Killing Lincoln Sets Record for Nat Geo

WASHINGTON, D.C.: National Geographic Channel’s Sunday night premiere of Killing Lincoln averaged 3.4 million viewers in its two-hour broadcast, marking the highest total viewership in the network’s history.

As the network’s first original factual drama, Killing Lincoln, which premiered just ahead of Presidents’ Day in the U.S., drew a 2.6 household rating, which is the second highest in network history. The 1.1 rating with persons 25 to 54 was the highest since the premiere of SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden in November of last year. This is also more than 175-percent higher than the channel’s average for Sunday 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. so far this year.

The two-hour production was narrated by Tom Hanks and was produced by Scott Free Productions. It is an adaptation of Bill O’Reilly’s best-selling book.

“Killing Lincoln was our latest effort to expand the original programming we present on the National Geographic Channel, while still maintaining the brand values viewers expect from us,” said Howard T. Owens, the president of National Geographic Channels. “The success we saw last night proved that authentic and entertaining are not mutually exclusive, and I think we’ve tapped into a new genre of factual drama that clearly resonates with our audience. Our record ratings would not have been possible without our partnership with Bill O’Reilly, Scott Free Productions and the incredible team that worked on this production.”

“Howard walked into the office on his first day with this book in his hand, and 16 months later to have this success is a true testament to his vision and drive to make this work for our network,” added David Lyle, the CEO of National Geographic Channels. “Lincoln is clearly enjoying a resurgence in the national zeitgeist, and this demonstrates once again that our viewers are hungry for entertaining, culturally relevant programming.”
 
“David, Howard and the entire team at National Geographic Channel believed in this project since day one, and were incredibly passionate to make this film work on all levels,” added Ridley Scott. “We could not be more pleased that viewers responded in this way, and look forward to raising the bar even higher with our next collaboration, Killing Kennedy.”