March Madness on the Go

March Madness

March Madness is upon us, and now that brackets have been filled out, tip-off of the first round of the tournament is just about here. Luckily, most fans won't have to miss out on those often unpredictable matches, even the ones taking place during the work day. Live streaming the games and following your tournament pick has never been easier.

While CBS is broadcasting 24 of the 67 games, Turner's TBS, TNT and TruTV will air the other 43 games, including on the network's individual online apps for those with a subscription. But this time, tournament fans will get a chance to access the games through a record 15 platforms this year. Turner's iStreamPlanet is providing the live streaming infrastructure for all the games through NCAA March Madness Live.

Subscribers can stream the games for free through the NCAA's March Madness Live app and website, as well as through Amazon's Fire TV, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Android handset, Android tablet, Google's Chromecast, Windows 10 mobile and desktop, Roku players and Roku TV models. And for the first time, NCAA March Madness Live will be included in the Microsoft Xbox one platform.

Comcast's X1 Sports App includes special features for the tournament as well. Viewers can switch between games, watch previews of upcoming matchups, view in-game stats and scores, and get real-time updates of the full tournament bracket.

New this year is an interactive bracket experience provided by Apple TV, where viewers can watch previews and highlights in addition to live games. And Amazon's Alexa devices are allowing users to ask questions related to the games and the play-by-play action.

Turner, the NCAA, and CBS are also launching a 30-minute break-down show exclusively on Twitter that will air and stream live four times throughout the tournament. Produced by Turner Sports, the Twitter show is aimed at sparking discussion among fans as the hosts plan to integrate fan polls, predictions, and celebrity tweets as they break down the action on the court.

Last year, an average of 17.8 million viewers tuned into TBS, TNT and TruTV to watch the national championship game between North Carolina and the victor, Villanova, with the viewership peaking at 22.3 million in the final moments of the game. Turner also reported that 3.4 million streams were started through the NCAA's March Madness Live portal. With more platforms available this year than ever before to stream the games, there’s no telling how many more people will be using their personal devices to catch a game while they are on the go.

One thing is for sure though. Having access to a TV set is no longer a necessity to watch the play-by-play of every game, as TV Everywhere and the plethora of streaming devices give way for millions of fans to tune in to all of the victories, losses and excitement that the tournament has to offer.