When you release a new version of a mobile app each year—as opposed to updating an existing app that existing users can download automatically—you’ve got to give people a compelling reason to hustle over to the App Store and grab the upgrade. The folks behind the NCAA March Madness On Demand app—NCAA Digital, in this case—seem to understand this concept better than most. Because this is the third consecutive year that an app is streaming ever game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to Apple’s iOS devices. And the latest version of the app improves upon what’s come before. Download the app here
Hoop Dreams: Video streamed over Wi-Fi to NCAA March Madness on Demand is perfectly watchable, if a little fuzzy.
Live NCAA tournament streaming to the iPhone made its debut in 2009 with CBS Sports March Madness on Demand. That $5 app let you watch any tournament game live on your iPhone or iPod touch via a Wi-Fi connection. The 2010 edition of the March Madness app upped the price tag to $10, but also added the ability to watch games over 3G in addition to Wi-Fi while also making great use of the iOS’s notifications features.
This year’s NCAA tournament app continues the steady stream of improvements. The CBS Sports moniker is gone, most likely a nod to the fact that the 67-game tournament is now televised across four networks. More important, the iPad has been added to the mix—NCAA March Madness on Demand is a universal app that runs on all your iOS devices. But the most welcome change may be what’s been dropped from this year’s offering—a price tag. Watching games on NCAA March Madness won’t cost you a dime, removing the last remaining hurdle standing between iOS-toting hoops fans and a month’s worth of basketball bliss.
Sharp Shooter: But over a 3G connection, you’ll get a better picture.
As with last year, you can stream games on either a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. The picture is noticeably better over 3G—I saw more blurring and artifacts on the Wi-Fi stream, particularly when the action became fast and furious, and it was hard for me to make out graphics like the score and time remaining. Then again, we no longer live in a world where everyone enjoys unlimited data plans, and streaming video over 3G can eat up your data allotment fairly quickly. The Wi-Fi stream will be good enough for most viewers;if you’re lucky enough to still enjoy unlimited data, then watching over 3G is the way to go.
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