Case Study: University of Kentucky achieves 14x ROAS and boosts ticket sales with Ticketmaster

University of Kentucky Gaining Higher Return on Ad Spend Through Data and Targeting

The University of Kentucky needed to drive more ticket sales after a breakout 2016 football season but lacked the digital marketing reach to capitalize on that momentum and to combat resale/broker sites that were outranking them on search. To solve this, UK partnered with Ticketmaster’s in‑house digital team, Ticketmaster’s Agency, to boost season-ticket and single‑game sales through a coordinated marketing effort.

Ticketmaster’s Agency used its live‑event database and advanced segmentation to run multi‑channel campaigns (Paid Social, Paid Search, Programmatic Video), plus deduping to ensure accurate attribution. The single‑game push sold over 2,000 tickets and generated more than $361,000 in revenue; overall ROAS across channels was 14x, with Search ROAS up 4.2X, Social ROAS up 29X, and Video ROAS up 6X. Ticketmaster’s Agency also provided reporting that let UK make smarter marketing decisions during the campaign.

University of Kentucky

Guy Ramsey

Director of Strategic Communication for Athletics