Final Four ready for Indianapolis

For CBS (CBS), this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has been a resounding success. March Madness proved to be just that in the early rounds of the tournament, with several high profile upsets, Overtimes and nail-biting finishes.

CBS television ratings have generally been the victor, beating American Idol on the first night of the tournament and hardly looking back. Another success story for the College Basketball brand and network, it's online free-for-all. Each year, March Madness on Demand has exhibited exceptional growth. The completely free ad-supported streaming model had 30% growth over 2009, which is nothing to sneeze at. That equates to 3 Million unique viewers who watched 3.4 Million hours on the first day of the tournament alone. Consider also the streaming iPhone app was a top seller and this online thing is starting to really make a bit of money for the old network.

With the Final Four this year being a balance of known and unknown -Michigan State, Duke, Butler and West Virginia- CBS is hopeful tournament momentum carries it throughout the weekend games and National Championship for another successful and exciting College Basketball Championship.

Also on tap for this weekend, Apple's (AAPL) highly anticipated launch of the iPad, the table computer based on iPhone software that has been selling out pre-orders all over America. Analysts are increasingly bullish on sales prospects for the iPad with initial first year shipment targets moving from 3-5 Million into the 8-10 Million range.

According to one analyst, Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley, who has been written about here before and let's face it hasn't had the best of records when it comes to Apple picking (Link), Apple's suppliers are on pace to build 8-10 Million units this year and each Million sold will represent an additional $0.25/share in earnings. It has been this bullish tone lately with the iPad that has pushed Apple shares to all time highs in the $230s.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.

New Orleans Saints are Superbowl Champs but what of the Commercials?

A football team embraced by a city as escapism; and for the excitement it provided the residents of New Orleans following the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, has now come full circle to offer its hometown the celebration it deserves and desires. The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Superbowl XLIV, the 44th such contest of football's conference champions, and sent the French Quarter and the surrounding and still rebuilding areas into a frenzy that's likely the continue well into Mardi Gras.

As much as the spectacle of the Superbowl is remembered for what happens on the field, it gets almost as much attention for what happens in between the action. Commercials, are always a hot ticket and with price tags in the $2.5Million to $3Million range for a spot this year it was up to corporations to deliver catchy, memorable and likable ads. A game that featured two of the league's top Quarterbacks was sure to be a windfall for CBS Corp. (CBS), and early ratings would suggest that's the case. A report this morning puts viewership of the game at a 23 year high. That's a lot of eyeballs watching the players on the field and all those commercials.

Alcohol always seems to go after the comedic bone with Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) and its legendary stable of Superbowl spots. The Clydesdale's, the Wassup guys, the Frogs and more have all pushed Budweiser Beer onto the masses for years with recent Bud Light ads becoming the "lighter" touch. This year's game featured the musical technique known as Auto-tune with several men crooning to each other over the phone after getting some Bud Light. The ad also featured Auto-tunes foremost proponent Mr. "I'm In Love With A Stripper" T-Pain, or as he's known amongst the younger hipster crowd, the dude on the [expletive] boat with Andy Samberg.

Motorola (MOT) went for comedy and sex appeal as it showed off its new Android powered smartphone the Devour. Using Google's (GOOG) Android operating system and its own MOTOBLUR interface, Motorola looks to continue the successful smartphone push it has enjoyed on Verizon (VZ) with the Droid. The ad featured a bubble bathing Megan Fox pondering what if any consequences would arise from her sending a photo of herself in the bath. Subsequently men all over the country are instantly distracted and much chaos ensues. The company has even put several out-takes from the ad on its website.

Staying with Google for a moment, the company for the first time has decided to advertise on this big a stage. The results, one part sappy, one part romantic, one part technology and all parts effective for portraying the message of Google being THE destination to find anything. The ad features the main Google search screen as a story unfolds of Boy meets French Girl, Boy searches for ways to impress French Girl, Boy Searches for flights to France, Boy searches for work in France, Boy searches for chapels in France, Boy searches for help building a crib.

Discount Brokerage and Superbowl mainstay E*Trade (ETFC) brought back its popular baby investors with a little twist, female companions and a new catch-phrase "milk-a-holic".

Taken together, the ads this year have according to early reviews been lacking the punch of previous incarnations, but sifting through the mass of advertisements, which are all featured on a special YouTube channel one can still find some that will undoubtedly be talked about over the water-cooler for the week to come.

Disclosure: Author owns GOOG, VZ

Final Four is set, ready for CBS!

The grandest stage in College Basketball was once again a rousing success for television network CBS Corp (CBS). Year after year the NCAA tournament is filled with drama, action, heartbreak and incredible performances, just about everything a television network would want from one of its prime-time tv shows.

Now, although the later stages of the tournament this year lacked a glass-slipper boasting Cinderella, the games attracted an impressive audience, especially online. With the help of Akamai Technologies (AKAM), CBC was able to stream all the tournament games in the highest quality it had ever streamed the event before and the results were impressive. A few statistics from BusinessInsider (Link) show traffic up 57% year over year, and streamed content up 65% on the CBS website. Certain advertising opportunities, such as the "Boss Button" also showed impressive gains with 25% growth in clicks. In comparison, for the first days of the tournament CBS saw increased television ratings of 4%.

What does this all add up to? Well for North Carolina, UConn, Michigan State and Villanova, a chance to play on the biggest stage for a National Basketball Title. For shareholders of CBS, whose value has declined over 80% in 1 year, in the midst of the recession, operating losses and dividend cuts, the hope is for a continued spark from the tournament. However this spike has all but fizzled along with the market. Today's 13% decline has given back most of the gains made by CBS in the last 2 weeks.

With the economy still lurking in a grim down-turn and advertising being hard to come by, it is the major events that still attract audiences and advertisers and CBS has a tent-pole with March Madness. But, by the numbers, for my money the audience is moving online, and companies like content delivery network Akamai increasingly stand to benefit as higher-quality (read: more expensive) live streaming and content downloads build out an even more expansive user base in the years to come.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the companies mentioned