March Madness never ceases to live up to the name. Cinderella stories, star players being born, and thrilling games are just a few of the things that contribute to the madness. Join us as we uncover the impact of your favorite teams and players from the 2024 NCAA March Madness Men’s and Women’s Tournaments, including Caitlin Clark’s record breaking season!  

NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

The 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball season was one to remember. The amazing talent and personalities on the court elevated the women’s game to record-breaking heights on broadcast and social media. For the first time ever, the women’s national championship had more viewers than the men’s championship. The women’s championship had 18.9 million average viewers, significantly more than the men’s 14.8 million average viewers. ESPN also announced that the game peaked at 24 million viewers, making it the most-watched basketball game since 2019, including men’s and women’s games at the pro and college level (via ESPN).

Caitlin Clark’s Record-Breaking Season

Caitlin Clark shattered every offensive record in the book this season:

• Career points: 3,951
• Points in a season: 1,234 
• Career Points Per Game: 28.42 
• 3-Pointers in a season: 201
• Career 3-Pointers: 548
• Career NCAA Tournament points (491), assists (152), and 3-pointers (78)

Clark has been on a non-stop rise to fame all season! She grew her social media following by over 54%, adding 823,300 new followers during the NCAA tournament this year. 

Clark has also had a significant impact on her team’s social accounts. Iowa Women’s Basketball received over 8.1 million engagements during the 2024 tournament, more than 2.6x the engagements of the next best team. The team increased their total engagement by 182% compared to the 2023 tournament. Iowa Women’s Basketball also grew their following by over 34% during the women’s March Madness tournament.

South Carolina Goes Undefeated

South Carolina was the most dominant team in the country this season, going 38-0 on their way to capturing the program’s third National Championship! The team grew their social media following by 10% and received 2.2 million engagements over the course of the tournament.

Player Rankings – NCAA Women’s Basketball

The stars of the women’s game are the reason behind the success of women’s basketball this year. These big personalities attached to some of the most talented players in the game are irresistible to sports fans. Check out the staggering numbers of the top five most-followed women’s players from this year’s NCAA Tournament: Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, and Hailey Van Lith.

Team Rankings – NCAA Women’s Basketball

Women’s teams benefitted from these star players and their success as they grew their social influence during the tournament as well! Despite losing in the National Championship, Iowa blew all teams, men’s and women’s, out of the water. They had the most video views (35.8 million), engagements (8.1 million), and impressions (140.0 million) of all NCAA tournament teams. See how the rest of the women’s teams stacked up in our top five ranking.

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

The 2024 NCAA men’s basketball tournament had it all. Early upsets from Yale and Oakland, a Cinderella story from 11-seed NC State making the Final Four, and thrilling games across the bracket.

UConn Dominates for Back-To-Back Titles 

UConn has done it again! The Huskies eliminated any doubts as they won all six tournament games by double-digit margins. This back-to-back championship winning UConn team will surely be remembered as one of the greatest and most dominant teams in collegiate basketball history.

The Rise of DJ Burns and Jack Gohlke

Who would have thought that the stars of the NCAA men’s tournament would be DJ Burns and Jack Gohlke?! DJ Burns, a 275-pound center, took social media by storm as he led the NC State Wolfpack to the Final Four as an 11-seed. Burns was getting interviews with ESPN and Barstool Sports as his personality and big-man style of play captivated basketball fans. Burns has grown his social media to over 275,800 followers as a result of being in the national spotlight over the past three weeks!

Jack Gohlke only won one game in the NCAA tournament, but it was epic! He had 32-points and 10 three-pointers in their upset win over Kentucky. Gohlke was also getting interviews with big television networks and Barstool Sports as he quickly became the face of the first-round. He quickly took advantage of this media attention by signing NIL deals with major brands like Buffalo Wild Wings, and Inuit TurboTax, OOFOS, and Barstool Sports for his own line of merchandise.

Team Rankings – NCAA Men’s Basketball

The national champions came out on top of our total engagement team rankings; however, the Duke Blue Devils ranked second even though they only made the Elite Eight. The Blue Devils also ranked #1 in total video views (16.5 million), almost doubling the next best team’s video views (UConn – 8.7 million). Winning matters, but large and historic college fanbases like Duke can generate a lot of interactions from fans. Another example of this is the North Carolina Tar Heels, as they were upset early in the tournament by Alabama in the Sweet-16.

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Deals 

Collegiate athletes are entering a new era where their star power is finally being recognized with compensation. Brands are seizing the opportunity to offer Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals to athletes such as Caitlin Clark (State Farm and Nike), Paige Bueckers (Bose and Nordstrom), Angel Reese (Playstation, Reebok, and Raising Cane’s), and Jared McCain (Sally Hansen and Panera) to capitalize on their immense popularity and marketability. Additionally, as stars like NC State’s standout player DJ Burns emerge during tournaments, brands like Adidas, CVS, Manscaped, Intuit TurboTax, and Raising Cane’s swiftly signed deals with Burns to capitalize on his popularity. Explore some of the noteworthy sponsorships athletes from the tournament have signed, underscoring the growing influence and earning potential in collegiate sports.

Tournament Sponsors

The official “corporate champions” of the 2024 March Madness tournament included AT&T, Capital One, and Coca-Cola. These are the top-tier sponsors for the tournament. For example, Capital One has the exclusive rights to the official Bracket Challenge, which is one of the main activities for consumers surrounding the tournament. There is also a list of official “corporate partners” that include brands such as Inuit, Buffalo Wild Wings, Marriott, and others that also receive category exclusivity around use of NCAA logos, marks, designations and championship tickets. 

Marriott Bonvoy Campaign 

Along with receiving featured advertisements on television programming, Marriott Bonvoy sponsored the NCAA’s “Advanced” social media posts that showcased the winning team from each game of the tournament! Their logo was spotted on 201 posts that generated 23.7 million impressions, 1.1 million engagements, and $663,200 of media value! 

Far too often we see partnership logos tucked away in the top corner and shrunk down to a size that is barely visible. This campaign was especially impressive because of the design that prominently featured the Marriott Bonvoy logo for full exposure value on all-devices according to our Strength Meter technology. Organizations can get ahead of this problem by testing the size, quality, and visibility of a brand’s logo across different devices and social media platforms with Blinkfire’s Logo Visibility Test! 

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