Katz: Baseball Radio Ads Scored 4.2% Web Lift For Midwest Brand

As Major League Baseball returns to ballparks and broadcast airwaves, a new case study from Katz Radio Group highlights how radio’s play-by-play coverage continues to deliver value for advertisers – especially those targeting engaged, local fanbases.

In the study, a Midwest-based home improvement company partnered with Katz for a season-long AM/FM campaign that aired across the flagship and affiliate network of a local MLB team. The campaign aimed to boost brand engagement among homeowners and leveraged the enthusiasm of baseball fans to drive web traffic.

According to Katz, the effort drove more than 17,000 web sessions to the company’s website, producing a 4.2% lift in traffic directly attributed to radio advertising. On average, each radio spot contributed to nine website visits. The campaign was measured using Katz Analytics with LeadsRx for detailed attribution of web activity following each radio placement.

Two key spot types stood out in effectiveness: announcer-voiced placements and MLB game feature spots, such as five-second pre-game, in-game, and post-game features. Together, these formats accounted for nearly 89% of all radio-attributed web visits. Announcer-voiced spots alone generated almost 7,000 site visits, while MLB feature spots delivered over 8,000. Traditional 30-second brand spots contributed approximately 2,000 visits.

Katz says the advertiser has since committed to keeping radio play-by-play in its media strategy.

A previous Katz study found that fans who listen to baseball on the radio are significantly more engaged than the average MLB fan. They’re 40% more likely to consider themselves “big fans,” attend 43% more games, and consume more baseball-related content—listening to podcasts 71% more often and following teams and players on social media 24% more frequently. They’re also 74% more likely to place bets on games.

From an advertising perspective, 72% of radio listeners recall hearing brand messages during broadcasts – 22% higher than the average fan. Two-thirds say they’re more likely to support brands that advertise during games, and 33% hold a more favorable view of team sponsors.