Cubs News: The 'Last Dance' documentary continues with massive TV ratings |
“The Last Dance” continues to reach massive audiences, averaging 5.8 million viewers across premieres of its first six episodes, which is 62% more viewers than the next-closest documentary debut on ESPN (“You Don’t Know Bo” in 2012). On Sunday, May 3rd, Episodes 5 and 6 averaged 5.5 million viewers across ESPN & ESPN2 from 9-11 p.m. ET, with episode 5 (9-10 p.m.) averaging 5.8 million viewers and episode 6 (10-11 p.m.) averaging 5.2 million viewers, based on initial Nielsen reporting.
As part of its overall audience, the documentary continues to be consumed by the 18-49 demo in a significant manner. Among adults 18-49, episodes 5 and 6 averaged 2.9 million viewers, with episode 5 averaging 3.1 million viewers and episode 6 averaging 2.8 million viewers. The audiences for the premieres only tell part of the story; a larger overall audience continues to consume the documentary through re-airs and on-demand viewing. After a record-setting initial audience, including all viewing, Episodes 1 and 2 now have an average minute audience of 13 million and 13.1 million, respectively, figures which represent more than a 100% increase from initial Nielsen reporting. In less than one week, Episodes 3 and 4 have seen their audiences increase by 84% and 94%, respectively, from initial Nielsen reporting, now coming in at 11.3 million (Episode 3) and 10.9 million (Episode 4) viewers, both of which are higher figures than Episodes 1 and 2 reported a week after their initial airings. Additional reporting for episodes 5 and 6 will be available this week. The top five metered markets for episodes 5 and 6 included: Chicago (11.4 rating), Greensboro (5.7), Raleigh-Durham (5.5 rating), Charlotte (4.7 rating) and San Diego (4.5 rating). As a result of content featuring the New York Knicks, Madison Square Garden and Kobe Bryant, the New York (+11%) and LA (+12%) markets were both up double digits compared to episodes 1 through 4. “The Last Dance” on social: “The Last Dance” was the #1 most social Primetime program on all of television for the week with 3.9M interactions across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Episodes 5 and 6 also drove more social video views than the prior four episodes in the linear window, with 8 million total views, per Nielson Social Intelligence. We all still want to be like Mike.#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/bB0kjIaglj
"I'm not against giving him any kind of hints about his game if he asks."
The '90s @chicagobulls practices got competitive ??
"Michael had problems just like the rest of us ... hey, he’s not gonna always be a great teammate. It’s okay that you don’t have to like every guy on your team."@MagicJohnson on some important takeaways from #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/gTmmh4msLu
Watching Jordan vs. Kobe highlights will give you chills.
(via @chicagobulls)pic.twitter.com/IUx6l1yBKG
Episodes 7 & 8 of The Last Dance begin Sunday, May 10 at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/HvWfUXBB4d
