Banner season for the NBA in the Philippines

Basketball is truly a sport near and dear to the hearts of the Filipino, and the people at NBA Philippines recognize that.

According to them, the 2018-19 season was a banner year for the league in the country, which reflected on the growth in viewership, NBA League Pass subscriptions, and social media consumption, among others.

NBA Philippines Managing Director Carlo Singson shares, "As we near the culmination of this incredible NBA season, the NBA’s remarkable growth in the Philippines speaks to the league’s impact and relevance to the country’s millions of passionate NBA fans. The NBA’s commitment to innovation has provided Filipinos with a multitude of ways to experience the energy and excitement of the game. With the continued support of our partners, we look forward to building on this season’s success and taking the league’s popularity in the Philippines to even greater heights in the years to come."

Here are some numbers reflecting such demand for the product:

Regular Season Viewership:

The most-watched regular-season game in the Philippines during this season reached 5.4 million viewers at its peak on ABS-CBN. (EDIT: that was the OT game between Philadelphia and Charlotte last November 10)  Of course, games were shown locally through there and via S+A, with FOX Sports Asia, Basketball TV, and NBA Premium serving the cable market.

The average audience for live NBA games as of April 2019 grew 15% year-over-year across S+A, while it was an 87% increase for Basketball TV, which reached their highest mark since the 2016-17 season.

In addition, the average audience of live, delayed, and on-demand broadcasts of NBA games was up 21% year-on-year across S+A, BTV, and FOX Sports Asia, reaching the highest average audience since the 2016-17 season.

NBA League Pass:

The Philippines currently owns the fourth-largest subscription base for NBA League Pass outside of the United States and China, and is the second largest base in the Asia-Pacific. As of March 2019, NBALP subscriptions rose 84% year-on-year, the largest year-on-year growth since the 2012-13 season.

The 2018-19 NBA season marked a banner year for the NBA in the Philippines, as the league saw growth across broadcast viewership, NBA League Pass subscriptions, social media consumption, and more.

Social Media Presence:

10.6 million of the NBA's followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter come from the Philippines, which is the most out of a single country outside of the United States.

The Filipino has a voracious appetite for NBA content on Youtube. Viewers from the Philippines consumed 5.5 million hours of content from the league's official Youtube channel during this season, which is the most from a single country outside of the United States.

The NBA Philippines' Facebook page has 3.7 million fans, the largest regional NBA page on Facebook in the world. That number reflects a 15% increase year-over-year.

Marketing Partnerships and Events:

The NBA has fourteen partners in the Philippines, the latest being with Chinese technology company Vivo. Vivo now dubs itself as the Official Smartphone of the NBA in the Philippines.

The recently-concluded Jr. NBA Philippines program presented by Alaska achieved its highest participation numbers in 2019, with over 59 thousand players and coaches taking part in the different camps nationwide. That figure now puts the aggregate reach of the program since it was launched in 2007 to over two million players, parents, and coaches across 190 cities and municipalities.

Merchandise:

Even with the end of the partnership that saw the closure of the physical NBA Stores in the country, there is still demand for NBA merchandise from the Philippines. Sales on NBAStore.com that came from the country increased 62% year-over-year.