Basketball is the third most popular sport across 12 of the world’s largest sports markets according to Ampere’s 2022 survey of sports fans, enjoyed by 44% of fans across a sample of 15,000 sports fans in those 12 countries. For the vast majority (82%) of basketball fans, however, basketball is not their favourite sport. These less-committed basketball fans are more likely to follow the NBA than the FIBA Basketball World Cup, with 56% following the NBA, while only 24% enjoy the FIBA World Cup.

This is in stark contrast with other sports such as football (soccer), rugby union and cricket¹, where world cup tournaments play a much more important role in engagement with less committed fans of the sport. Indeed, fans who ‘also enjoy’ cricket rank both the ICC Men’s World Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup above the most popular competition that isn’t a world cup – the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In most sports, club / franchise competitions are typically preferred by more avid fans, due to these events being played more regularly, and because of their higher degree of competitiveness thanks to the level of investment typically involved. Among avid football fans, 67% enjoy the UEFA Champions League and 63% follow their respective domestic leagues, while 55% follow the FIFA Football World Cup. And for those whose favourite sport is cricket, the IPL is the most popular competition with 79% of fans following the competition compared with 65% for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and 55% for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

In the USA, the FIBA World Cup is only the fifth most popular basketball competition, behind the College Basketball Regular Season, the NCAA Tournament (March Madness), the WNBA and the NBA, with only 17% of all basketball fans following the international tournament. This rises to 20% when considering those for whom basketball is their favourite sport, but even among avid fans of basketball, it’s still the fifth most popular competition.

The nature of the Basketball World Cup as a competition for basketball connoisseurs explains FIBA’s choice of showing the games on its direct-to-consumer platform Courtside 1891 (although on a co-exclusive basis in certain territories). While Courtside 1891 is available via the NBA App and NBA.com in 20 countries, allowing FIBA greater opportunity to reach NBA fans, to grow engagement further they will benefit from finding distribution partnerships with other sports broadcasters that already cater to basketball fans, particularly those showing the NBA or other domestic basketball leagues. They could also consider replicating marketing strategies employed by other sports in the time leading up to the tournament to generate a sense of national pride, which would be more likely to attract casual fans.