‘The Last Dance’ ratings stay strong for episodes 5 and 6, averaging 5.5 million viewers

The Last Dance continued to deliver impressive ratings for Episodes 5 and 6 of the docuseries Sunday night. Episodes 5 and 6 averaged 5.5 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, with episode 5 averaging 5.8 million viewers, and episode 6 averaging 5.2 million viewers. Overall, The Last Dance has averaged 5.8 million viewers over its six premiere episodes.

Here’s more from the press release:

“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.

Week 2 averaged 5.9 million viewers across episodes 3 and 4, while Week 1 averaged 6.1 million viewers across episodes 1 and 2 (episode 1 averaged 6.3 million).

The Week 3 ratings are down a bit from the previous weeks, but that’s to be expected, and they’re still very strong numbers. There’s also the on-demand and re-airing audience to keep in mind, and those numbers have been huge:

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.

Entering the The Last Dance premiere, we wondered if it would top the record viewership for an ESPN documentary: the 3.6-million mark set by You Don’t Know Bo in 2012. Well, The Last Dance continues to blow away those numbers on a weekly basis, and it seems clear that the audience will remain strong throughout its five-week, 10-episode run.