For the third straight year, Turner Sports, a division of WarnerMedia, tapped iStreamPlanet’s end-to-end media solution to guarantee that viewers would have a seamless, high-quality “March Madness Live” viewing experience, no matter where they were watching. Broadcasting 67 games over 15 days is no easy feat, but iStreamPlanet’s revolutionary technology capabilities and live streaming DNA make it possible. Behind the scenes (or screens), iStreamPlanet engineers a highly redundant live video workflow for high availability of live games from the arena to your screen.
March Madness Live apps across a plethora of web, mobile and connected devices
This year, NCAA March Madness Live set all-time tournament records in live streams (over 100 million) and live hours consumed (over 24 million), up 31% and 29% vs. last year, respectively. NCAA March Madness Live generated a record for the NCAA Championship Game based on live unique viewers, with live streams and live hours consumed showing increases of 19% and 7% vs. last year. MML also set all-time daily records in both live hours (eight times) and live streams (five times) throughout this year’s tournament.
“The NCAA Tournament is one of the most anticipated events on the sports calendar due to the unparalleled way it captures the attention of fans over an entire month each and every year,” said Matt Hong, COO, Turner Sports. “This year was no exception, as fans watched the tournament in unprecedented levels across NCAA March Madness Live and our full suite of digital products. Leveraging iStreamPlanet ensures our fans will have an unrivaled experience with the highest video quality and streaming capabilities across all screens.”
Mio Babic, Founder and CEO of iStreamPlanet, shared some of the tech that brought the Big Dance to viewers this year:
March Madness Live workflow diagram
Mark your calendar… the 82nd annual edition of “March Madness Live” returns March 17, 2020!