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CBS is expecting record number of viewers as the Men's NCAA College Basketball Round One games kick off Thursday and March Madness 2010 gets underway in full force.
The television network has already managed to bring in about $37 million in online ad sales alone. This number is up 20% from the year before.
More importantly, it sold as many ads for live web coverage as it does on TV, AdAge.com points out.
CBS no longer breaks out digital revenue as a percentage of its business, but it has for the past several years reported revenue numbers for March Madness on Demand.
MMOD has increased its revenue from $4 million in 2006, its first year as a free service, to $32 million last year, AdAge.com reports.
CBS made $4.76 per television viewer last year, and $4.26 per online viewer.
Likewise, the online bookmakers are seeing an increase in revenues generated by this year's March Madness kickoff (officially beginning with the conclusion of Selection Sunday, which reveals each team's seeding and matchups).
Gambling911.com reports a massive increase in traffic for Selection Sunday compared to last year and modest increases both Monday and Tuesday. The site ranks high in March Madness betting-related search.
Actually revenue numbers are yet to be provided by either Las Vegas or the online sportsbooks.
$2.5 billion is likely to be bet on this year's NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
