History is proving hot for National Geographic Channel.
The premiere of “Killing Kennedy” drew a record audience to the network on Sunday, averaging 3.4 million viewers — beating the franchise’s first historical movie, “Killing Lincoln,” by 3,000 viewers.
That was the highest total viewership ever for Nat Geo, and tied “Killing Lincoln” for a record high in the adults 25-54 demo.
“Killing Kennedy,” which was based on the book by Bill O’Reilly, starred Rob Lowe as John F. Kennedy, Will Rothaar as Lee Harvey Oswald, Ginnifer Goodwin as Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Trachtenberg as Marina Oswald.
NGC and producer Ridley Scott are already adapting O’Reilly’s most recent book, “Killing Jesus,” which was published last September. Production is set to begin in early 2014.
In addition to its record ratings, “#killingkennedy” was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in the US during the two-hour telecast.
NGC will re-air the movie this Friday at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.