NBA Delivers Increased Viewership and Engagement in Africa During 2023-24 Season

Bucks’ Antetokounmpo (ties to Nigeria) and Spurs’ Wembanyama (ties to the Democratic Republic of the Congo) Among Most-Viewed Players on National Basketball Association (NBA) Social Media This Season.

National Basketball Association (NBA) Africa today announced that the 2023-24 regular season delivered increased television viewership in Africa as well as increased engagement across the league’s localized social media accounts on the continent.  Highlights include:

Live Game Viewership

• The more than 140 live game telecasts in Africa generated a 41% year-over-year increase in average viewership and nearly 6 million total watch hours.

NBA Africa Social Media

• NBA Africa’s localized social media accounts generated nearly 90 million video views.
• The NBA Africa YouTube channel generated a more than 230% year-over-year increase in video views, driven by the NBA All-Star Africa Takeover influencer campaign that generated more than 2 million video views.
• The number of followers of NBA Africa’s localized social media accounts increased by 20% year-over-year. 
• Globally, Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs; France; ties to Democratic Republic of the Congo) and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks; Greece; ties to Nigeria) were among the 10 most-viewed players globally (https://apo-opa.co/3Q7PMxs) on NBA social media this season, with 1.3 billion and 558 million views, respectively.

Merchandise

• Driven by the opening of NBA Stores in Cape Town and Durban, in addition to the NBA Store in Johannesburg, jersey sales in South Africa increased by nearly 150% year-over-year.

Digital Platforms

NBA Africa’s first original docu-series “Born & Bred”, which tells the stories of five current and former NBA Academy Africa student-athletes from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Sudan, has generated more than 20,000 video views on the NBA App.

April 19, 2024