March Madness is coming to YouTube.
Through a new deal with CBS, the celebrated video-sharing site will show highlights, footage from postgame news conferences, and a smattering of other NCAA tourney-themed material, Reuters reports. But since the tournament is now as much of a festival for advertisers as it is for basketball fans, the clips will be accompanied by car commercials.
As it has done the past two years, CBS is streaming games live online, but under the new deal, CBS will also supply YouTube with game footage almost in real time. Now all the network needs is a few more buzzer beaters — like Virginia Commonwealth University's last-second shot to topple Duke University — to become viral-video hits. –Brock Read
Update: The Virginia Commonwealth video clip has already been taken down at the behest of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. So it looks like YouTube users will soon have a pretty clear choice: Watch CBS's NCAA-sanctioned footage, or watch nothing at all.
