Ad rates for hoops final going through the roof

The NCAA basketball tournament is already in the big leagues when it comes to advertising rates — and Monday’s ratings winner of a final is set to push them higher still.

The price of a 30-second TV commercial on CBS in the championship battle between Duke and Wisconsin was $1.5 million, up about 10 percent from last year.

Viewership for the final game, however, surged 33 percent from last year — to 28.3 million viewers. That makes this year’s ad rates look like a bargain, and is sure to push up the price of a 30-second spot in next year’s NCAA final, experts said.

“Rates should rise in the double digits next year,” predicts Brad Adgate, research director at Horizon Media.

The 67-game March Madness tourney and the Final Four games — which are broadcast by CBS and Turner Sports under a $10.8 billion, 14-year deal cut in 2010 — command ad rates enjoyed by few other sports franchises outside of the NFL and the Olympics.

While a 30-second Super Bowl spot costs a staggering $4.5 million, the NCAA Championship games are nipping at the heels of 30-second slots for the NFL’s AFC and NFC championship games, which run north of $1.7 million.

Meanwhile, the NCAA is developing a healthy business streaming the games. This year, the tournament saw a record 17.8 million hours of live video consumption, up 19 percent from a year earlier.

On social media, March Madness grossed a record 350 million impressions across Facebook and Twitter, up 45 percent from last year.