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Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić leads is personally driving increased National Basketball Association (NBA) engagement in his native Serbia.
Confirmed:
- NBA League Pass has seen a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 66 per cent in Serbian viewership
- League’s over-the-top (OTT) service has also seen a 21 per cent rise in subscriptions from Serbia
- TV viewership of the NBA in Serbia has increased by 50 per cent YoY on Arena Sport
- Jokić rose from being ranked 18th last season to ninth this season in video views on NBA social media platforms
- Nuggets star leads all players in social media video views over the last 30 days, amassing 316 million views
- In the US, game two of the 2023 NBA finals was viewed by 11.91 million on ABC
- Broadcast also gained a peak audience of 15.26 million viewers
- Game saw a three per cent jump in viewership among adults between 18 and 34 years old from last year
Context:
The Nuggets topped the Western Conference standings in the regular season and are currently playing in their first ever NBA finals series. The team’s long run has given Serbian fans plenty of opportunities to tune in to watch two-time regular season MVP Jokić lead the team towards potentially his team’s first championship.
Game two’s US ratings were flat from the previous year’s finals, defying expectations that the lack of big-market teams would result in a drop off in viewership.
Coming next:
Jokić and the Nuggets will play game three of the finals against the Miami Heat on 7th June.
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