The latest viewership figures from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 confirm that it was the most successful event to date in FIBA’s history.
Spanning across the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, the flagship basketball tournament recorded “eye-popping” numbers on all of its digital, social media, broadcast and attendance levels.
According to the official data, the 2023 event managed to accumulate a total of 20 billion impressions and 480 million engagements combined on all platforms, significantly surpassing the numbers from 2019 by three times. The biggest bump in engagement saw video views climbing to 4.6 billion – four times over the last FIBA 2019 World Cup held in China.
The growing number of eyes focused on the competition is also evident from its broadcasting record, which shows a 15% rise in global distribution to 190 countries.
Naturally, Japan marked the highest rating broadcast in its fiscal year on 2 September when the host country beat Cape Verde to secure its Paris 2024 spot, and finish as the highest-ranked Asian team in the tournament.
In terms of physical attendance, FIBA celebrated a record-breaking crowd of 38,115 at the Philippine Arena, as the co-hosts went against the Dominican Republic. The total attendance across the whole tournament was capped at 700,665.
Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Secretary General, commented: “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. Both the existing fans and the millions of new fans that we attracted during the tournament enjoyed some amazing basketball and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their support.
“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.”
