For many, the month of March is synonymous with March Madness. Filling out brackets and watching college basketball all morning, noon, and night.

As we have recently observed, thanks to Wi-Fi and connectivity, more and more sports fans are turning to livestreaming in order to watch the biggest and most exciting games of the year. That means that college hoops fans are able to watch every second of the Big Dance on their smartphones while on their morning commute to work, on their tablets during their lunch break, and of course on their computers when their boss isn’t looking.

In fact, last year alone around 98 million viewers livestreamed the tournament, 33% more than in 2016. Overall, it was reported that fans watched about 20 million live video hours last year, up 10% from the year before.

College basketball fans have actually become so accustomed to streaming March Madness that just prior to last year’s tournament, CBS and Turner announced they would provide fans livestreaming access across a then-record 15 different platforms. Thanks to these arrangements, dedicated fans were able to catch more games than any previous March Madness.

When asked why the concerted effort to provide fans with more streaming options throughout the course of the tournament, vice president and general manager of NCAA Digital, Hania Poole, said it best – “it’s about meeting the fan where they are.” As the digital audience continues to grow, expect to see an increase in available streaming options for fans to tap into in order to ensure they are able to watch every play of every game.

Visit wififorward.org to learn more about the work that we’re doing to support IoT, Wi-Fi and other unlicensed spectrum-based technologies.