Beyoncé Draws Viewers To OWN, HBO on Saturday

HBO's documentary on singer Beyoncé Knowles, Beyoncé: 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, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on OWN, more than 1.3 million viewers watched Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Beyoncé on Oprah’s Next Chapter on a special night. (Picture credit: Harpo Studios, Inc./George Burns.)

The episode scored triple-digit growth versus year ago numbers across key demos (+385% W25-54; +342% in total viewers), the network that's co-owned by Harpo Studios and Discovery Communications said.

--Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable contributed to this item.