Beyoncé Documentary Scores Record Ratings for HBO

Don’t underestimate the power of B. Beyoncé pulled in big numbers for HBO this weekend with her documentary Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 90-minute film drew 1.8 million viewers during its premiere on Saturday. It marks the largest audience for an HBO documentary since Nielsen changed its method of measuring viewership in 2004.

Prior to Beyoncé, the only other documentary to approach those record numbers was Spike Lee’s Hurricane Katrina miniseries When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which earned 1.7 million viewers in 2006.

Life Is But a Dream also scored three times the ratings of recent first airings of HBO’s series “Girls.”