National team games dominate Lithuania TV ratings

VILNIUS - You know all about the fans that travel to the ends of the earth to cheer for Lithuania's national team, that rabid following of supporters that bangs drums, chants and sings songs.

There are also the parades back home when the Baltic side returns after medal-winning campaigns. The fans that can't hit the road and root for the team do the next best thing: watch on television.

Findings by TNS, a leading global market research company, have provided further evidence of just how popular international basketball is and especially to the people of Lithuania. The four most popular shows on TV last year in the country were Lithuania's games at EuroBasket 2015.

The Final against Spain ranked No. 1 with a TV rating of 27.5 percent. Of the 10 most popular shows of 2015, seven were Lithuania's games at the EuroBasket and in the top 20, nine of the most watched shows were national team games.

The TNS report can be found here.

What is telling is that the fans watching international basketball did not just do so after their team got hot and started to show its medal potential. They tuned in in big numbers to see Lithuania play Australia in a friendly before EuroBasket 2015, as well as all of their games in the Group Phase once the tournament was underway.

Each of those contests was among the 20 most popular shows of 2015, including the Group D clash with Estonia which was No. 4 on the list with a rating of 18.2 percent.

Those fans that are starved for national team games will have more opportunities to see their team in person thanks to FIBA's new system of competition. Over a four-year cycle from 2017 through 2021, national teams will play regular home and away games to qualify for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Continental Cups.

The windows for the national team games will be 20-28 November in 2017, then 19-27 February, 25 June to 3 July, 10-18 September and 26 November to 4 December in 2018. The last window will be 20-28 February in 2019.

Clubs all over the world will release players during this time so they can join their national teams and play in the qualifying games.

As for Lithuania, their run to the EuroBasket 2015 Final punched the team's ticket to the Rio de Janeiro Games. It meant that Lithuania have qualified for every Olympics since 1992. While there are going to be plenty of fans from the Baltic country once again backing their team in Brazil, there will no doubt be many in Lithuania doing the same by watching on TV.

FIBA