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CBS Corporation Tops Rating Chart on March Madness Success

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In the previous week, CBS Corporation topped the rating chart again fueled by “March Madness”. March Madness is defined by the frenzy of fans in support of their teams and also making predictions through brackets. As millions of fans fill out brackets, we know that the real winners of the event will be the media moguls.

Two media conglomerates – CBS Corporation and Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. – have teamed up to make the most of the hype and high drama surrounding the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA") Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Notably, both the companies have enjoyed high television ratings and advertising revenues from the event.

CBS Edges Past Rival

The tournament turned out to be a huge success for CBS Corporation, with 21% higher rating from the comparable game previous year which happened to be the final game between North Carolina and Gonzaga. For the tournament, CBS drew 9.7 million prime-time viewers, surpassing Comcast Corporation’s (CMCSA - Free Report) NBC viewership of 5.3 million. While The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS - Free Report) ABC drew 4.3 million viewers, Fox and Univision had 2.7 million and 1.5 million average viewers for the tournament, respectively. Further, the tournament turned out to be the second most viewed in 23 years.

Total viewership for the tournament increased 10% year over year at an average of 9.325 million in the first four days of the tournament. In particular, the eight second-round games aired on Mar 19 on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV averaged 11.9 million viewers compared with 8.9 million viewers last year.

Was Deal Extension a Great Idea?

In 2016, both CBS Corporation and Turner Broadcasting extended rights to air NCAA tournament through 2032. The deal is valued at $8.8 billion.

Given the massive popularity of the event, CBS Corporation and Time Warner investors are likely to enjoy solid returns. With more viewership and higher advertising revenues, both companies are poised for top-line growth. In the past, both have enjoyed high television ratings and advertising revenues from the event.

However, we believe there are few concerns for both the companies. With the increase in sports rights fees, profits are likely to get hampered. Further, if cord-cutting rises, it will not only hurt the main source of revenue but will also affect advertising revenue.

Stock Performance

CBS Corporation has witnessed a bullish run in the past one year with shares gaining 26.1% comfortably outperforming the Zacks categorized Broadcasting-Radio/TV industry’s gain of 14.6%. We believe, the company's sustained focus on increasing subscription-based revenues should drive long-term growth. CBS Corporation currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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