In less than a month, baseball’s biggest fans will be packed into ballparks across America for the earliest season opener in Major League Baseball history. But for the rest of the season, you’re likely to find those same fans glued to AM/FM coverage.
Katz Radio Group’s latest study of 600 US adults who consumed MLB content during the 2025 season found that 74 percent of MLB radio listeners call themselves “Big Fans,” compared to 63 percent of all MLB fans. With the 2026 season beginning March 25, Katz is framing radio sponsorship as a first-mover opportunity for advertisers looking to reach fans before competing category spend saturates the market.
Ninety-two percent of MLB radio listeners surveyed said radio broadcasts are a good way to follow the game when they cannot watch on television, and 87% said their team’s radio announcing crew does a strong job calling games.
Scarborough USA data cited by Katz reinforces radio’s scale: 85% of Adults 18-plus who are interested in MLB listen to AM/FM radio weekly. One in five MLB-interested adults listens to play-by-play on the radio; that figure rises to more than one in four among those who describe themselves as very interested in the sport. Edison Research’s Share of Ear has found that 61% of all US sports audio time is spent on AM/FM radio, compared to 27% on podcasts and 12% on SiriusXM.
Radio listeners also outpaced the broader fan base across every behavioral measure tracked, including in-person attendance (75% vs. 61%), sports betting activity (65% vs. 51%), and podcast consumption (59% vs. 44%).
The widest gap appeared in team apparel habits. Thirty-eight percent of MLB radio listeners reported wearing team gear often, versus 26% of all fans.
On the advertising side, 79% of MLB radio listeners said they notice brands advertised during baseball content, compared to 71% of all MLB fans. Seventy-four percent of radio listeners reported a better opinion of brands that sponsor their favorite team, and 71% said they are more willing to use those brands, representing radio advantages of 17% and 14%, respectively, over the general fan sample.
Last year, Katz reported that a Midwest home improvement company ran a season-long campaign across a local MLB team’s flagship and affiliate network to drive homeowner engagement and website traffic. Katz reports the effort generated more than 17,000 web sessions and a 4.2% lift in site traffic directly attributed to radio, with each spot averaging nine website visits.
Announcer-voiced spots and five-second MLB game features, including pre-, in-, and post-game placements, accounted for nearly 89% of all radio-attributed web visits. Announcer reads generated nearly 7,000 visits, feature spots delivered more than 8,000, and traditional 30-second brand spots contributed about 2,000.
