'March Madness' For Markets?

This week, inboxes across America will be cluttered with invitations to join college basketball "March Madness" brackets for a chance to win cash, notoriety or both.

While deciding between Kentucky and Villanova may be at the top of the public's priorities, some investors are looking to the market to pick their own winners.

TV Time

March Madness may not bring in the same viewership as the Super Bowl, but cable companies are likely to see a boost in ratings as viewers tune in to measure the success of their brackets.

Providers like CBS Corporation CBS and Time Warner Cable Inc TWC are probably anticipating the tournament just as much the participants in your office pool.

Advertising

The Super Bowl no longer has the monopoly on ad space either. This year's tournament is likely to give several big brands a great deal of exposure from team gear to ad-spots.

This year, sports brands Nike Inc NKE and Under Armour are expected to be major players.

Buffalo Wild Wings BWLD is emerging as a top seed for ‘best advertising campaign' during the game. The company has been marketing itself as "The official hangout for March Madness" for years, but this time around B-Dubs is using social media to up customer engagement and gain brand recognition.

Related Link: New Investment App Targets Millennials

The campaign includes tv-ads, social media-friendly invites to the bar and its own hashtag: #wingwisdom. Once inside a location, customers can engage in basketball-themed games and compete to win prizes.

Upsets On The Court Could Translate To Losses

For some, the March Madness tournament is reason to stay away from market participation. A study in the Journal of Finance showed that countries' stock markets suffered if their teams lost an important competition.

Though March Madness is composed of only U.S. teams, negative sentiment had a much greater impact than positive, meaning that bracket upsets could translate into share market losses.