The four-part series follows Johnson’s trek from humble beginnings in Lansing, Michigan to becoming a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers. It also details the basketball icon's battle with HIV and his evolution into a successful entrepreneur. 

Also: HBO's 'Winning Time' Scores Second Season

While some viewers may look to compare the documentary with ESPN's 2020 Michael Jordan-focused The Last Dance sports documentary, Johnson -- speaking at a Television Critics Association Press Tour panel on the series this past February -- said that They Call Me Magic reaches well beyond his basketball career.

“The Last Dance was all about basketball and Michael's mindset and attitude toward winning … this is about my family and this is about me being a businessman,” Johnson said. “So it's so many different things that you're going to get out of this documentary and it's totally different from The Last Dance.” ■

“The level of engagement for The Last Dance has surpassed all expectations,” said Kevin Krim, CEO of research company EDO. “We knew prior to the pandemic the series would generate interest given its great subject matter and unprecedented depth. However, engagement around this series has been off the charts.”

That would seem to be good news for the show’s main sponsors, State Farm, Facebook and Reese’s.

EDO found that its Search Engagement Rate Index, which measures the increase in online search activity for a brand or product in the minutes immediately following a TV commercial airing, hit levels befitting the story of the greatest basketball player of all time.

Related: Advanced Advertising: 'Last Dance Shows Disney's Agility

The Search Engagement Rates Index hit 500, which is similar to the level reached by the Super Bowl. According to EDO, the impact of one ad unit during The Last Dance has been equivalent to more than 43 ad units during prime time--also Super Bowl like.

"Clearly, positive factors include ESPN's creativity with sponsoring brands and a lighter-than-normal ad load,” Krim said. “Overall, it's very exciting, and goes to show how much people are engaged with this type of content in a world without live sports.”

One spot for State Farm to make it look as if SportsCenter anchor Kenny Mayne had shot it back when Jordan was playing. A viewer who saw the Kenny Mayne State Farm integration during The Last Dance on April 19 was over nine times more likely to engage with State Farm, compared to someone who saw a State Farm ad airing during primetime on competitive networks, excluding sports, EDO said.

The Last Dance also powered a lot of Twitter activity, showing the popularity of the documentary and engagement that benefits the sponsors.

According to research company 4C, engagement with the official hashtag #TheLastDance was up more than 70% the week before the series premiered.

Engagement with the Chicago Bulls is up 321% since the premiere of the docu-series.

“This shows that the value for brands associated with the program extends beyond the commercial airings as people chat about it more and more on social media each week,” said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer at 4C.

The documentary, which chronicles the Chicago Bulls’ last championship season in the 1990s, drew 6.1 million viewers for episode three and 5.7 million for episode four, said Nielsen. That compares to the 6.1 million viewers that tuned into the first two The Last Dance episodes last week.

Overall the documentary is averaging 6.0 million viewers across its first four episodes, making it the most-viewed original content broadcasts on ESPN since 2004, said Nielsen.

The ratings follow a record ratings performance from ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft, which drew more than 15 million viewers during its three-night run last week, according to Nielsen. 

The 10-part documentary, which follows Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' quest to win a sixth NBA title during the 1990s, drew 6.3 million for its premiere episode and 5.8 million viewers for episode two across ESPN and ESPN2, according to Nielsen. 

The two premiere episodes surpassed the 2012 ESPN documentary film You Don't Know Bo, which drew 3.6 million viewers. 

On ESPN alone, the two hours averaged 5.3 million viewers, with episode 1 delivering 5.7 million viewers and episode 2 delivering 5 million, said Nielsen. 

On Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Last Dance posts from ESPN accounted for a combined 9 million engagements. Two pre-and two post-digital live shows combined for 3.5 million viewers and 2.6 million minutes, according to the network. 

The 10-part series, The Last Dance, chronicles Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' six NBA title run in the 1990s and features never-before-seen footage from the team’s last championship run in the 1997-98 season, according to the network.

The Last Dance features interviews with Jordan and other key figures from the Bulls’ championship teams, as well as with stars from the basketball and entertainment worlds including Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Carmen Electra, Phil Jackson, Magic Johnson, Steve Kerr, President Barack Obama, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Justin Timberlake, said ESPN.

Outpointing the Houston Rockets by 15 in the fourth quarter, the Golden State Warriors extended their franchise-best winning streak to 14 games and scored the biggest rating ever for a regional sports network covering the club's regular-season action.

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area netted a 6.43 household rating in the San Francisco-Oakland DMA with its Dec. 10 telecast of the Warriors' 105-93 win over the Rockets, according to Nielsen data. RSN officials said that delivery marked the higest-rated Warriors regular season telecast on CSN or Fox Sports Net in the market.

Wednesday night's contest ranks as the highest-rated locally produced regular season game in the DMA since Feb. 7,1995, when a Warriors-Bulls game, featuring Michael Jordan, aired on KPIX Channel 5, said CSN officials.

Peaking at a 7.37 rating in the 9:30 p.m. (PT) quarter hour, CSN Bay Area recorded an 82% jump over the Warriors' season-to-date average, as the team, led by its sterling backcourt tandem of Stephon Curry (pictured) and Klay Thompson, improved its NBA-best record to 19-2.

The  game was the market's highest-rated program in all of television among households, adults 18 to 49 (3.60), adults 25 to 54 (4.07), men 18 to 49 (4.84) and 25 to 54 (5.72) on Wednesday.

NBA TV Originals’ latest entry, The84DRAFT, tips off tonight at 9 p.m. (ET), spotlighting the iconic players it produced and their lasting legacy, along with some of the unique stories associated with the other players whose names were called by Adam Silver’s predecessor.

Narrated by future Hall of Famer and LA Lakers point guard Steve Nash, the film shines the light on top pick Hakeem Olajuwon, who led the Houston to back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, and third selection, one Michael Jordan, arguably the game’s greatest player. In between, the Blazers selected the oft-injured Sam Bowie from the University of Kentucky.

THE84DRAFT is the latest addition to NBA TV Originals' roster of films and specials that include the Sports Emmy Award-winner The Doctor, the Emmy-nominated The Dream Team,Mr. Russell’s House, Sir Charles at 50, One-on-One with Ahmad Rashad: Michael Jordan, Searching for Redemption: The Kermit Washington Story, and Wilt 100, as well as the network’s Open Court series.

The 1984 draft also brought basketball fans the NBA’s all-time assist king in John Stockton, and Auburn’s relatively round Charles Barkley, long before he began his boisterous broadcasting career on TNT. The class included its fifth Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Schmidt, who never played in the NBA, but became a star on the international stage, competing in five Olympics for Brazil and becoming one of the top scorers in the game’s history.

The selection event also included All-Stars Alvin Robertson, Otis Thorpe and Kevin Willis, as well as No. 10 pick Leon Wood, who would go on to become a referee, and the 70th selection Rick Carlisle, who twinned his Boston Celtics title as a player with his head coaching triumph with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.