MUMBAI, India—As the NBA 2023-2024 season gets set to start in October, the league, which has made international expansion a key priority, has issued data showing that NBA games attracted record numbers of viewers in India during the 2022-2023 season.
The NBA said that 2022-23 NBA season was the league's most-watched ever in India, surpassing 100 million unique viewers across linear, social media and digital media platforms for the first time ever.
The 2023-24 NBA regular season action starts on Wednesday, October 25 and games will air live in India on Sports18-1, JioCinema and NBA League Pass via the NBA App.
"Surpassing the milestone of 100 million unique viewers last season is a testament to the growing interest in basketball here in India. Our strong distribution network and local language commentary on the platform has expanded the league's audience in the country, especially within the Hindi-speaking markets," said NBA India global partnerships & media business head Sunny Malik. "As we gear up for the 2023-24 season, we look forward to building on this momentum by providing fans in India with new and exciting ways to experience the NBA, including digital innovations and customized content on the devices and platforms they use the most."
The NBA also reported these stats from the 2022-23 NBA season in India:
- Viewership of NBA games on digital platforms grew 12x from the 2021-22 season.
- Overall linear and digital watch time of NBA games and programming grew by 50 percent compared to the 2021-22 season.
- Fifty-three percent of viewers were 30 years-old and younger, while 45 percent of all viewers were female.
- Hindi commentary was available for 112 games throughout the season, contributing to an overall reach of 33 million viewers.
- The NBA introduced a youth-focused educational broadcast series on Nickelodeon Sonic featuring local cartoon characters Happy & Pinaki to further engage with Indian children and teach them the fundamentals of the game. The series reached 11 million viewers.
- More than 3.8 million fans follow the NBA's localized social media channels in India, registering a 2.6x increase in followers added this season as compared to 2021-2022.
- NBA's localized social media channels in India generated 1.3 billion video views, up 209 percent from the 2021-22 season, and 968 million engagements, registering an increase of 200 percent from last season.
- The NBA released 10 locally-produced content series in India that generated 182 million views across the league's social media channels, including This is Basketball starring NBA Brand Ambassador for India Ranveer Singh, which showcases the diversity of the basketball community in India; All The Way Up, a series with leading hip-hop artists that explores the convergence between hip-hop and basketball; The NBA India Weekly Show, centered around all things NBA and basketball in India; and The Real Talk, a video series featuring players, legends and other special guests.
- The NBA's user-generated content initiative #MadeInBallywood generated 42 million views on social media and received more than 50 entries from aspiring players across the country.
