PR N°51 - Spain 2014 Group Phase games register strong audience figures on Spanish broadcaster Cuatro and all around the world

BILBAO/GRAN CANARIA/GRANADA/SEVILLA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The Group Phase of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup came to an end on Thursday night and witnessed a lot of thrilling, entertaining and close games and this was reflected in some equally impressive broadcast ratings.

This was most evident in games of the host nation Spain. Their 88-64 win over France on Wednesday - a measure of revenge for their EuroBasket 2013 Semi-Final 75-72 defeat to the eventual European Champions - was watched by an average of just under four million people with a market share of 22.2%, the highest so far at Spain 2014. The audience peaked at a market share of 29.7% and nearly five million viewers. As a comparison, the audience was higher than the two MotoGP home Grand Prix races in Jerez (2.71 million) and Catalunya (2.65 million).

The attendance figures for the Group Phase were also outstanding. A total of 477,617 spectators attended the 60 games played in the four venues, for an average of almost 8,000 (7,960) per contest. The biggest capacity crowd recorded was the 15,483 who watch the Finland-New Zealand clash on Thursday.

The other interesting broadcast ratings from the Group Phase of FIBA's flagship event included:
- In the United States, the games of the defending champions USA against Finland and Turkey drew audiences of just over one million and 1.3 million viewers respectively. This is more than double the audiences that tuned in to watch afternoon coverage of the US Open (tennis).  Additionally, these figures measure up very favourably with ESPN's baseball coverage with their MLB Monday, Wednesday and Sunday Night games on ESPN and ESPN 2 which have an average audience of 1.09 million.
- The Turkey-USA game was NTV's best rating in Turkey so far with nearly one million viewers. This represents their highest sports audience since April, beating their regular top football programme "100% football".
- In addition to the more than 8,000 Finns attending the games in Bilbao, back in Finland national public broadcaster YLE 2 had a market share of just under 40% for the game against the Dominican Republic. This represented a 30% increase on the audience for the team's game against the USA and was three times higher than YLE's normal ratings.
- Puerto Rico's games on Telemundo gained high market shares ranging between 27.6% and 30.5%, nearly double their normal ratings.
- The market shares for Greece's games have ranged around 35% which is a little higher than the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final and compares favourably to the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
- The Croatia-Argentina game drew a market share of over 22% on HTV2 in Croatia which is double their normal ratings.
- The Serbia-France game had over half a million viewers on RTS in Serbia, which represents a market share of just under 30% and is a 20% increase on their normal ratings.
- The Slovenia-South Korea game delivered a market share of nearly 26% for RTV Slovenia which is over three times more than the normal average audience.

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About the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup

The first-ever FIBA Basketball World Cup takes place in Spain from 30 August to 14 September 2014.

The Group Phase was played in Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Granada and Sevilla (30 August-4 September). The Final Phase will take place in the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona and in the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid (6-14 September).

The FIBA Basketball World Cup, known from 1950 until 2010 as the FIBA World Championship, is the flagship event of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Go to www.fiba.basketball/spain2014 to find out more.