2025 Annual Report

In 2025, The Catfish Institute supported the U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish industry through a thoughtful mix of marketing strategies and tactics, with the goal of building awareness, trust, and long-term preference for U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish. TCI continued learning from the media success in 2024 to sharpen our media and messaging approach in 2025. We targeted both longtime Catfish consumers and new audiences discovering the category for the first time.

The Institute also placed a heavy focus on combating imports, as tariffs and imported seafood continued to be an important topic of conversation in 2025. Through new creative campaigns, media, and partnerships with trusted influencers on social media, TCI was able to thoughtfully tell the story of U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish in an impactful way.

Media Strategy

The 2025 media strategy was designed to meet consumers where they are, using data-driven insights to guide both messaging and placement. We continued to prioritize two core audiences:

Loyal consumers, largely older men who already include Catfish in their regular meals
Prospective consumers, a slightly younger, more female-skewing group interested in fresh, sustainable seafood but less familiar with U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish

Sales data and industry research informed our targeting, allowing us to deliver tailored content across Meta, Pinterest, Spotify, Hulu, OTT, TrueSouth, and Pandora.

Geographically, we prioritized media investment in Texas as a key growth market, while continuing to support our strong legacy markets of Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and the Tallahassee area. Continued emphasis on Texas delivered particularly strong results, with the state driving the highest volume of traffic to the uscatfish.com website. And of course, all of these decisions were research driven.

Overall, our paid media generated more than 19 million impressions in 2025, with over 850,000 users engaging with those ads. Website engagement increased by over 40% year-over-year, and the time spent on the site grew by over 50%.

Additionally, our organic social media channels reached an additional 8 million users through organic and boosted content, resulting in nearly 93,000 total engagements on the posts.

Addressing Competition and Industry Perception

The U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish industry continues to face strong competition from imported fish such as Pangasius (often sold as Swai or Basa). In 2025, increased public discussion around imports and tariffs created an opportunity to more clearly differentiate U.S. Catfish in the marketplace. With strategic support from The Ramey Agency, TCI deployed a dynamic, omnichannel media approach across Meta, YouTube, Pandora, Hulu, and other platforms to reinforce the value of U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish.

We introduced consumers to U.S. Catfish through the Refreshingly Fresh campaign, then built on that foundation with the Fresh to Your Plate and Imports campaigns. These efforts worked to reshape perceptions, positioning U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish as a premium, safe, and sustainable choice. Strategic influencer partnerships further extended this message to our audiences, who value transparency, quality, and authenticity.

Fresh to Your Plate Campaign

One of the year’s most impactful initiatives was the launch of the Fresh to Your Plate campaign. This creative campaign was created to spotlight the U.S. Catfish Farmers themselves, emphasizing their commitment to clean water, responsible farming practices, and community support. By showing the people behind the process, we were able to clearly differentiate U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish from imported fish.

The campaign included a new landing page dedicated to our farmers’ stories, giving consumers a deeper look into how their food is raised, who is behind it, and why U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish is a choice they can feel confident about.

Imports Campaign

Once audiences were introduced to Fresh to Your Plate and U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish was top-of-mind, we targeted them with messaging focused specifically on imported catfish. This next phase was designed to educate consumers on the differences between U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish and foreign imports, without discouraging Catfish consumption overall. The goal was to provide clarity and help consumers understand why U.S.Farm-Raised Catfish meets higher standards for safety, sustainability, and quality than imports.

The campaign included a new, dedicated landing page where consumers could explore the positive impact of U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish and better understand the concerns associated with imported alternatives.

Influencers played a critical role in bringing this message to life. Because influencers serve as trusted, credible voices for our audience, they were well positioned to explain the differences between U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish and foreign imports in an approachable, authentic way.

By having three distinct creative executions (Fresh to Your Plate, Imports, and Influencers) we reinforced the imports message across multiple touchpoints. This approach proved effective, driving more than 18,000 visitors to the new Imports landing page and deepening consumer understanding of why choosing U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish matters.

Recipe Content

Recipe content took off in 2025, driving over 74,000 visits to the recipe pages through paid media. To capitalize on this momentum, we introduced a holiday recipe campaign that positioned U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish as a go-to option for holiday gatherings. We further customized this effort in Texas, featuring recipes tailored to the region’s flavors and cooking styles.

Growth of The Catfish Trail

Now in its fifth year, The Catfish Trail continued to gain momentum in 2025. TCI added eight new restaurant stops across the Southeast, including our first-ever location in Oklahoma. Each new partner reflects our commitment to working with restaurant owners who proudly serve and advocate for U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish.

Ongoing promotion through organic social media and monthly email campaigns helped drive awareness and engagement, with increased emphasis on featured stops and highlights throughout the year. Looking ahead to 2026, we are excited to continue expanding into Texas and surrounding states to connect with new audiences and further grow The Trail.

Email Campaigns

Our email audience remains one of our most engaged and passionate communities. Monthly emails kept U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish top-of-mind by featuring new recipes, Catfish Trail highlights, industry news, and opportunities to support farmers, including recognition of the Farmers of the Year.

These campaigns consistently delivered strong open and click-through rates, with readers spending more than three minutes on the website. This reflects a meaningful connection with our content.

Co-Marketing Programs

TCI’s co-marketing programs add greater leverage to industry funds by working in conjunction with processors, distributors, restaurants, grocery stores and state organizations to support increased sales and advertising campaigns for U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish.

The Partnership Program provides reimbursement for 50% of applicable marketing costs, up to a set amount approved annually by the TCI board of directors, throughout the calendar year.

These partnership dollars fund billboard, television and radio advertisements; collateral materials; website development; and many other special promotions. All funding requests are carefully reviewed to ensure validity and sound use of industry resources.

Another co-marketing initiative, the Sales Incentive Program, leverages processor relationships to fund valuable consumer-directed promotions in restaurant and grocery chains across the nation.

Creating these new partnerships with large restaurant groups, local catfish houses, grocery store operators and even high-end, white tablecloth establishments continues to open new doors for our industry sales teams, as they seek to drive sales and broaden markets for U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish.

Due to the longstanding success and growth of the TCI Sales Incentive Program, we are already working to implement new strategies in the coming year, which will drive even great consumer demand for U.S. Catfish.

National Catfish Month

National Catfish Month once again served as a cornerstone moment for The Catfish Institute in 2025. This annual celebration allowed us to spotlight the farmers, versatility, and value of U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish in an impactful way.

National Catfish Month spotlighted our Farmers of the Year through individual farmer videos, a coordinated organic social series, email features, and a dedicated landing page on the uscatfish.com website.

Email played a central role in National Catfish Month this year, with three targeted deployments supported by a strong paid media presence and influencer partnerships. Together, these efforts helped raise awareness and encouraged consumers to celebrate Catfish in new and creative ways.

Collateral Branding

For this year’s Catfish Calendar, we leaned into creativity and versatility in the kitchen. Recipes ranged from familiar classics to fresh takes, like Catfish Quiche and Cajun Catfish Cakes. We also incorporated timely, trending recipes as well as kid-friendly recipes, to further engage our younger audiences.

Social Media Influencer Partnerships

Influencer marketing continued to grow in both scale and impact in 2025. We partnered with large and mid-size creators with highly engaged followings to expand reach, while maintaining authenticity. Influencer content played a key role in building trust, driving awareness, and creating more personal connections with consumers.

Our focus included a strong emphasis on Texas-based influencers like Chef Karter and Tamara Johnson, complemented by a diverse mix of creators: families, kids, millennials, Southern dads, and food-focused personalities. All of these influencers were selected to ensure broad appeal and relevance across demographics.

Collectively, our influencers reached over 970,000 Instagram followers. Notably, Tim Van Doren (Bama Grill Master) reached over 1.2 million followers on his TikTok alone.

Top-performing content from Bama Grill Master, Chef Karter, and Plated by Dee contributed significantly to the program’s success. Overall, posts were seen over 310,000 times and generated nearly 5,000 engagements, including likes, comments, reposts, saves, and shares.

TCI Annual Report 2025