77956

Following significant uplift in growth metrics during its last season, the National Basketball League (NBL) has reported a strong start to its 2024/25 competition.

The Hungry Jack’s NBL25 season has already recorded 11 sell-out crowds in Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania and Perth - up from seven sell-outs at the same time last season - with more than 300,000 fans attending games.

It has also experienced an increase of 34% on average audience on ESPN compared to the average audience for the whole of last season. The jump comes after a 26% increase in broadcast audience on ESPN last season.

Welcoming the performance, NBL Chief Executive, David Stevenson stated “it has been a sensational start to the season, and we couldn’t be happier with the growth trajectory and position of the League, especially the performance on our primary broadcast partner ESPN.

“The NBL is still the fastest growing sporting league in Australia and that has been underlined by yet another jump in ratings, as more fans engage with world-class basketball week after week.

“I want to give a massive thanks to all our clubs, fans, commercial partners, and venues for their unwavering commitment and support in helping our League continue its rapid growth journey.

“We remain focused on driving growth as the intensity and competitiveness of the season goes to another level.”

Strong attendances and viewing figures have been complemented by the NBL’s digital footprint also expanding, with a 40% year-on-year growth in social following, a 36% rise in app downloads and a 33% increase in website and app visits, showcasing fans are more engaged than ever with the League.

Broadcast Blackout
The NBL has also advised that it has conducted a thorough investigation into the cause of a broadcast blackout during Thursday night’s Brisbane Bullets v Melbourne United game at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre (BEC)

It has explained that tee main cause of the fault was within the Outside Broadcast Unit which suffered a power outage with a little over three minutes left in the game.

Image: Fans enjoy NBL action at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena. Credit: Qudos Bank Arena.

Related Articles

9th October 2024 - 54 becomes partnership sales agent for NBL’s Illawarra Hawks

18th September 2024 - NBL Chief Executive David Stevenson announced as Golf Summit keynote speaker

26th August 2024 - Updated HBF Stadium ready to welcome back NBL

9th August 2024 - NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger to step down

2nd August 2024 - Strategic partnership formed to support elevation of NBL

27th June 2024 - NBL and WCGS form consortium to acquire majority interest in WNBL

17th June 2024 - Cairns Regional Council strikes new sponsorship deal with NBL’s Taipans

24th May 2024 - NBL partners with WNBL and Basketball Australia to deliver inaugural ‘HoopsFest’ initiative in Perth

11th May 2024 - NBL agrees new media deal 

4th April 2024 - NBL reaches new highs through 2023/24 season

29th January 2024 - NBL and Japan Professional Basketball League sign MoU

8th December 2023 - NBL to conduct review into power outage that impacted Cairns Taipans v Sydney Kings match

22nd November 2023 - NBL enjoys early season growth

16th October 2023 - NBL concern over leaked CCTV footage of tunnel incident at Brisbane Bullets vs Cairns Taipans clash at Nissan Arena

13th October 2023 - NBL breaks attendance records in new season

5th October 2023 - AAMI insurance extends NBL partnership         

14th September 2023 - La Trobe Financial announces extension of NBL partnership

12th September 2023 - Revo Fitness to partner Adelaide 36ers through next two NBL seasons

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.

Click here to view our subscription options.