Baseball has long been considered to be America’s favorite pastime. And for a great number of years, you would be able to confidently say that baseball was the most popular sport in America as millions of people play it and many millions more tune in to watch games each year.
While baseball has been passed up in popularity by both football and basketball in terms of overall popularity, baseball still has a very active and dedicated market of viewers, supporters, and players of the sport.
The diversity that exists in the United States makes for a very vast target market for baseball and the baseball market as a whole can be a very lucrative market for businesses because it is ripe with opportunities to target people based on their shared love of baseball.
A few examples of ways that businesses can target baseball fans are with advertisements that are placed at stadiums or on television during live games. Local businesses can also sponsor little league teams or support youth baseball programs.
In this article, we’ll study the different segments of the target market for baseball and understand what drives each of them to participate in this great American sport.
Who Watches Baseball?
Included in the target market for baseball are those that watch baseball. Watching baseball can vary from watching in-person baseball games on a local level to watching in-person games at the professional level. As well, professional games in America are televised either through sports channels or Major League Baseball TV.
In a May 2022 survey, Americans were polled on how serious of baseball fans they were. Surprisingly, the results were extremely consistent across age groups.
In the category of “avid fan”, the age category with the most Americans who considered themselves to be “avid fans” were 45-64 and 65+ with 22% of respondents choosing this answer.
Trailing not too close behind these categories were 35-44 with 19% and 18-34 with 17%.
The second category of this survey of “casual fans” was won by the 45-64 age group which responded with 35% in this group.
The other three age groups tied with 33% of the respondents answering that they were casual fans of baseball.
You can probably guess what the third category of this survey is – “not a fan”. If you’re already doing the math in your head, you have discovered that even with the age bracket that is least interested in baseball, only 50% of Americans from 18-34 consider themselves not baseball fans.
Across the other three age groups, less than 50% responded this way.
To answer the question, ‘Who watches baseball?’ we can confidently answer that over half of America watches America’s pastime.
Who is the Target Market for Baseball?
The target market for baseball isn’t limited to those who play the sport but includes everyone who is touched by it – from those who watch, those who advertise, those who sponsor, those who buy merchandise, and more.
When we follow this broad definition, we get a very large market with millions of people in it.
Dividing this market into manageable parts gives us the following segments:
- People who play baseball
- Parents of little league players
- Youth baseball programs
- Major league baseball fans
- People who attend baseball games
- Businesses that target baseball fans
- People who support specific teams
Each of these segments has a different reason for being involved with baseball. And each one requires a slightly different marketing strategy to reach them effectively. Let’s take a look at each segment in more detail.
#1. People who play baseball
A prime target market for baseball is those who play the sport.
These people will be eagerly addressed with advertisements and marketing schemes that more broadly address athletes.
Think of other athletic advertisements for this subgroup – athletic shoes, healthy protein-filled snacks, protein bars, and sports drinks are sure to lure in the attention of people who play baseball as they engage in a healthy lifestyle to keep up their athleticism.
#2. Parents of little league players
Parents of little league players are extremely busy people. If your target market of baseball fans, you should keep in mind that these parents are very invested in their children and during baseball season have very little time to be at home between work, practice, and little league games to attend.
Advertisements geared at parents of little league players should be appropriate for parents in general but try to focus on providing some relaxation or simplifying their busy schedule.
Take-out restaurants might want to offer coupons for busy little league parents who may not have time to cook dinner after evening practice, for example.
#3. Youth baseball programs
Youth baseball programs are often looking to fundraise to be able to afford to pay coaches and buy new equipment. This means that accessing these programs through fundraising opportunities is a great way to steer the business from families of players and right through your front door.
Offer to host a fundraiser where for every $100 spent, a glove gets donated to the youth baseball team, or something of this nature to really establish a partnership between your business and this part of the market.
#4. Major League Baseball fans
Major League Baseball fans are extremely loyal people. Through horrible droughts without a World Series win, MLB fans stick with their teams and stick with them closely.
As well, Major League Baseball has an extremely long season and MLB fans can be directly advertised to for 9 whole months of the year.
MLB fans can be advertised to through ad campaigns games, through TV ads on publicly broadcasted games, through MLB radio broadcasts, or even by using an aerial ad near a stadium. Most Major League Baseball games are branded in some way. Even pitching changes are sometimes sponsored!
#5. People who attend baseball games
People who attend baseball games love to make social experiences out of their baseball day. You might advertise at the stadium, or you may want to invite attendees of baseball games into your business on game day.
Stadium ads are typically a dime a dozen, so be sure to make your advertisement stand out and really get your point across. You will want your logo to be properly sized and for your advertisement to be eye-catching.
#6. Businesses that target baseball fans
For those who choose to target baseball fans in advertising, you may find that the space can be extremely costly if you are planning to go through traditional ways of advertising.
When trying to access the professional baseball market, you may find that the prices that you will be expected to pay for advertising on MLB team websites, tv space, and radio ads can be extraordinarily costly.
If your budget cannot accommodate such prices, think of ways that you can advertise in other spaces while calling out to baseball fans to interact with your business. If you are selling sunscreen, you can mention that it is perfect to use at a baseball game.
If you are selling hot dogs, you can tell your prospective customers that they will be as good as they are at the stadium, and so on!
#7. People who support specific teams
Those that support specific baseball teams are always looking for branded content related to their team.
If you’re a local business trying to access the market of baseball viewers, you may consider adding homages to the home team in your branding and marketing tactics. You could offer a discount to those who come into your store in a hat or a jersey for the local team, for example.
Conclusion
To conclude, the target market for baseball is extremely vast. People of all ages and all backgrounds in America interact with baseball-related content on a daily basis which makes them an excellent target market to advertise to.
Whether it is at the professional level or the little league level, lovers of baseball are a fiercely loyal group who make up over 50% of America’s population. Take advantage of these strategies to advertise to the baseball-loving market in the United States!