Basketball Sets Sports Record

3/18/06
I knew that the March Madness was just that – mad – but for good reason.
It’s the single most exciting weekend in all of team sports. Anything can
happen. And did. I wanted to be there. And I was, thanks to ncaasports.com’s
live feeds to games I could not see on TV. They were technically excellent;
I did not have even a single instance where a game got dropped, though they
kicked you out of the “viewing area” after one game so you had to re-enter
(read: see and hear more commercials) again, even if you had the foresight,
as I did, to sign up as a “VIP” when CBS first began advertising the site at
the time of the Conference Tournaments in February. Now a word on the
commercials. It seems as if the shape of things to come is finally here. The
commercials – the video ones, that is, were straight off the TV, and were
accompanied by a simultaneous banner ad immediately to the right which was
itself sometimes moving, sometimes not, but which, with a mouseclick, would
take you to Dell, Marriott or one of the other sponsors. (See how well they
worked?) The truth is, I didn’t mind. I could turn down the volume and turn
away if I wanted, just like the ol’ idiot box (er, panel, er, whatever). The
thing was a raging success, and good for the network, good for all who were
involved in the preparation of the presentation, and good for the buyers of
the ad spots. I am sure they will see fruit from this planting. And if not,
they have planted the seed of what internet viewing will be in the future –
now. Well done, and thanks for a great weekend of sports. OH WAIT! There’s
one more day! Yippee!!
 

Basketball Sets Sports Record
March Madness smashes the old online sports scores for capacity and
stability.
March 17, 2006

CBS and NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball scored early and often,
obliterating the old record for simultaneous online video streams for a live
sports event and taking over the second spot among all live online events
with 268,000 viewers at once.
 
The total is second only to Yahoo’s webcast of the Discovery shuttle launch
last July which drew 335,000 simultaneous viewers.
 
The web broadcast of shock jock Howard Stern celebrating his exit from
terrestrial radio last December attracted 214,000 simultaneous online
viewers. That event occupies the third spot.
 
Live online web casting has improved since a shaky Victoria’s Secret live
fashion show six years ago was unable to support the demand and many haute
couture fans were shut out.
 
But March Madness, as the college basketball championships are called,
became the first sporting event to enter the top three for both the number
of simultaneous streams supported and the fewest technical glitches.  The
network’s sports media unit CBS SportsLine said on Friday that a total of 2
million fans checked out the site in the first 24 hours.
 
CBS, which has been running the first few rounds of March Madness online
since 2003, dropped its subscription fee of $19.95, which it charged users
last year. The network used advertising to pay for its effort, attracting
sponsors such as Dell, Courtyard by Marriott, Lowes, State Farm, and
Pontiac.
 
The network attracted a little more than 20,000 online viewers to March
Madness in 2005 and expected about 200,000 viewers to log in for its first
freebie run. They were not disappointed (see March Madness Heats Up Online).
 
Shares of CBS rose $0.11 to $24.33 in recent trading.
 
Waiting Room
CBS SportsLine, which used the services of MLB Advanced Media, Akamai
Technologies, and Limelight Networks to present the games, debuted a waiting
room feature to accommodate excess demand.
 
In case demand exceeds capacity and visitors have trouble accessing the
games, the system employs a waiting room to keep fans occupied with scores
and other tidbits. In the past, online users compounded the overload
problems by repeatedly refreshing their screens or attempting to gain access
from a new browser.
 
CBS is also offering condensed versions of the games for download from
Apple’s iTunes Music Store for $1.99 per game (see Apple, CBS Team on
Basketball).
 
While concerts and titillating fashion shows have immense appeal to online
entertainment buffs, sports will be the content that truly tests the
tolerances and capabilities of the Internet.
 
Sports has broad-based appeal outside the youth demographic, the usual
market for online entertainment. And unlike music videos, movies on demand,
and even news, sports remains one of the few forms of entertainment where
watching it as it happens is critical. It provides the last bastion of
appointment TV.
 
Now sports fans are getting ready for Day 2 of March Madness.
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=16153&hed=Basketball+Sets+New+Recor
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