ESPN won't team up with Netflix for documentaries despite 'The Last Dance' success

Michael Jordan's 10-part documentary The Last Dance has reportedly shattered all records as far as viewership ratings are concerned. The highly-anticipated docu-series garnered rave ratings from critics and fans alike who flocked to their TV screens over the last five weeks to catch fresh new episodes. The Last Dance on Netflix concluded last week after the final two episodes were released on the platform. Reports claim that the popular series is ESPN's most-watched documentary of all time. A report by Nielsen revealed that more than 23.8 million people tuned in to watch the series over the last five weeks. 

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ESPN The Last Dance on Netflix

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ESPN The Last Dance on Netflix

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ESPN The Last Dance average viewers

The last two episodes of the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary released over the last five weeks and averaged 5.9 million viewers as per a report by Nielsen. Live viewership for each episode ranged between 4.9 and 6.3 million people. Libby Geist, VP and EP for ESPN Films and Original Content, speaking at Leaders in Sport’s online forum cautioned about a possible link-up with Netflix in the future. She claimed that despite the success of The Last Dance, ESPN may not team up with Netflix to release similar documentaries in the future.

Libby Geist was quoted as saying, “I’m not sure that we’re looking to do that again soon, only because we both have our own businesses that we’re supporting. It would have to be another pretty special project for us to get different special permissions to do it again. But from a workflow standpoint and maximising the power of all of these brands, I think it’s been really great for The Last Dance and we’re thrilled with the results.” In the next month, ESPN has scheduled films about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, martial arts star Bruce Lee and the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to be released in the next few weeks.

Libby Geist explains success of The Last Dance on Netflix

Geist further explained that the previous documentary OJ: Made in America served as a reference in the build-up to Jordan's documentary. Geist further added, “Our film a few years ago – OJ: Made in America – we scheduled over five parts on five nights. We scheduled that on the off-nights of the NBA Finals in 2016, and that was a great formula for us. We had huge audiences at that time. Those are big off-nights for sports. So we always expected that was a really big time, especially for this story. So we were aiming towards that. We just obviously didn’t expect to be turning it around so quickly and getting it into the world that fast.”  

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