2024 was a historic year for the March Madness tournament. In addition to the upsets and drama of years past, this year marked the first time that the women’s Championship Game drove higher viewership than the men’s. So who was watching? We took a look at viewership of the tournament to glean learnings for advertisers to take into 2024, which promises to be momentous for women’s sports. Read on for four key takeaways and download the report for more analysis.

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1. Advertisers looking to achieve reach at scale in cost effective ways should look to women’s sports, which are drawing in massive audiences.

Fueled by big drama, great basketball, and breakout stars like Caitlin Clark, the women’s March Madness Championship game between South Carolina and Iowa drove 21% higher viewership than the men’s Championship game. In addition, viewership of every round of the women’s March Madness tournament was up from 2023. With women’s sporting events typically a more cost-effective area to place buys than men’s, advertisers should lean in to this airtime (particularly for the upcoming Summer Olympics). 

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2. Use innovative AI solutions to detect logo appearances and understand the value of your brand sponsorships.

AI is propelling forward new types of insights - for example, Samba TV technology showed that Coca-Cola made 252 brand appearances over the course of the two men's semifinal games during Final Four weekend, totaling over four minutes of screen time. This type of new technology powered by AI can help advertisers and publishers quantify the value of sponsorships in ways that were never before possible.  

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3. With younger, diverse audiences watching women’s basketball, advertisers should lean in to reach these valuable audiences.

Compared with 2023, Samba TV data shows that a higher ratio of diverse, wealthy, and younger audiences watched the women’s March Madness tournament in 2024. With desirable audiences like Gen Z and Hispanics harder than ever to reach, advertisers must pay attention to the areas they are spending their time and place buys accordingly. 

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4. Target March Madness viewers (and other sports fans) directly across digital channels to capitalize on the huge viewership in a cost effective way. 

With 35M U.S. households watching the men’s tournament and 25M watching the women’s, March Madness remains one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and brands like The Home Depot and AT&T did a great job of reaching massive audiences throughout the tournaments. Advertisers looking to reach these audiences without spending top dollar should use advanced targeting to reach sports fans on their mobile devices and connected TVs.

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