The start of the World Series marks another year of Americans practicing the time-honored art of watching television on one screen and surfing digital content on another — especially as they watch TV commercials and then jump on their second screens to explore the products they just saw in a commercial. What kind of cars do they look at during a baseball game? Do Cars.com TV ads drive people to view vehicle inventory online? To find out, Cars.com did a custom analysis, using our own Major League Baseball (MLB) TV ad campaign as a gauge.
We found out that viewers of at least one MLB post-season championship series showed a spike in interest in sedans and SUVs. And the Cars.com MLB TV ad campaign helped drive more shoppers online to view inventory.
During the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers, we examined Cars.com vehicle detail pages (VDPs) for new cars. One question we wanted to answer was which vehicle types get the most views during championship games. Here is what we found:
As you can see, MLB fans in Chicago and Los Angeles showed more interest in sedans and SUVs during the series, with interest in minivans declining. In addition, as the Cubs and Dodgers battled for a spot in the World Series, Chicagoans and Angelenos revealed a sharp difference in their loyalties toward full-sized vans, with Chicagoans viewing fewer VDPs and Angelenos more.
As the following chart shows, the spike in VDP views was acute during the first two games, which occurred on the weekend when viewers were especially likely to be watching a game, seeing automobile commercials, and exploring VDP content on their second screens. In addition, Game 2 was the most watched telecast in the history of Fox Sports 1.
The Cars.com MLB sponsorship was active, with Cars.com ads running multiple times during each game. Cars.com investments into media are adding value to dealerships. (Check out our TV spots here.)
As the second-screen experience evolves, we’ll continue to research consumer behavior to help our dealer partners grow their businesses. Stay tuned!
