Lessons Learned from a Day with CBS March Madness on Demand

Authored by Scott Goldberg on March 15, 2007 - 2:08pm.

Mark this day, March 15, 2007, the first day of the NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament, in the history books. I gave CBS’s March Madness on Demand (MMOD) a long look today, and I’ll be the first to say it: Thank you, CBS! I can’t remember a free internet application that surpassed all hopes and delivered beyond expectations quite so much. Actually, scratch that. I can’t remember anything free that gave the goods as well as MMOD.

In many ways MMOD even surpassed the televised experience. There was the same number of commercials, the programming was fast and only lagged the live telecast by 10 seconds, I had the freedom to switch between games, and pop-ups were non-existent. The only downside, which proved to be a small problem, was the queue at the beginning (I could’ve skipped it had I signed up for the VIP pass). But even that proved to be a small inconvenience. CBS did the right thing and logged me in within a minute.

We’ve become overly accustomed to freebies disappointing us. It’s come to the point that I don’t look at something free as a great opportunity; instead I wonder how many ways I’ll get screwed by signing up. Will they get me with SPAM? Or absurd amounts of advertising? Will they ask for my home address or email, or maybe my cell phone number? It’s always something.

Marketers miss the opportunity to engage an audience and fully please them, leaving people feeling used and hassled instead. You’re not supposed to do that in dating, so why do it marketing? When something like MMOD happens it reminds me that getting free stuff, followed up with premium service, is the best formula for attracting dedicated supporters.

Before today I had a neutral opinion of CBS, at best. Aside from March Madness and The Masters, I really couldn’t pinpoint a specific show or marquee program on the entire network. To me it’s on equal ground with competitors; neither more, nor less, outstanding. But today CBS separated and earned a dedicated supporter. Moreover, I’ll try their freebies in the future, knowing I’ll have a great experience.

Now let’s see if they don’t mess it up. These kinds of things, unfortunately, never turn out as well as they could. If it’s a huge success, dollar signs will likely make next year’s (or hell, even tomorrow’s) MMOD a disaster. But hopefully that doesn’t happen. CBS might finally be thinking like a consumer.

Scott Goldberg