Germany won the competition earlier this month

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 final

FIBA has claimed that the Basketball World Cup drew 4.6 billion video views on social media.

This is four times what it reached with the 2019 competition, and is alongside over 20 billion impressions on social media as well as 4.5 million new social media followers on the main FIBA and FIBA World Cup accounts. This takes the total to 35.4 million followers across both brands.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 website drew 16 million users and 33 million sessions, which was almost double the 2019 edition. Its mobile app reached one million downloads.

This year the competition took place across Japan, Indonesia, and the Phillipines, while the 2019 tournament was in China.

The broadcast went out to more than 190 territories, which was the most ever - a number that was boosted by FIBA’s D2C streaming service Courtside 1819 being available where broadcasters didn’t pick up the rights, such as in the UK. There was also an agreement with the NBA to make Courtside 1819 available through the NBA App.

Germany’s victory in the final against Serbia saw a a 35% market share on ZDF and MagentaSport in Germany and a 59% market share on RTS in Serbia. 

FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis 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. 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.”

He added: “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.”