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Chattanooga March Madness Report

Mocs March Madness Run Worth Over $23 Million In Exposure

Check out the results from MVP's report on the branding value of the Mocs' run to the NCAA Tournament.

It is often said that the Athletics Department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is the front porch to the University.  In many cases, it is the first thing that exposes people to the institution and is considered one of the strongest ways to engage students, alumni and the surrounding community. 

This concept was on full display during our recent participation in March Madness. As we all saw on the nationally televised ESPN broadcast, senior David Jean-Baptiste hit an iconic buzzer-beater in the finals of the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championships to defeat Furman 64-63 on March 7.  

Not only did that shot send UTC to the NCAA Tournament, but it also propelled the Mocs brand and the Power C logo on a nationwide media tour that ignited our fanbase, reunited alumni and exposed the University to a whole new market of potential students and partners.  

After the dust settled from all the fun, the Mocs partnered with MVP,  an omnichannel, media measurement and sponsorship valuation company, to take a closer look at what that 10-day run was worth to the brand on a national level.  The full report from that study is attached to this page, and you can see some of the highlights in the listed below. The end result was a whopping $23 million in exposure value generated for the institution.  

Click Here for MVP's Full Report on the Mocs March Madness Run
Team-celebration-mbb

Major points of the MVP's report included:  

  • Over $23M in exposure value generated for the brand during the postseason run, with 97.5% being generated from broadcast exposure.
  • Nearly 72% of this value came from the NCAA Tournament game against Illinois.
  • Over 3.94M viewers tuned into the two Chattanooga two postseason games (The SoCon Tournament Championship game on ESPN and Round of 64 March Madness game on TNT).
  • Social content generated over $576K in exposure value for the university, with 89% of the value coming from earned social media channels.
Madness Total Value
Obviously we could never afford to buy this kind of exposure, but this shows the impact a strong athletics program can have on raising the visibility of a university. It is also important that the student-athletes, coaches and staff represent the institution the right way. That is what makes me most proud about what our men’s basketball team did this year. Like all of our programs, they affected the overall brand of UTC in a positive way.
Mark Wharton - Vice Chancellor & Director of Athletics

From a broadcast standpoint, MVP reported 146 million viewers saw the Power C between the SoCon Championship game on March 7 through the NCAA Tournament game on March 18.  This includes the broadcast of both games, along with other appearances by coaches and staff on shows like CBS’s Inside College Basketball and Good Morning America and the live shot on the NCAA Selection Show. 

More than 1 million people watched DJB’s shot win the SoCon Tournament, while nearly 2.9 million tuned in for the NCAA Tournament game against Illinois.  It was the second-highest rating for a Friday night game during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  These two games made up $20 million of the $23 million in total exposure. The report also broke down viewership by DMA, showing how different parts of the county tuned into the two games. 

The slide to the right explains the value of the two CBS shows previously mentioned.  Over six million people saw Jean-Baptiste and head coach Lamont Paris on Inside College Basketball on Saturday, March 12, while nearly 28 million saw the Mocs as a featured team on Sunday’s selection show. 

Madness Report

This kind of thing is not uncommon for Chattanooga.  The 1997 Sweet 16 team is still talked about with reverence, even 25 years later.  The 2009 squad was featured for an entire week on Jimmy Fallon’s Late Show when they made it to the Big Dance, and in August of 2012, men’s golfer Steven Fox made national headlines with his win at the U.S. Amateur. 

While the Sweet 16 impact was immeasurable at the time, conservative estimates said the week-long run on The Late Show was worth over $500,000 in exposure for UTC.  The Athletics Department commissioned a study in 2012 to measure the impact of Steven Fox’s two-day competition on NBC in August of that year.  That report showed more than $2 million in advertising value for the University. 

However, DJB’s shot and this run was different.  While social media was around in 2009 and 2012, it was not the medium it is today.  Everyone from Patrick Mahomes to Good Morning America was talking about that shot.  The exposure continued all the way to the Mocs near upset of Illinois in the NCAA Tournament 11 days later. 

 

Late Night with Jimmy FallonLate Night with Jimmy Fallon
UTC Alum Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding) appears with Late Night host Jimmy Fallon during the Mocs week-long March Madness run on the show in 2009.

Some key takeaways from the Social Analysis of MVP’s report include

  • Over $576.2K in value was generated between owned and earned social media content related to the Chattanooga Mocs Men’s Basketball team during their postseason run.
  • 89% of all value derived from earned social channels, with more than $252K coming from six ESPN posts across all social platforms.
  • Over $344K in value came from earned media posting in reference to the David Jean-Baptiste buzzer beater to win the SoCon Tournament, securing the team’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

 

The Instagram post to the right from ESPN was the highest value generating post of the run on social media.  It resulted in over 900K engagements, over seven million impressions and a post value of nearly $160,000.  

Through our own social media channels, including the Athletics Department (@GoMocs) and the men’s basketball account (@GoMocsMBB) nearly $65K in exposure value was generated. 

These two social accounts generated 3.92M impressions & 49.4K engagements during the tournament timeframe. Chattanooga MBB social channels generated 79.4% of all exposure value, as well as 77.8% of all impressions & 65.8% of all engagements. Twitter content accounted for 236 of the 315 total posts made across the 15-day span.

Whether it is in competition, in the classroom or out in the community, the Mocs have a strong brand identity of success in whatever they do.  That solid foundation makes events like the recent run to the NCAA Tournament valuable to everyone involved with UTC.  A report like the one provided by MVP helps put a dollar figure to the event, while the pride shown by everyone involved with the Power C is immeasurable. 

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