It might be April on the calendar, but the NCAA Tournament proved to be a boon for sites about and related to March Madness. According to Compete.com, the two main college basketball destinations, NCAAsports.com and CBS Sportsline (home of the popular live streaming March Madness on Demand) both saw a traffic increase of over 1000% and almost 125%, respectively, in March compared to February. Staggering numbers indeed.

A recent Compete.com article also wondered aloud whether by comparing previous years if March Madness itself or the ability to watch the games streaming online is the difference in the traffic ratings. The conclusion states two things: 1) that the ability to watch games online was a huge traffic generator for NCAA Sports and CBS Sportsline and 2) that the traffic to NCAA Sports is quite pedestrian the rest of the year. It certainly demonstrates the suggestion that the NCAA website should feature more live streaming of other games and underlines the importance and value of streaming games to drive both traffic and ad revenue to other sports sites (NFL, NBA, MLB).

If anything, the NCAA March Madness on Demand has shown there is a huge market for streaming games and other leagues and sports should follow suit if not now, then in the very near future.