FIBA Hails Record Success of 2023 Basketball World Cup
FIBA, the International Basketball Association global governing body, has celebrated the 2023 Basketball World Cup as the “largest and most successful event” in its history, boasting record levels of engagement.
This year’s edition of the tournament marked a historic moment as it was hosted by three countries for the first time—namely the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia—spanning from August 25 to September 10.
The 2023 World Cup achieved an astounding 20 billion impressions and 480 million engagements across all platforms, more than tripling the figures recorded for the 2019 event held in China. Social media video views alone quadrupled, reaching over 4.5 billion.
FIBA’s flagship tournament was broadcast in over 190 countries, a 15% increase compared to 2019, making it the most-watched and most-followed World Cup in FIBA’s history.
Key broadcast moments included the Japan vs. Cape Verde game on September 2, which became the highest-rated broadcast of the year in Japan, and the Philippines vs. Angola match, which garnered the second-highest sports audience in the Philippines in 2023.
The final match, where Germany clinched their first-ever title by defeating Serbia, garnered a 35% market share in Germany. Over 4.6 million viewers tuned in live on the public-service broadcaster ZDF, with an additional 1.3 million watching on the MagentaSport streaming platform. In Serbia, the final achieved a 59% market share on RTS.
ZDF provided free-to-air linear coverage of the final through a sub-licensing agreement with primary rightsholder Deutsche Telekom, the German telecoms giant.
The @FIBA and @FIBAWC social media accounts experienced significant growth during the tournament, gaining 4.5 million new followers to reach a combined total of 35.4 million followers across both channels.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 website also witnessed substantial growth, with over 16 million users and 33 million sessions recorded, nearly double the figures from the 2019 event in China. The mobile app, available in seven languages, achieved one million downloads.
Live attendance at the games was impressive, with over 700,665 fans attending throughout the tournament, including a 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, Secretary General of FIBA, expressed his pride in the tournament’s success, stating, “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.”
