Spain’s 95-75 victory over Argentina in the final of the Fiba Basketball World Cup 2019 brought the curtain down on an enthralling tournament in fitting style.
In lifting the famous Naismith Trophy for the second time, Spain went through the competition unbeaten, entrancing crowds everywhere they played and earning themselves a heroes’ welcome on their return to Madrid.
Their triumph on an unforgettable night in Beijing capped a World Cup that will live long in the memory not only for the action on court but for its role in taking the competition to a new level and winning it record levels of exposure and engagement with audiences around the world.
Success in numbers
The figures speak for themselves. The cumulative TV audience reach for the tournament was over three billion while video views on social media hit 1.5 billion. For perspective, the television audience – delivered by over 70 broadcasters in 190 territories – represents an 80-per-cent increase on the last World Cup, in 2014, and the final alone had a global reach of 160 million.
In Spain, coverage of the final gained a 46-per-cent share with 10 million viewers tuning in and 6.2 million watching the entire game, making it the most watched basketball game in the nation’s history.
In host nation China, the World Cup generated the two highest sports ratings of the year on national broadcaster CCTV, with a reach of 68 million China v Poland and 60 million China v South Korea.
In a nation with a sophisticated digital infrastructure, viewing on mobile and other devices is a key means of watching sport and 52 million live views were generated by Fiba partner Tencent’s digital coverage of China v Venezuela, while 50 million followed the game against Poland digitally.
Social media engagement was just as impressive with the #FIBAWC and #WorldGotGame hashtags reaching 22 billion impressions and 535 million engagements. There was also significant growth on FIBA social media channels, with the Weibo Fiba and Fiba World Cup accounts combined experiencing over 200 percent growth to over 10 million fans.
The official Fiba Basketball World Cup 2019 mobile app, presented by Tissot, was downloaded over two million times, giving fans a personalised experience by enabling them to follow favourite players and teams. The app also delivered live statistics and video highlights of the most memorable moments. The app and the official website, available in 12 languages, had 156 million views worldwide.
Success based on winning strategy
Those figures fully support Fiba’s decision to move the World Cup out of its previous quadrennial cycle and into a year when the sports calendar is uncluttered by either an Olympic Games or Fifa World Cup, traditionally events which absorb media and public attention.
And it can be no accident that rising engagement worldwide has followed the introduction of a new-style qualifying system designed to give national teams the opportunity to play and build a new relationship with their fans and media.
Now that the dust has settled on a tournament that saw Fiba moving a step closer to achieving its ambition of establishing the World Cup among global sports Crown Jewels, secretary general Andreas Zagklis has had an opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved and how it sets the scene for the next edition in 2023.
“It was undoubtedly a great experience in every aspect,” he said. “With an expanded roster of 32 teams and games played in eight cities across China it was of a far greater magnitude and there was a new scale of difficulty to manage but the challenge was converted into a huge opportunity, upon which we are already working to capitalise.
“The figures for viewership and engagement speak for themselves and are multiples of anything which has been achieved in the past. It made a tremendous impact in 130 countries on five continents.”
It’s worth noting that the four semi-finalists, France and Australia as well as Spain and Argentina, represent three different continents, something which speaks not only to the truly global nature of the sport but to the standard of play across the world.
Bring your best team
The absence of the United States from the final stages – they were eliminated by France in the quarterfinals and finished in seventh place – also demonstrated the significant rise in playing standards in countries around the world. With more countries boasting world-class players than ever before, a nation needs to bring its best team and compete at its very best to have any chance of winning the World Cup.
“It was one of the most open tournaments ever and goes to show that when you give teams the opportunity and they prepare well then they can do it,” said Zagklis.
“The quality of basketball is a reflection on the new qualification system, which meant that teams started out on the journey in 2017 and had the opportunity to build a cohesive roster.
Teams like Poland and the Czech Republic, not known as basketball powerhouses in recent years, claimed their best results ever, and this would likely have not been possible for them if it wasn’t for the establishment of a new competition system and the expansion to 32 teams. The World Cup proved that success is about building a team and that an accumulation of talent doesn’t guarantee a result.”
And he points to the example of France’s inspirational point guard Andrew Albicy. He received the French Basketball Federation’s Coq d’Or award in recognition of his attitude and dedication for playing in every qualifying game and hitting a vital shot to ensure his team won the Bronze medal.
Post China, Fiba will focus on building on what has been achieved in order to create even more sustained impact and engagement around the 2023 edition and its qualifying tournaments of six windows, which gets underway in 2021 over a 15-month period.
Trampoline bounce
“This World Cup was the result of a period of five years of significant investment and the remarkable exposure which it generated should act as a trampoline which we can use to take it to another level,” said Zagklis. “We must build on what has been achieved so far.”
The fact is that the positive results from Fiba World Cup didn’t happen by accident. They were the result of a meticulously considered and implemented strategy developed after a root and branch review of the previous World Cup through the lens of what basketball needed to move toward its desired position as the world’s top team sport.
And, said Zagklis, it would not have been achieved without the proactive input of strategic partners including Nike, DAZN and Wanda, each of which went above and beyond expectations to ensure the success of the competition.
“Their conscientious approach meant that their importance extended way beyond their financial contribution. In their different ways they worked so hard to make the World Cup a game-changer, whether that’s through Nike’s promotions and the high-profile Ambassador programme, the creation of Fiba Marketing with Infront enhancing our partnership programme or DAZN’s work to ensure that coverage reached the widest possible audience through Fiba Media.”
Zagklis is also hugely grateful to the event’s Chinese hosts. “From the draw in Shenzhen which attracted a sell-out crowd to the spectacular Opening Ceremony, this was the best World Cup before it had even started,” he said.
“Now we look ahead to a World Cup hosted in three countries and another chance to build on this success and grow the game further.”
Looking ahead to 2023
Fiba continues its Asian adventure for the next edition of the World Cup, which will be hosted in Indonesia (Jakarta), Japan (Okinawa) and the Philippines (Manila) in September 2023.
Indonesia and Japan will host group phase games while the Philippines will host both group games and the final phase, which will be played at the 51,989-seat Philippine Arena, the world’s largest indoor arena.
Basketball officials from the three countries officially took over hosting duties at a half-time ceremony during the Fiba Basketball World Cup 2019 final.
“The representatives of the 2023 hosts certainly learned a lot during their visit to China and left with many notes,” remarked Zagklis.
“We are delighted that the World Cup will stay in Asia. In the Philippines in particular the sport is already hugely popular and hosting the World Cup will provide the opportunity to grow the game across the region and for the national teams from Asia to make the jump [in playing quality] that will make them even more competitive on the court. With a combined market of just under 500 million people in this region, the growth of basketball will only continue to rise.”