ICR Study Finds That March Madness is Not So ''Mad''.

MEDIA, Pa. -- Despite what you may think, the majority of Americans are not obsessed with picking the winners in this year's NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Dubbed "March Madness" by its promoters, the annual event features 65 teams vying for the coveted national championship. So after all the commercials, the brackets printed in the newspaper, online selection forms and the conversations at the water cooler, this March does not appear to be so "mad".

According to the latest Phone survey by International Communications Research (ICR), only 7.1% of Americans are planning on participating in a pool or contest to pick the winners of the tournament games. Only 5% of Americans admit that they will put money on it.

"When we decided to conduct this poll, we were looking for the impact the games and the betting might have on productivity in the workplace," said Melissa Herrmann, VP of Client Service at ICR. "While we are aware that many people may be afraid of the stigma (and legality) of admitting to betting on the games, we were surprised to see that March Madness is important to so few Americans."

Some other key findings from ICR's study:

--Men are 4 times more likely to participate in picking winners (12% vs. 3% of women).

--Rural, white, college educated Americans with income of $75,000 or more per year are also more likely to participate in pools.

--2% of respondents reported that they were planning on "taking time off or calling in sick to watch any games."

13% of the survey respondents said that they would follow the games that occur during the workday. How are they going to check the scores? Of those employed and who plan to follow the games, 53% will use TV, 40% the internet, 30% the radio and 8% will use their cell phones.

The respondents in the survey reveal that the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series and the NBA Playoffs are more important to them than "March Madness." College Football's Bowl Championship Series was reported as slightly more popular. The Daytona and Indy 500 races are reportedly less popular than the NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney. And it should be no surprise that the NHL's Stanley Cup registered at nearly 20% less popular than the NCAA tournament, with the Masters of Golf Tournament as least popular.

The March Madness study was conducted by telephone from March 11-15, 2005 among a nationally representative sample of 1,019 adults age 18 and older by International Communications Research (ICR) of Media, PA.

For more information please contact International Communications Research (ICR) at 484-840-4300 or www.icrsurvey.com

About International Communications Research (ICR)

International Communications Research (ICR), based in the Philadelphia suburb of Media, PA is a top-ranked and nationally recognized market research organization in the business-to-business and consumer markets. Through its research in the U.S. and over 70 countries around the world, ICR provides consulting and research insights to its clients on a wide range of issues including branding, market segmentation, customer and employee satisfaction, loyalty, advertising, public relations, multicultural and ethnic marketing, social science, public policy and many others.