March Madness Live is back and bigger than ever, with the first round of the tournament starting tomorrow. This year, Warner Bros. Discovery, in partnership with the NCAA and CBS Sports, has expanded the live streaming and second screen options for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship as it prepares to cover all 67 games of the tournament. 🏀
A Ratings Powerhouse 🏆
"We are the #1 destination to catch not only everything live, but premium on-demand content, and we reach over 50% of the total digital sports audience each year," said Warner Bros. Discovery Vice President of Digital and Products Hania Poole. Poole added that when it comes to unique visitors per game, MML lines right up alongside the Super Bowl in terms of delivering a massive audience on the digital platforms. "The more we keep people engaged, the more we see those users converting to live in a big way."
More Games at Once, Even in Cars 🚗
Here are a few ways that MML is going deeper in its coverage with improved content discoverability features and live activities:
- Available across 19 platforms, including TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, and for the first time this will include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with live game audio
- A more streamlined video experience and enhanced video and audio quality, with 5.1 surround sound and 1080 picture quality
- A multi-game viewing feature for the web, giving fans the ability to stream four separate games simultaneously
- For the first time, fans will be able to view the games from their lock screens
- The humorous "Boss Button" is back in the form of "BossGPT," which is meant to mimic an experience like the GPT feature
- The bracket challenges, tailored to help people continue playing even after their brackets are busted, return for both the men's and women's tournaments with a new sweepstakes
An Enhanced Digital Experience ⚡️
The MML team has also taken steps to ensure an optimal viewing experience online, and also within the limitations of the older devices that many people still have. "There has been so much growth in connected devices, that it's well worth us to take the extra steps to make sure that not only latency but that the video player in general performs really well in all the platforms," said Poole.
Poole remarked that this is the most robust offering they've ever had for MML:
"We've started trying to capture the conference energy and excitement even earlier [than the 3-week period]. We're going to carry this [energy and excitement] all the way through in terms of engagement and all the different features you can interact with throughout the tournament."