One sports event has generated $7.5 billion in TV advertising since 2005, including $1.13 billion last year — second only to the NFL, according to figures released Monday by Kantar Media.

The event is “March Madness,” the three-week NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The 68-team field for this year’s tournament will be announced March 15.

In a press release from Kantar Media, the analysis firm says the tournament “has evolved over the past decade to become one of the largest and most valuable properties in all of television sports.”

“As a sports marketing event, the collegiate basketball tournament is in the major leagues alongside the Super Bowl, World Cup and Olympics,” Kantar notes. “The NCAA has successfully commercialized and monetized ‘March Madness,’ creating a platform for corporate sponsors to reap benefits from advertising and promotional programs anchored around the games.”

Every game in the 2015 tournament will be carried live via CBS and Turner Broadcasting platforms, airing across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, along with streaming online.

“Kantar Media estimates that the men’s basketball tournament has generated $7.5 billion of national TV ad expenditures from 279 different marketers during the past decade (2005-2014). Spending in the 2014 event was $1.13 billion, up 1.5 percent from the prior year,” the release notes.

Kantar figures show a fairly steady climb in TV ad spending for the event during the past decade.

Here are the numbers, in millions:

2005: $479

2006: $504

2007: $525

2008: $648

2009: $598

2010: $623

2011: $782

2012: $1,095

2013: $1,117

2014: $1,134