NEW YORK—-There were no flashing LED screens or expensive cameras enveloping Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith this morning at a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom for March Madness Media Day. Just a gaggle of reporters and bloggers sitting in between the two, who faced each other on opposite sides of a circular table. But both men were carrying on, voices rising and falling, talking over each other in an argument that seemed to involve college basketball and money. It was fascinating to watch them in front of an audience of a dozen or so, carrying on like it was Inside the NBA. Just like on TV, nobody could turn away.

Their broadcast partner Ernie Johnson had minutes before he addressed the assembled crowd from the stage. “As much fun as it is to watch,” he said of the March Madness tournament, “it’s even more fun to be a part of it.”

Now in year five of its 14-year monster deal with the NCAA, CBS and Turner’s partnership continues to enhance the fan experience and interactive platforms that have made March Madness a national phenomenon.

This will be the second year that Turner airs the Final Four semifinals. Next year, it will have the National Championship Game for the first time, with both networks switching off after that.

“It’s nice to finally work with people my own age,” Raftery, the septuagenarian quipped, sitting alongside Jim Nantz and Grant Hill, who along with sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson will handle Final Four and National Championship Game broadcasts from Indianapolis.

TBS’s first Final Four game last year was a ratings boon for the network, with Kentucky vs. Wisconsin drawing 16.3 million viewers, the sixth most-watched non-football sporting contest in cable history. Still, it was lower by 10% in ratings than the year prior on CBS.

Many industry watchers believe CBS and Turner have set a standard and perhaps a precedent in partnership for large-scale sporting event coverage. The revenue would tend to back that up. The 2013 tournament garnered a staggering $1.15 billion in ad dollars, according to Kantar Media. It pulled in more national TV ad money than any other post-season event, NFL and NBA playoffs included.

Digital continues to be a huge part of the tournament’s growth. The March Madness Live app, which earned a whopping 70 million streams and 14 million unique visits last year, has added a number of salient features. New this year is a team section, which provides users with interactive statistics, video content and matchup information specific to each team involved in the tournament.

The app allows a user three hours of live game streaming throughout the tournament, then authentication allows them to continue watching. All of the CBS over-the-air broadcasts will be available for free throughout.

The Capital One Tournament Run feature allows fans whose bracket has already been busted, to stay involved by getting “points” for answering questions about game match ups. Capital One is also sponsoring the official Bracket Challenge, which includes new features and tools for discerning fans to make their picks.

Fans can get game information about their favorite teams as well as live game scoring through the Coke Zero March Madness Social Arena. “We joke we’re like the fifth network,” says Turner Sports VP of Business Operations Mark Johnson. In a world where second-screen is all the rage and digital dollars continue to roll in, it’s a sentiment that seems less like a joke and more like a reality.

Image courtesy of USA Today

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