Games were not televised live until 1969. That year, NBC aired just a few games – two games per weekend. The Final Four games were broadcast regionally, with the eastern half of the country getting the early game, and the western half getting the late game. NBC’s rights fee was $547,500 and ad revenue was just under $500,000.
In 1980, six-month-old ESPN picked up a few game feeds from NCAA Productions, airing games from the first Thursday and Friday of action. In 1981, ESPN picked up all 16 first-round games, and over the next few years added more and more hours of coverage. When CBS took over for NBC in 1982, national broadcast coverage of the event expanded as well.
In 2011, CBS and Turner announced a major change to tournament coverage. In their partnership, Turner’s TBS, TNT, and TruTV networks joined CBS for a joint 14 year, $10.8 billion contract to air and stream games. Two years ago, the contract was extended, with Turner/CBS keeping the rights through 2032.
Advertisers love the games. Ad sales have grown steadily, and tremendously. Kantar reports revenue for the games has risen 69% since 2011, the first CBS/Turner year, to $1.32 billion in national spending in 2018. For comparison, that is only slightly behind the 2018 NFL post season, which generated $1.68 billion in ad time. In the last ten years, the biggest spenders have been AT&T at an estimated $830 million, General Motors at $791 million, Coca-Cola at $399 million, and Capital One at $361 million.