HBO Draws 1.8 Million for Beyonce Doc

'Beyonce: Life Is But a Dream' is net's most-viewed doc since 2004

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/19/2013 4:27:06 PM

HBO's documentary on singer Beyonce Knowles, Beyonce: Life Is But a Dream, drew 1.8 million total viewers for its 9 p.m. premiere on Saturday.

That made it the net's most-viewed documentary since 2004, when Nielsen changed its audience measurement methods for HBO. The previous high was the Spike Lee miniseries about Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Acts 1&2), which averaged 1.7 million viewers back in 2006.

Beyonce: Life Is But a Dream, which was executive produced by Beyonce herself, took an intimate look into the singer's life and new motherhood. It included first-person footage shot by the singer on her laptop.

The same night on OWN, more than 1.3 million viewers watched Oprah Winfrey's interview with Beyonce on Oprah's Next Chapter on a special night.