Nothin' but net: NBA celebrates a slam dunk at the Paris Games 2025 and outlines the evolution of its European broadcast strategy By Heather McLean
Thursday, February 6, 2025 - 14:56
Print This Story
The San Antonio Spurs' own French superstar, Victor Wembanyama, made a mark on TV, OTT and social media at the NBA Paris Games 2025 [Credit: NBAE/Getty Images]
The NBA Paris Games 2025 featuring the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs in regular-season games on 23 and 25 January set multiple records across television viewership and digital and social media engagement.
Marking the 40th anniversary of the first NBA games in Europe, the matches pulled in global viewers as well as those across Europe and in particular, France, as the Spurs' own French superstar, Victor Wembanyama, made a mark on TV, OTT and social media.
Content across social platforms from the Paris matchups drove them to become the most-viewed NBA Global Games ever on social media, generating more than 718 million views.
The two games, which aired live in France on beIN Sports and Canal+, are the most-watched NBA games ever on television in France. The NBA's premier OTT platform, NBA League Pass, saw viewership up 29% in France versus last year's Paris Game.
Meanwhile, content featuring Wembanyama on social media as he toured Paris last week saw him propelled to become the second most viewed NBA player across @NBA social media accounts this season, with more than 836 million views; a video of him juggling a ball on the Paris Saint-Germain pitch garnered 43.1 million views on Instagram alone.
Interesting journey
On the NBA's success in France, Bastien Lacheny, NBA vice president, global media distribution for Europe and the Middle East, based out of the NBA's London office, tells SVG Europe: We're obviously delighted by the results and the performance of those games, but I think it's fair to say that it's been an interesting journey for the NBA when it comes to playing games in Europe. There's a very strong and long history of basketball and NBA in Europe, and a rich tradition.
Those games [in France] actually marked the 40th anniversary of the first NBA games we had in Europe. We've played 98 games in 10 European countries since 1984, so it's not something that is new. It's always been part of our strategy to try to provide to the local fan, given that most of them won't have the ability to attend an NBA game live in the US; the full experience. Having the ability to do that with Victor Wembanyama, for two games in his home town of Paris was incredible, continues Lacheny.
We were very pleased with the numbers, both on social where we generated the most video views ever for an NBA Global Game, and on linear television, where between BeIN Sports, our historical pay TV partner, and Canal+ that was broadcasting those two games free to air, we were able to achieve also a record number. So it was a fantastic result.
Massive change
The NBA's push for live games in Europe is part of a longstanding strategy of bringing the game to the fan, wherever they might be. However, notes Lacheny, but again, even if we are bringing those games to Europe, it's still only a few games a year .
Therefore the main fan experience for those living in Europe is OTT or linear broadcasts. Comments Lacheny: We've been airing games in the region since 1981, and actually it's a pretty cool story because the first game was the Celtic vs Lakers game on VHS; it was flown over from the US to Italy and hand delivered, so you can imagine the significant delay between the actual game and the viewers!
Fast forward to 2025 and you have the ability either through our broadcast partners that usually in the region are showing one to two games per day, or using our premium subscription service, NBA League Pass, to watch every single game on any device and at any moment, he adds.
So it's a massive change that has obviously been coming from the significant evolution of the media landscape in the region, the enormous growth in interest that we've seen in many European countries since then, and also a very different technological ecosystem.
The NBA is focusing on bringing games to fans in Europe from the US that they can watch without staying up all night waiting for them to start. Lacheny notes: What's pretty singular about the NBA fans in Europe is the fact that a lot of games are in the middle of the night, so this is a different market and different ecosystem that we're trying to address, which is why it's the 12th consecutive season we've scheduled weekend games that air in primetime in the region, creating regular viewing for fans. And we're seeing increased viewership on those game as well in several markets.
A packed house for the NBA Paris Games 2025 [Credit: NBAE/Getty Images]
Booming fandom
Following the NBA Paris games, fandom around the association in France is booming. Things have moved on significantly over the decades, comments Lacheny: I was an NBA fan when I was growing up, and there was literally no French player then. We have a record-tying 14 French players in the league today. And more generally looking at the region, we have 61 of the record-tying 125 international NBA players on opening-night rosters this season that are from [the European] region, which creates a tremendous opportunity for us.
The incredible thing is that these are not just role players, these are some of the best players in the world, he continues. You have Giannis Antetokounmpo in Greece, you have Nikola Joki from Serbia, you have Luka Don i in Slovenia, and you have Victor Wembanyama in France. And so it does reflect on their local markets.
This move has benefitted fans and the NBA is seeing viewing figures in Europe rise as a res
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
Nothin' but net: NBA celebrates a slam dunk at the Paris Games 2025 and outlines the evolution of its European broadcast strategy By Heather McLean 
