournament.  

Duke's dramatic 61-59 victory over Butler earned an average overnight rating of 16.0, an increase of 34 percent over the 11.9 drawn for the 2009 championship game.

The rating for 2010 championship tied the 2005 title game (North Carolina and Illinois) as the highest-rated final since the matchup between Duke and Connecticut (16.9) in 1999.