The FIBA World Cup 2023 is over, having concluded on September 10 with Germany winning its first-ever championship in the international competition. The team from the Philippines unfortunately failed to advance past the classification phase. But on a positive note, PH did break a new record.

The opening match featuring Gilas Pilipinas and the Dominican Republic reached a new milestone for having 38,115 spectators in live attendance at the Philippine Arena on August 25, 2023. It broke the previous record of 32,616 spectators almost three decades ago during the 1994 final in Toronto.

Despite FIBA citing steep prices affecting the fan turnout in later games, the International Basketball Federation Secretary General Andreas Zagklis nevertheless lauded the MVP Group of Companies. The group’s team effort and promotions contributed to the robust social media engagement and the tournament itself meeting expectations.

FIBA-2023-World-Class-Coverage

One of the highlights of the event was the introduction of the Philippines’ first-ever digital human, named Pearl, brought to life through the collaboration of PLDT, Smart, NTT Data, and MediaQuest. Using natural language processing and speech recognition, Pearl interacted with fans as it talked about the statistics and game results of the FIBA games.

MediaQuest’s Cignal TV was also recognized for its world-class coverage, capitalizing on their expertise in event production and sports broadcasting to ensure the tournament was an international phenomenon. Fans could join any of the organized 238 watch parties spread across 92 locations in the country, thanks to Cignal TV. Livestreams and pay-per-view subscriptions were also available.

Now that it’s done with its successful coverage of the FIBA World Cup 2023, Cignal TV is now shifting its focus towards two future events: the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and the 2027 FIBA World Cup scheduled to take place in Qatar.

For finishing 24th out of the 32 participating teams in this year’s world cup, Gilas Pilipinas moved up two places and is now ranked 38th in the latest FIBA world rankings.

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