The Walking Dead may have dominated the dial on Sunday night, but it did not stop HBO from setting a handsome record with its latest documentary premiere.
Read More Scientology's Final Say On 'Going Clear
Going Clear, Alex Gibney's two-hour exposé on the Church of Scientology, nabbed nearly 1.7 million viewers during its premiere telecast. And while that number is sure to grow once HBO Go plays, encores and DVR views are taken into account, it already stands as the network's most-watched doc premiere since Spike Lee's two-part When the Levees Broke aired in 2006. (The Hurricane Katrina feature nabbed 1.75 million viewers).
For a more recent comparison, Going Clear's audience also bests any individual same-day performance earned by buzzy doc miniseries The Jinx. With the latest time-shifting stats, Andrew Jarecki's six-part event about Robert Durst has thus far averaged 3.2 million weekly viewers.
HBO became the latest cable network to nix same-day ratings reports at the top of the year in response to more and more viewers opting for delayed viewing. The pay cable network will soon see its audience shift (and likely grow) even more when it launches over-the-top streaming service HBO Now in April. The service will open up the network's roster of original programming, as well as its film catalog, to non-cable subscribers for the first time.
