Among passionate fans of the recent NCAA Tournament, 88 percent used their mobile devices for March Madness-related activity, according to a study by Millennial Media.

In the company?s latest Smart report, Millennial partnered with IAB. The report focused specifically on mobile activity around March Madness.

?As NCAA Tournament games were being played at all times of day, mobile gave consumers the option to engage at their own convenience, whether they were at home or not,? said Mack McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing at Millennial Media, Baltimore, MD.

?In fact, we found that nearly 70 percent of consumers following the NCAA Tournament agreed that having a mobile device allowed them to access content conveniently,? she said.

Relevant data
The Millennial report also found that 40 percent of NCAA Tournament fans purchased a mobile application related to the tournament.

According to the company, on the first day of the NCAA Tournament, impressions on sports apps increased 31 percent week-over-week.

Additionally, social media apps increased 42 percent.

Millennial also saw that from 5 p.m. till 7p.m. ET on the first day, impressions on sports apps increased 158 percent.

The report found that 16 percent of consumers used their smartphone as their primary device for following the NCAA tournament, compared to the 17 percent that claimed the PC as their primary device.

During the tournament, 48 percent of basketball fans used their mobile device to check scores, 25 percent used their handset to read about their favorite teams and players, 23 percent used their smartphone to check brackets and 20 percent used their device to watch highlights.

Mobile insight
The Millennial report proves that nowadays, sports fans are constantly turning to their mobile devices while they are watching their favorite games on TV.

This not only gives advertisers another means to reach consumers with relevant content, but also shows that users are not longer just using one channel.

?Mobile provided consumers numerous ways to interact with NCAA Tournament content, including checking scores and brackets, interacting on social networks and reading about teams and players,? Ms. McKelvey said.

?Even when people were watching the games on TV, we found that 69 percent were also using their mobile device,? she said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York