The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026, held in Berlin, Germany, set new benchmarks for the premier international tournament in women’s basketball. The competition not only recorded historic attendance figures, but also significantly expanded its reach through television, digital platforms, social media and the official website, showing how interest in women’s basketball continues to reach new audiences and markets.
The growth was evident inside the arenas. A total of 236,015 fans attended the 36 games played in Berlin, comfortably surpassing the 145,519 spectators recorded at the 2022 edition in Sydney. Average attendance reached 6,556 spectators per game, also a tournament record. This physical presence was complemented by an international audience that followed the games through free-to-air television, pay-TV, streaming platforms and social media, with particularly strong figures in the United States, France, Spain, Germany and China.
Television audiences expand the tournament’s reach
Television allowed the World Cup to reach audiences far beyond the stands in Berlin. In the United States, the group-stage game between the United States and Italy became the most-watched women’s basketball game in TNT history, with an average audience of 1.3 million viewers. The final averaged 1.2 million viewers and peaked at 1.5 million, while the tournament’s full coverage across television and HBO Max reached 12.3 million viewers. The figure is particularly notable given that the final coincided with the start of the NFL season and the US Open tennis tournament.
Interest was also reflected in other markets. In France, the final between France and the United States reached a peak audience of 1.84 million viewers and averaged 1.4 million on TF1’s TMC. In Spain, the semifinal between Spain and the United States came close to 1.3 million viewers across linear television and digital services, while in Germany, ProSieben broadcasts of the semifinal and third-place game each attracted more than one million viewers. The tournament’s largest live audience came from China, where an average of 14.1 million people watched the group-stage game between China and the Czech Republic on CCTV-5.
Social media and website multiply engagement
Growth was also particularly visible across the digital ecosystem. The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 generated more than 3.3 billion social media impressions, an increase of 175% compared with 2022. Engagement reached 60 million, almost four times higher than at the previous edition, while video views climbed to 1.4 billion, an increase of 195%. The tournament also gained 400,000 new followers during the competition, bringing its total community to nearly 900,000 people, with its Instagram account reaching 222,000 followers.
Digital activity also extended to the official website, which recorded 4.9 million sessions, more than three times the figure from 2022. Page views exceeded 20 million, seven times higher than four years earlier, while visits to editorial content reached 1.85 million. This was accompanied by increased content production: the number of articles published doubled compared with the previous edition, giving fans more opportunities to follow not only the results and games, but also the stories and personalities surrounding the championship.
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