Berlin’s Women’s Basketball World Cup brought a record number of spectators through the gates, while television broadcasts and social media carried the competition to millions more around the world.
Figures released by FIBA on September 24 show that 236,015 spectators attended the tournament, compared with 145,519 at the previous edition in Sydney four years earlier.
Berlin achieved that total across 36 matches, two fewer than Australia hosted in 2022. The average crowd reached 6,556 spectators per game.
The tournament ended with the United States defeating France 97–79 to secure their fifth consecutive title. France reached the final for the first time, while Spain took bronze after beating hosts Germany.
Beyond the arenas, the audience figures illustrate the expanding international reach of women’s basketball.
In the United States, TNT attracted an average of 1.3 million viewers for the group-stage meeting between the USA and Italy, its largest audience for a women’s basketball game. The final averaged 1.2 million viewers and peaked at 1.5 million.
Across TNT and HBO Max, tournament coverage reached 12.3 million viewers.
China provided the competition’s largest reported live television audience. An average of 14.1 million viewers watched China face Czechia on CCTV-5.
European broadcasters also recorded substantial audiences. France’s appearance in the final attracted an average of 1.4 million viewers on TMC, with the audience peaking at 1.84 million.
In Germany, more than a million people watched each of the host nation’s semi-final and third-place matches on ProSieben.
Social media delivered another major increase in the tournament’s reach.
According to FIBA, the competition generated more than 3.3 billion impressions, a rise of 175 percent compared with Sydney 2022. Video views reached 1.4 billion, while engagement climbed to 60 million.
The tournament gained 400,000 followers across its social media channels during the 2026 edition, bringing its combined following close to 900,000.
Its Instagram account alone reached 222,000 followers, with women accounting for half of that audience.
FIBA’s official tournament website also attracted considerably more traffic than four years earlier. Sessions rose to 4.9 million, while page views exceeded 20 million. Editorial articles accounted for more than 1.85 million views.
The figures measure different kinds of audience activity rather than unique individuals. Taken together, they demonstrate how the competition reached fans through television, streaming, short-form video and written coverage.
For broadcasters and sports publishers, Berlin’s results provide further evidence of the growing international audience for women’s basketball.
