March 14, 2012
Predicted for 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament
Internet Innovation Alliance crunches numbers, estimates a 29.8 percent increase in data consumption tied to March Madness web video compared to 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 14, 2012 – This year’s 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament could garner nearly 18 million hours of streaming video consumption through March Madness on Demand (MMOD) online and mobile apps, according to calculations by the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), a broad-based coalition supporting broadband access and adoption for all Americans.
To reach its prediction of 17,786,648 total hours of streaming video—a 29.8 percent increase over last year – the IIA took into account facts including the below:
- 95 percent of Americans who live in households earning $75,000 or more a year use the Internet [1]
- Nearly half of NCAA viewers have a household income of $75,000 or over [2]
- 70 percent of those living in households earning less than $75,000 use the Internet [3]
- 78 percent of American adults use the Internet [4]
- About .9 gigabytes are consumed in one hour of viewing standard-definition television via the Internet [5]
- 37.5 percent growth in data consumption (petabytes per month) from web video is predicted for 2011 to 2012 in North America [6]
- There were 13.7 million total hours of streaming video consumed through MMOD online and iPad and iPhone apps from Selection Sunday on March 13, 2011 through the conclusion of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on April 4, 2011 [7]
The Alliance noted that, this year, the MMOD app will cost a one-time price of $3.99 to watch all games live on a computer, iPhone, iPad and select Android phones, which could affect the prediction. [8]
To see how the IIA arrived at its estimate, the group’s daily-updating infographic that will track progress toward the projection and more facts related to online streaming and web video consumption, check out https://internetinnovation.org/library/ncaa.
“Americans now rely on the Internet for everything from entertainment to educational resources, improved health care, civic participation and jobs —and, every day, more consumers are accessing this content from their wireless devices, ” said Jamal Simmons, IIA co-chairman. “Since the last time telecommunications law was overhauled in 1996, the wireless industry has grown in unimaginable ways. Smart management of spectrum – the limited, vital resource that enables the mobility of your laptop, cellphone and tablet – is crucial to continued innovation. Policymakers should recognize that their decisions will greatly impact the future of this dynamic field, not unduly interfere with market players moving to meet the demands of consumers and allow wireless users to drive the decisions.”
[1] http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2010/PIP-Better-off-households-final.pdf
[2] http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-forward/2011/03/14/how-ncaa-mens-tournament-viewers-differ-from-womens-tournament-viewers/
[3] http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2010/PIP-Better-off-households-final.pdf
[4] http://pewinternet.org/Trend-Data/Internet-Adoption.aspx
[5] http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-481374.pdf (page 120)
[6] http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-481360.pdf (page 13)
[7] http://www.timewarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/2011/04/2011_NCAA174_March_Madness174_on_Demand_Sees_63_Increase_04-05-2011.php
[8] http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness