FIBA, basketball’s international governing body, has hailed this year’s World Cup as the “biggest and most successful event” in its history, with record engagement levels.
The 2023 edition was staged in three countries for the first time with the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia playing host between August 25 and September 10.
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The World Cup generated more than 20 billion impressions and 480 million engagements across all platforms, more than triple the numbers recorded for the 2019 event in China.
In terms of social media video views, engagement levels quadrupled, reaching 4.6 billion.
FIBA’s flagship tournament was broadcast in over 190 countries, a 15% increase on 2019.
The governing body claims the tournament was the most-watched and most-followed World Cup.
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By GlobalDataThe Japan and Cape Verde contest on September 2 was the highest-rated broadcast of the calendar year in Japan, while the Philippines and Angola game achieved the second-highest sports audience of 2023 in the Philippines.
The final, in which Germany defeated Serbia to claim their first-ever title, brought in a 35% market share in Germany, with over 4.6 million watching live on public-service broadcaster ZDF, as well as an additional 1.3 million on the MagentaSport streaming platform. There was also a 59% market share through RTS in Serbia.
ZDF provided free-to-air linear coverage of the final through a sub-licensing deal with primary rightsholder Deutsche Telekom, the German telecoms giant.
The @FIBA and @FIBAWC social media accounts grew significantly during the event, with 4.5 million new followers, climbing to 35.4 million across both channels.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 website also saw huge growth, with over 16 million users accounting for 33 million sessions, which was just shy of double compared to the 2019 event in China. The mobile app, available in seven languages, achieved 1 million downloads.
Fans also arrived in big numbers to watch the games live, with over 700,665 attending during the course of the tournament, including the record FIBA Basketball World Cup crowd of 38,115 at the Philippine Arena for the game between the co-hosts and the Dominican Republic.
Andreas Zagklis, FIBA secretary general, said: “We are very proud and extremely satisfied with the fact that this was the most followed FIBA Basketball World Cup ever and attracted those record levels of engagement.
“Our biggest-ever event showcased the sport like never before and it underlined that the global appetite for basketball is growing more strongly than ever.
“We also appreciate the amazing work of our partners in helping to deliver a competition that will be remembered for a very long time. However, we don't stop here, and we're already looking forward to breaking more new ground at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar.”
