“The Last Dance” becomes most-viewed ESPN documentary

“The Last Dance,” ESPN’s highly anticipated 10-part documentary-series based around Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, debuted on Sunday night (19th April 2020) as the most-viewed documentary on ESPN’s networks.

An average of 6.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the first two episodes of the much-anticipated documentary series "Last Dance" across ESPN and ESPN 2, a boon to the Walt Disney-owned sports networks as they scramble to maneuver in a climate where almost all live sports have been canceled.

Episode 1 averaged 6.3 million viewers and episode 2 averaged 5.8 million viewers. In addition, “The Last Dance” ranks as the most-watched telecast among adults 18-34 and 18-49 since sports halted across broadcast and cable networks, ESPN said in a statement.

According to ESPN, the ratings beat the network's previous record for original programming previously held by 2012's "30 for 30" Bo Jackson feature "You Don't Know Bo", which drew 3.6 million viewers. In order to capitalize on viewers' stir-craziness, ESPN pushed up The Last Dance release date to April 19.


The network also noted that the documentary drew the highest viewership of anything broadcast on the network since LSU's victory over Clemson in the College Football National Championship on January 13. It's also notable that the decision to put a language-censored version of the documentary on ESPN2 appears to have paid some dividends for ESPN; that added an average of one million viewers for the first episode and 800,000 for the second.

With four more Sundays of "The Last Dance" programming scheduled, the numbers are good news for a network built around live sports broadcasts.

The documentary also made a debut on Netflix. The streaming giant will continue to carry two new episodes each week.

The Last Dance” was originally scheduled to debut in June during the time of NBA Finals, but ESPN moved it up to provide sports-starved fans with new content during the corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic.

You can check out the first two episodes of “The Last Dance” on Netflix, and look out for more episodes scheduled for:

Monday, 20 April – 09:01 a.m – “The Last Dance” Episodes 1 and 2
Monday, 27 April – 09:01 a.m – “The Last Dance” Episodes 3 and 4
Monday, 4 May – 09:01 a.m – “The Last Dance” Episodes 5 and 6
Monday, 11 May – 09:01 a.m – “The Last Dance” Episodes 7 and 8
Monday, 18 May – 09:01 a.m – “The Last Dance” Episodes 9 and 10


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