National Basketball Association (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
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 19, 2024/ — NBA Africa (www.NBA.com) 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 (https://apo-opa.co/442MHo9) 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.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of National Basketball Association (NBA).