The critically-acclaimed new Showtime serial BILLIONS had the best series debut performance ever for a Showtime original series with 2.99 million views to date for its premiere.

BILLIONS was sampled early acrossplatforms to Showtime subscribers, delivering 1.6 million views prior to its Sunday night debut on SHOWTIME, the most ever for a Showtime series. On Sunday night, BILLIONS delivered 1.4 million viewers on the Network. The prior record holder was RAY DONOVAN (with 2.91 million views including linear premiere night and advance sampling on subscriber platforms in 2013).

“It’s a testament to the timeliness of the subject matter, the power of its stars and the brilliance of the show creators that BILLIONS has had such a big start,” said David Nevins, President and CEO, Showtime Networks Inc. “I can’t wait for our subscribers to experience how this season unfolds.”

BILLIONS, which stars Oscar® nominee and Emmy® and Golden Globe® winner Paul Giamatti (John Adams) and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Damian Lewis (Homeland), airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. A bold, contemporary new drama series BILLIONS melds the worlds of ultra-wealth, influence and corruption as personified in two highly ambitious opposing figures: hard-charging, blue-blooded, politically connected U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) and brilliant, calculating, blue-collar billionaire hedge fund king, Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Lewis). Set amongst the Machiavellian machinations of New York City power politics and finance, BILLIONS weaves a complex, intricate narrative featuring a high-stakes game of predator-versus-prey. Maggie Siff, Malin Akerman, Toby Leonard Moore, David Costabile and Condola Rashad also star. BILLIONS is created, written and executive produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Ocean’s Thirteen, Rounders), and Andrew Ross Sorkin (Too Big To Fail). The pilot was directed by acclaimed director Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Divergent), who also serves as an executive producer on the first two episodes. For more information about BILLIONS, visit http://s.sho.com/BillionsOnShowtime, follow on Twitter,

Instagram and Facebook, and join the conversation using #Billions. A special sneak peek of the second episode of BILLIONS is available now on demand, on Showtime ANYTIME and the Showtime streaming service.

Sho | Dave