To borrow from Phil Jackson, “The Last Dance” was a wonderful waltz for ESPN.
The final episodes of the ESPN documentary series “The Last Dance” — about the Michael Jordan-led 1990s Chicago Bulls — averaged 5.6 million viewers on ESPN and ESPN2 Sunday night, up 10% from the previous week (5.1M) and up 2% from two weeks ago (5.5M).
Episode nine averaged 5.89 million viewers, trailing only episodes one (6.34M) and three (6.14M) as the most-watched of the series. Episode ten averaged 5.40 million.
The full series also averaged 5.6 million in the initial airings, a figure that does not include VOD, DVR or encore viewing. It accounts for the ten largest documentary audiences ever on ESPN.
Including scripted fare, only one ESPN film ranks ahead of “The Last Dance” — the Dale Earnhardt movie “3” in 2004 (7.25M).
The least-watched episode of the series averaged more viewers (4.92M) than the 2002 ESPN films “The Junction Boys” (4.56M) and “A Season on the Brink” (4.27M), the most-watched 30 For 30 documentary (“You Don’t Know Bo”: 3.60M), and the most-watched episode of the 2003 series “Playmakers” (2.66M).
The series accounts for ten of the 14 largest sports-related audiences since the majority of events were called off on March 11-12. In a rarity, Sunday’s final episodes were not the most-watched sportscasts of the day. The live NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington had 6.32 million on FOX.
As it has throughout the series, Chicago led all markets for Sunday’s premieres with a 12.5 rating, with Greensboro, N.C. a distant second at a 5.5. San Diego ranked third (5.1), the Bay Area fourth (4.8) and Nashville fifth (4.7).
Chicago also led all markets for the full series, averaging a 12.0.
Most-watched ESPN documentary or film premieres
[Nielsen estimates from ESPN]
