BERWYN, PA (March 25, 2025) – Playfly Sports, the sports industry’s leading revenue maximization company, today announced the release of its latest FanScore report, College Basketball Edition. This newly published report, in partnership with Vision Insights, offers compelling data into the behaviors, preference, and marketing potential of the college basketball fanbase—underscoring the power of the college basketball regular season.
The FanScore platform offers proprietary intelligence about fan engagement and brand receptivity across the sports ecosystem. In this report, Playfly uncovers a striking disconnect between where advertisers invest and where fans actually engage.
“Marketing investment is heavily focused on March Madness, but our data shows that the regular season is where the most passionate fans live,” said Gregg Liebman, Head of Playfly Insights. “This FanScore Report helps highlights these marketplace trends, offering a roadmap for brands to invest in college basketball and deliver with more effective, longer-term engagement.”
The report reveals that 52% of college basketball viewership occurs during the regular season, yet a staggering 81% of advertising dollars are spent during the March Madness tournament. The revelation points to a substantial opportunity for brands to stretch their budgets further by crafting marketing spend investment strategies that will target avid fans throughout the regular season, in addition to March Madness. Additionally, 55% of March Madness viewers did not watch any regular-season games, reinforcing that regular-season fans are more likely to show a higher level of engagement throughout the season.
Other key insights from the report include:
- Women’s college basketball viewership is up 73% compared to two seasons ago, signaling exponential growth in fan interest.
- Monthly viewership nearly doubles starting in January, revealing a clear seasonal spike that brands can leverage.
- The SEC leads all other conferences in total viewership for both men’s and women’s college basketball.
- Fans of women’s college basketball demonstrate especially high sponsor positivity, making them a prime target for values-based brand integrations.
- Success on the court not only leads to more national TV appearances, but also enhances a university’s visibility, often driving an increase in enrollment.
The report also features updated FanScore Rankings for the top men’s and women’s college basketball programs—providing a data-driven view into the most valuable fanbases in the sport. Developed in partnership with Vision Insights, the Playfly FanScore is the first actionable and insight-rich index built specifically for marketers and sports business leaders. Leveraging a proprietary algorithm, the FanScore combines four seasons of performance data—including the 2024–25 season—with fan engagement metrics, sponsorship impact, attendance, viewership, and brand recognition indicators. Using Vision Insights’ Decoder tool, the rankings distill complex fan behavior and sponsorship receptivity into a single, powerful score that helps brands and athletic departments unlock the full commercial potential of their audiences.
Programs like LSU women’s basketball top the rankings due to consistent performance, the high profile nature of their players and strong engagement metrics, while schools such as Villanova men’s basketball rank highly due to performance combined with sponsor friendliness and broad fanbase support—proving that fan value goes far beyond wins and losses.
This latest report underscores Playfly’s commitment to thought leadership in the dynamic and rapidly evolving sports industry. As part of this ongoing initiative, Playfly has introduced Playmakers—a new social media series that highlights the expertise, insights, and strategic perspectives of Playfly Sports leaders. The series explores both the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of sports business. In addition, Playfly recently released a white paper titled Modernizing the Business of College Sports, which advocates for a shift in Athletics Departments strategy toward an enterprise mindset—one that emphasizes commercial innovation as a critical driver of competitive success in today’s fast-changing environment.
To access the full FanScore Report: College Basketball Edition, click HERE.
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ABOUT PLAYFLY SPORTS
Playfly Sports, the sports industry’s leading revenue maximization company drives growth for its partners across the sports ecosystem – including 2,000+ brands, 100+ professional teams, 65+ college athletic departments, all U.S. local sports networks and associated streaming platforms, and other marquee properties. Its fan engagement platform allows its partners to reach and engage over 85% of all U.S sports fans. Playfly builds and implements custom strategies across media, sponsorship, premium experiences, ticketing and fan engagement offerings through proprietary data, innovative technology and compelling storytelling. Playfly operates an expansive portfolio of services with a data-driven and fan-focused approach to maximize revenue yield in key growth areas, such as media, sponsorship, ticketing, premium experiences and fan engagement offerings. Founded in September of 2020, Playfly Sports is now home to approximately 1,000 team members located across 43 U.S. states and internationally dedicated to maximizing the impact of highly passionate local sports fans. The company has been named a Best Place to Work in Sports by Sports Business Journal, Front Office Sports, and Newsweek. To learn more, follow Playfly Sports on social media platforms or visit www.Playfly.com.
